Undergraduate - UnitATS2617 - The American civil war

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	History
Offered	Caulfield Second semester 2014 (Day) Clayton Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Taylor Spence

Notes

Previously coded HSY2990

Synopsis

This unit will relate the history of the American Civil War, with a particular focus on the political, social and ideological origins of the conflict between North and South; contemporary and historical understandings of the causes and outcomes of the war; the international significance of the Civil War as a political, military and social conflict; the experience and perspectives of 'ordinary Americans' before, during and after the war, with particular attention to soldiers and on slaves before and after emancipation; and the representation of the conflict in photography, fiction, film, popular memory and historical scholarship during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Outcomes

Students successfully completing this subject will be able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the history of the American Civil War, of the ways in which the war was understood by its various participants (including direct combatants, Northern and Southern black Americans, civilians, photographers and artists) and of its subsequent interpretation and representation by historians, film-makers and other cultural producers. They will also show skills in independent research and writing, collaborative research and presentation, and in the use of information technologies such as the WWW to locate, access and critically analyse various forms of historical data, documents and sources.

Assessment

Written work: 80% (3500 words)
Class test: 20%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Taylor Spence

Workload requirements

3 hours of lectures and tutorials per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

History

Prerequisites

Two gateway units in history

Prohibitions

ATS3617