HSY3080

Reading History

(ART)

Jane Drakard and others

6 points + 3 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in History or permission

Synopsis: This subject focuses on the types, or 'genres', of historical sources: their origins and history, the uses made of them by their originators and by later historians, and how they may be read. 'Reading' includes the interpretation of visual, oral, architectural and material sources as well as textual ones. Themes will include the translation of oral communication into writing and the rendering of writing into print; issues of authorship and audience; the construction of inquisitorial, confessional and narrative sources; the rise of the press and the history of the newspaper; the interpretation of maps, photographs, and documentary film; and architectural analysis.

Assessment: Classroom exercise (750 words): 20% + Critical essay (2750 words): 50% + Project/thesis proposal (1000 words): 30%