HSY4950

Hidden transcripts: cultural approaches to the past

Jane Drakard

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Students will be expected to familiarise themselves with a range of theoretical works dealing with the intersection between historical, anthropological and textual approaches to the study of the past; reflect on some of the methodological issues involved in thinking about culture as a concept and as a tool for historical analysis; and relate their reading to a set of general questions about historical practice, including the nature of historical evidence and the conclusions that may be drawn from it.

Synopsis In recent years a creative dialogue has developed between historians and anthropologists who find that each has much to learn from the other's discipline. Sometimes called `ethnohistory', this dialogue has produced new theoretical perspectives and a growing body of works which attempt to understand the past through culture. This subject examines new approaches in anthropology and history and looks at the variety of ways in which culturally oriented reading strategies have been used to uncover the `hidden transcripts' encoded in texts, rituals and events. Particular emphasis will be placed on the way in which these strategies might be applied in the preparation of honours dissertations.

Assessment Essay (5000 words): 70%
* Examination (2 hours): 30%

Recommended texts

Boon J A Other tribes, other scribes CUP, 1982
Carter P The road to Botany Bay: An exploration of landscape and history Knopf, 1988
Clendinnen I Ambivalent conquests CUP, 1987
Darnton R The great cat massacre Penguin, 1984
Denning G Mr Bligh's bad language CUP, 1992
Geertz C The interpretation of cultures Hutchinson, 1973
Guha R and Spivak G C (eds) Selected subaltern studies OUP, 1988
Isaac R The transformation of Virginia 1740-1970 U North Carolina P, 1982
Ohnuki-Tierney E (ed.) Culture through time Stanford U P, 1990
Sahlins M How `natives' think: About Captain Cook, for example Chicago U P, 1995
Schama S Landscape and memory Harper Collins, 1995
Todorov T The conquest of America 1984