HISTORY 301

Professor Ellen Boucher

Amherst College
Fall 2022

PROSEMINAR:
WRITING THE PAST
Course Time: Tues / Thurs 1:00-2:20pm Location: Chapin 101

Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2:00-3:00pm (in person at 116 Chapin Hall)

Fridays, 12-1pm (virtual, access zoom link on Moodle)
or by appointment

This course offers an opportunity for history majors and students intrigued by
the past to reflect upon the practice of history. How do we claim to know
anything about the past at all? How do historians construct the stories they tell
about the past from the fragmentary remnants of former times? What is the
connection between the past as it was lived and the narratives that historians
write? How do we judge the truth and value of these histories and memories?
The course explores questions such as these through readings and case
studies drawn from a variety of places and times.

Throughout the semester, we will examine a variety of subjects, from the heroic
yet complicated life of noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to the clashing
worldviews of Hawai’ians and Europeans at the time of Captain Cook’s Pacific
explorations, from debates over the motivations of perpetrators in the
Holocaust to contrasting interpretations of Chinese footbinding. Let me be
explicit, though: our object in reading these books is not to learn their subject
matter. If you gain a better understanding of these historical events through
our readings, great – but that is not the goal of the course. Rather, our aim is
to study the discipline of History itself, looking closely at how the historians
writing these texts tried to make and discover knowledge. This approach will
allow us to grapple with a number of significant philosophical questions that
still dominate the study of the past. Is there such a thing as historical truth? Is
it appropriate for historians to have a political agenda? What does it mean for a
history, or a historian, to be “biased”? To what extent is history a useful lens
for understanding the present?

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Books Recommended for Purchase (available at
Amherst Books, and on reserve in the library):

1. Sarah Maza, Thinking about History (Chicago: Chicago University Press,

2017)

2. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of

History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995).

3. David Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2018)

4. Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press, 1983).

5. Priya Satia, Time’s Monster: How History Makes History (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2020).

6. Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European

Mythmaking in the Pacific, second edition (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1992 / 1997).

7. Marshall Sahlins, How “Natives” Think: About Captain Cook, for Example
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

8. Dorothy Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).

9. Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Batallion 101 and

the Final Solution in Poland (New York: Harper Perennial, 2017). Be sure
to buy or have access to the edition labelled “with a new afterword,”
published in 2017.

10. Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, My Father Bleeds History (New
York: Pantheon, 1986).

11. Coursepack available in the History Office (basement of Chapin Hall).

Interested in an Amazon alternative for purchasing books online? Check out

https://bookshop.org/shop/amherstbooks (ordering through them supports
our local bookstore) or https://www.betterworldbooks.com.

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Assignments and Requirements:
This course is a seminar, which requires active participation in class
discussions. Please bring the assigned reading to every class, and be prepared
to refer to specific sections of a reading when discussing it.

The texts we will be reading this semester are challenging, and there is no one
way to interpret them. In order to craft discussions around our different
insights on these materials, each student is required to post a discussion
question, complete with a short (200-250 word) explanation of the question, to
Moodle by 9am on the day when we’ll discuss that reading. Over the course
of the semester, you will have 24 opportunities to post a Moodle response; you
must post 15 to receive full credit. If you post 18+ responses, I will raise
your lowest grade (paper or participation) by a third of a letter grade; i.e., a B+
would become an A-.

An excellent Moodle response question will be open-ended: it won’t be easy to

answer simply by looking up information in the texts or online. Rather, it
should encourage serious reflection on the readings. It might be controversial,
or topical, or it might suggest a new way of synthesizing the readings. You are
welcome to make comparisons between the history at hand and current-day
issues, but if you do so, please provide some context so that your comparison
is easy to understand. Finally, excellent discussion questions should relate
directly to the readings: in your explanatory paragraph, you should highlight
quotes or portions of the texts that prompted your thinking.

At four times throughout the semester, I will distribute a paper prompt. You
will have a little over a week to write a 7-8 page paper in response to the
prompt. You must submit 3 of these papers over the semester, and the first
paper is required. I do not accept rewrites, but I encourage you to talk over
your ideas with me in office hours, and/or to arrange a time for me to read
partial drafts. I also encourage you to draft your paper early enough so that
you can discuss it with an advisor from the Writing Center. No, you can’t
submit all 4 papers and drop the lowest grade. Invest your time in writing 3
well-argued and thoughtful papers.

The due dates of these papers are as follows (all due by 5pm):

October 7th (required)

October 21st
November 18th
December 9th

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Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

Participation: 25%
Moodle Responses (by 9am the day of class; 15 required): 15%
Three 7-8 page Papers: 60%

Course Policies
LANGUAGE AND RESPECT IN THE CLASSROOM: Please be aware that some of
the historical readings in this course contain language that is offensive and
disparaging. I have chosen to allow these words to remain as they originally
appeared, without substitution. I believe it is important to understand the
dehumanizing power of these words and how they have been used historically
to marginalize, stigmatize, and perpetuate violence against colonized peoples.
With that said, I also believe that it is disrespectful to say racist terms in class
discussions – particularly the N-word – even if a person is reading verbatim
from a historical document. I would request that you reflect carefully on the
power of these terms when preparing for class discussions, and refrain from
using them in class out of respect for other students.

ATTENDANCE: Your presence in class is important! You may miss two classes
without penalty; please email me to let me know in advance, if possible. After
that, multiple absences will harm your final class-participation grade. If you
miss more than 6 classes unexcused, you will automatically fail the
course. Please note: if you are absent on a day when there is an assignment
due, you still need to submit that assignment.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS: I understand that sometimes due dates all pile up at the
same time, or personal circumstances intervene in a way that might make it
difficult for you to make a deadline. As such, every student can opt to take a 2-
day grace period on any paper, without penalty. If you would like to take the
grace period on an assignment, just email me by the paper’s deadline. (You
don’t need to provide a reason, just state that you are taking the extra 48
hours, and acknowledge that your new deadline falls on X date at X time.)

If you’re unable to submit the paper by the end of the grace period, you must
meet with me (either in office hours of at another time) so that we can work
out a timetable for you to submit the assignment. Failure to meet with me or
to abide by the revised schedule will result in a lowered grade or failure of
the assignment.

Please note: Because the Moodle responses are intended to help you (and me)
prepare for class, you may not submit those late. All Moodle responses must be
posted by 9am the day of class to receive credit.

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LAPTOP POLICY: Because this is a seminar with a strong emphasis on
discussion, laptops and tablets are not allowed in the classroom. The one
exception is for E-Books. Recent research shows that reading physical copies of
books leads to much greater comprehension of the material. That said, I
understand that cost is a factor. On the days when we will be reading a book
for which an E-Book is available, you may bring your laptop or tablet to class
for the discussion.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Plagiarism means representing another person’s words

or ideas as your own. Plagiarism includes: submitting another person’s paper
as your own; inappropriate collaboration with another student; copying / close
paraphrasing / cutting and pasting from an article, book, or website;
incorporating an idea or discussion from another source without citing it.
Plagiarism occurs most often when a student is overwhelmed or pressed for
time. Please remember that submitting an assignment late is always better
than submitting work that does not reflect your own, original ideas. An
occurrence of plagiarism will result in the student failing the assignment and
potentially the course and being reported to the Dean of Students. If you are
uncertain as to what counts as plagiarism, please feel free to discuss your
questions with me.

PASS / FAIL: Students must complete all of the required assignments in order
to pass the course.

Schedule of Readings:

NARRATIVES AND SILENCES IN HISTORY

Thursday 9/1
 Before coming to class, listen to the Maintenance Phase podcast episode:
“Vibrators”

Tuesday 9/6
 Marc Bloch, The Historian’s Craft (New York: Vintage, 1953), p. vii-xii and
3-47. (COURSEPACK)
 Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (New York: Spiegel and
Grau, 2015), Part I, p. 5-39. (COURSEPACK)

Thursday 9/8
 Maza, Thinking about History, Introduction and Chapter 1 (“The History
of Whom?”), p. 1-44.
 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, Preface and Chapter 1 (“The Power in the
Story”), p. xxi-xxiii, 1-30.

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Tuesday 9/13
 Maza, Thinking about History, Chapter 2 and part of Chapter 4 (“The
History of Where?” and “How Is History Produced?”), p. 45-82, 118-137.

Thursday 9/15
 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, Chapters 2 and 3 (“The Three Faces of Sans
Souci” and “An Unthinkable History”), p. 31-107.
 Blight, Frederick Douglass, Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2 (“First
Things” and “A Childhood of Extremes”), p. xiii-xx, 1-35

Tuesday 9/20
 Blight, Frederick Douglass, Chapters 3 through 7, p. 35-115.
 Maza, Thinking about History, part of Chapter 5 (“Causes or Meanings?”),
p. 157-178.

Thursday 9/22
 Blight, Frederick Douglass, Chapters 14 through 17, and 19 through 20,
p. 252-354, 385-439.
 Maza, Thinking about History, Chapter 3 (“The History of What?”), p. 83-
117.

Tuesday 9/27
 Blight, Frederick Douglass, Chapter 25, 28-29, 31, and Epilogue, p. 551-
581, 638-690, 714-764.

PAPER 1 (required) DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 7th at 5PM

HYPOCRISY AND CONSCIENCE IN THE HISTORY OF EMPIRE:

Thursday 9/29
 Satia, Time’s Monster, introduction and chapter 1

Tuesday 10/4
NO CLASS: Ellen’s out for Jury Duty
 Use the time for reading Time’s Monster! And working on your paper!

Thursday 10/6
 Satia, Time’s Monster, ch. 2 and 3.
o Half the class will focus on chapter 2, half on chapter 3

Tuesday 10/11
NO CLASS – Fall Break

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Thursday 10/13
 Satia, Time’s Monster, ch. 4, 5, and 6.
o Half the class will focus on chapter 4, half on chapter 5. Everyone
will read chapter 6.

PAPER 2 DUE FRIDAY OCTOBER 21st at 5PM

IF THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY, CAN WE GO THERE?:

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY

Tuesday 10/18
 Maza, Thinking about History, p. 178-185.
 Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre, entire.

Thursday 10/20 Professor Satia will be joining us in class today

 In addition to reviewing Time’s Monster, read:
 Priya Satia, “One Tool of Critical Thinking That’s Done More Harm Than
Good,” Slate (March 30, 2022)
 Priya Satia, “The Way We Talk About Climate Change is Wrong,” Foreign
Policy (March 11, 2022)

Tuesday 10/25
 Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, p. 3-130.
o Read the chapters in Part I carefully for Obeyesekere’s concept of
“practical rationality.” Read the chapters in Part III carefully for his
critique of Sahlins. Read the final chapter in this section,
“Language Games and the European Apotheosis of James Cook,”
for his explanation of why this “myth” entered and persisted within
European culture. Skim the rest.

Thursday 10/27
 Sahlins, How “Natives” Think, preface, introduction, ch. 1, 4, and
epilogue (p. ix-84, 148-198).

Tuesday 11/1
 Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters, Introduction and chapters 1 and 2, p. 1-68.

Thursday 11/3
 Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters, chapters 5, 6, and Epilogue, p. 145-230.

Tuesday 11/8
 Monica Black, A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the
Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany (New York: Henry Holt, 2020),

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 introduction and ch. 2-4, and 10 (p. 1-17, 43-91, and 227-252).
(COURSEPACK)

PAPER 3 DUE FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18th at 5PM

DEBATING EVIDENCE:
INTERPRETING MOTIVATIONS IN THE HOLOCAUST

Thursday 11/10
 Watch before class: Night and Fog via video reserves on Moodle.
 Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (Viking edition), p. 21-55, 83-95,
116-126, 135-150, 206-219, 234-252, 274-279, 287-288.
(COURSEPACK)

Tuesday 11/15
 Browning, Ordinary Men, (published in 2017), p. 1-96, 121-32, 143-90

Thursday 11/17
 “The Willing Executioners/Ordinary Men Debate,” Selections from a
Symposium held at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, April 8, 1996. Read the
contributions by Daniel Goldhagen and Christopher Browning, p. 1-38
(COURSEPACK).
 Maza, Thinking about History, part of Chapter 4, p. 138-156.

Tuesday 11/22 NO CLASS – Thanksgiving Break

Thursday 11/24 NO CLASS – Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday 11/29
 Browning, Ordinary Men, p. 225-292.

Thursday 12/1
 Speigelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, entire

PAPER 4 DUE FRIDAY DECEMBER 9th BY 5PM

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 CONCLUSIONS:
WHY ARE WE HISTORIANS?

Tuesday 12/6
 Trouillot, Silencing the Past, p. 141-153.
 Lynn Hunt, Why History Matters (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018), p. 89-
115. (COURSEPACK)
 Maza, Thinking about History, Conclusion, pp. 235-238.

Thursday 12/8
Historians Grab Bag
 Required Assignment: read and analyze a piece of scholarly work written
by a faculty member of the Amherst College history department. (You're
welcome to focus on the work of a “contributing” member of the
department – i.e., a faculty member based in a department that’s not
History – as long as the work you choose to analyze is historical in
nature.) You should read either a full-length academic article, or the
introduction and a chapter of your choice from one of their published
books. See Moodle for a set of guiding questions.