<< >> ^

History

Objectives

The Department of History has as its two main objectives:

Such understanding requires them to be able not only to criticise but also to construct for themselves an historical argument and, more generally, to undertake an analysis of a problem, issue or period in the past. Students are led, from first-year tutorials onwards, to deal with source criticism (the close reading and evaluation of primary documentary sources. Such source criticism, properly understood, instead of encouraging students to believe that `facts are facts' and that there is an `objective' historical truth, rather leads them to approach carefully all data, historical or otherwise. It also encourages them to read between (and behind) the lines of a text, and to be aware of how different ideas and values are not only in competition in a given period, and between cultures, but how they change radically over time and place.

While `method', in this sense, is integrated with `content' throughout the history degree, third-year students are offered the subjects HSY3060 (Uses of the past) and HSY3080 (Reading history), which examine recent trends in historiography and in `new knowledges' in the humanities. Satisfactory performance in one of these subjects is a requirement for all fourth-year honours students, who are also asked to take at least one other methodological subject.

Teaching in the department includes lectures and small discussion groups, which encourage habits of inquiry and debate. The writing of exercises and essays reinforces this training, and teaches reflective, analytical and rhetorical skills. Oral presentation is also important.

Although the department does not insist that students take a compulsory core subject or subjects, it encourages them to include in their history degree subjects devoted both to Australian history and to the history of other places and cultures, and to themes such as sexuality, religious history, world history, historical methodology, women's history, and so on. Since the department offers a broad spectrum of subjects, students have the opportunity to expose themselves to the histories of diverse cultures and themes, all of them informed by the methodological concerns mentioned earlier.

History is responsive to the wider community's interest in, and demand for, historical expertise and understanding. Hence this department offers a public history program at post-graduate level, and makes many other contributions to the community through teaching and research.

The Department of History expects certain skills, attitudes and knowledge of students at different stages of their degree. The student with a minor in history should have imbibed a firm sense of how historians think and argue and on what methodological basis. The student will have studied several different periods of history and various historical themes. A major in history will have a more advanced and self-conscious understanding of the methodological and epistemological bases of the subject, and a wider knowledge of a number of historical fields and themes. The student will have begun to practise writing history as well as studying it, because third-year students must undertake intensive research, based on documentary sources. Fourth-year honours students undertake research of their own choice, using primary sources, and complete a thesis of between 12,000 and 15,000 words. The thesis is expected to be original and to have applied a sophisticated understanding of methodological and historiographical questions to the research undertaken.

Courses

The Department of History offers subjects in the history of Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. Major sequences may be taken in European, Asian and Australian history or in a combination of these. First-year subjects introduce students to the methods of historical enquiry through a choice of ten subjects arranged in sequential pairs.

Students are advised to follow a sequence of related subjects, although it is possible to combine them in other ways. Students may enrol in from one to four first year subjects. All first-year subjects aim to develop not only a grasp of particular topics, but also an understanding of the methods and aims of the historical discipline.

No previous study of history is required for any first-year subject. In all subjects attendance at tutorials is compulsory and repeated absence without good reason may result in the student being failed. Attendance at lectures is strongly encouraged, but is not compulsory.

Minor sequence

A minor sequence in history consists of a first-year level sequence followed by second-year level subjects to the value of at least sixteen points.

Major sequence

Students who wish to follow a major sequence in history must, in their second year, take second-year level history to the value of at least sixteen points, and in their third year take third-year level history subjects to the value of at least twenty-four points. The number of points taken at second and third year must total at least forty.

Students taking a major in history are strongly recommended to take HSY3060 (Uses of the past) or HSY3080 (Reading history) as one of their three eight-point subjects at third year. Most second-year subjects offered are also available at third-year level.

Students enrolling in or after 1996 should note that the Arts faculty regulations now require that a major sequence in a discipline is to be comprised of a minimum of two six-point subjects at first year, a minimum of two eight-point subjects at second year and, at third year, a minimum of three eight-point subjects.

Students may construct a major sequence in history by selecting subjects spread across the fields of Asian, European, Australian and American history or by following a more specialised sequence based upon a particular subject, field or theme.

Some examples of courses constructed within particular fields are:

First year

Second year
Third year
Asian



First semester
HSY1050
HSY2460
HSY3210
Second semester
HSY1060
HSY2480
HSY3190 plus HSY3060
Australian



First semester
HSY1030
HSY2850
HSY3310
Second semester
HSY1040
HSY2780
HSY3420 plus HSY3060
Modern European



First semester
HSY1070
HSY2530
HSY3950 plus HSY3080
Second semester
HSY1080
HSY2540
HSY3400
Some examples of majors constructed to follow certain themes are:

First year

Second year
Third year
Cultural/social history



First semester
HSY1010
HSY2600
HSY3950 plus HSY3080
Second semester
HSY1020
HSY2400
HSY3630
Contemporary history



First semester
HSY1150
HSY2850
HSY3460 plus HSY3080
Second semester
HSY1040
HSY2780
HSY3420
These combinations are suggestions only; students are advised to seek further information from Department of History course advisers (see below).

Combined honours in history and politics

Students taking a combined major in history and politics must take a minimum of fifty-two points in each discipline, spread across three years. Students may choose any history and any politics subjects, but the History department recommends the following structure and subjects:

First year

Two of the following:

plus a first-year politics sequence and two other first-year sequences.

Second year

Two of the following at second-year level:

plus two second-year politics subjects and two other second-year subjects.

Third year

plus two of the following at third-year level: plus three third-year politics subjects.

Combined/double major studies in history and other disciplines

For students wishing to undertake combined major studies in history and other discplines, the department recommends following a structure similar to that for history/politics described above. Students should seek enrolment advice and permission from the respective departments.

Honours courses

A fourth or honours year offers an opportunity for more specialised advanced work in history and leads to the degree of BA(Hons). The Faculty of Arts requires intending honours students to have achieved high credit grades in at least twenty-four points of history at second and third-year levels, of which at least sixteen points must be at the third-year level. The department suggests that students may encounter difficulty in attempting fourth-year study in history without having achieved at least eight points of second or third-year history at distinction level. The completion of a first-year or later-year language, when it is appropriate to the student's studies, is also considered an advantage.

Third-year students contemplating honours should take HSY3060 (Uses of the past) or HSY3080 (Reading history), subjects designed to link reflection on the purposes of history with the application of historical skills in the public domain.

In the honours year students normally take three coursework subjects, at least one of which must be a historiography subject, attend a general seminar, and present a written dissertation of between 12,000 and 15,000 words. Full details are provided in a booklet, `Handbook for third-year students who intend taking fourth-year honours', which is available from the department. This departmental handbook also contains full information about subjects offered in 1998, assessment, extensions of time for written work and progress reports for completed constituent Honours subjects. The due date for the submission of final coursework and the dissertation is the last day of the final semester of the honours program (Friday 5 June in first semester 1998 and Friday 30 October in second semester 1998). Departments may grant an extension of time for submission of the honours thesis or for final coursework up to the last day of the examination period of the semester in which the work is done. Applications for extensions beyond this date must be made to the Committee for Undergraduate Studies. Further preliminary information may be obtained from the honours coordinator for 1998, Dr Peter Howard (room 521) or the departmental administrative officer, Ms Val Campbell (room 580).

Subjects which may be taken in other departments

Students proposing to follow a major in history are encouraged to study foreign languages in fields relevant to their historical interests. Several of the language departments offer introductory subjects.

Students may take certain subjects as part of a history major or minor sequence provided that a major sequence includes at least thirty-six points or a minor sequence at least sixteen points in subjects taught in the Department of History. The following subjects are available in 1998:

In classics and archaeology
For details see the entry for classics and archaelogy.
In economic history
For details see the entry for economic history.
In European studies
For details see the entry for European studies.
In Jewish civilisation
For details see the entry for Jewish civilisation.

Prizes

Prizes are awarded for outstanding performance in subjects taught in the Department of History. These awards are made to the top student at the different year levels, and in Indonesian and Jewish history. The Ian Turner prize is awarded for the best fourth-year dissertation. Full details are available from the departmental office.

General

The following list of books includes titles which all history students (and future history teachers) will find generally valuable. They will therefore also be helpful for any particular subject students decide to study. Most of these books may be read in the Department of History library.

Barzun J and Graff H The modern researcher rev. edn, Harcourt Brace
Carr E H What is history? Pelican
Clanchy J and Ballard B Essay writing for students Longman Cheshire
Cook C Dictionary of historical terms Macmillan
Darby H C (ed.) The new Cambridge modern history atlas CUP
A dictionary of modern history Pelican
Guinsburg T N (ed.) The dimensions of history Rand McNally
The Penguin atlas of world history 2 vols, Penguin or
Palmer R R (ed.) Historical atlas of the world
Shepherd's historical atlas 9th edn, Barnes and Noble
Taylor G The student's writing guide for the arts and social sciences CUP

First-year level

The department offers ten first-year subjects, five in each semester. Each subject is valued at six points. All first-year subjects may be taken without prerequisites. Students may enrol in a suggested pair of subjects, one in first semester and one in second semester, to form a first-year sequence in history. Please note that all first-year subjects are discrete and may be taken as a pair or independently. Suggested first-year sequences in history are:

Subjects offered

Second-year level

Prerequisite

Any first-year level history sequence carrying a total of at least twelve points. Whereas all second and third-year history subjects may be taken independently of each other, students are advised to select them according to a coherent plan of study which should take into account the value of following paired sequences of subjects in particular subject areas.

Subjects offered

The following subjects, available at second-year level, will be offered in 1998:

Third-year level

Prerequisite

Any second-year history subjects carrying a total of at least sixteen points. Whereas all third-year history subjects may be taken independently of each other, students are advised to select them according to a coherent plan of study which should take into account the value of following paired sequences of subjects in particular subject areas.

Subjects offered

The following subjects will be offered at third-year level in 1998. Where the same subject is also offered at second year, the syllabus for the third-year subject will be the same in each case as for the corresponding second-year level subject, except that in third year students will be required to undertake work of a different and more advanced kind. To achieve a history major students are required to complete successfully at least forty points of history at second and third-year levels, with at least two eight-point subjects at second year and three eight-point subjects at third year. As part of their third-year study students are strongly encouraged to take either HSY3060 (Uses of the past) or HSY3080 (Reading history), subjects designed to link reflection on the purposes of history with the application of historical skills in the public domain.

It is required that students contemplating honours enrol in HSY3060 (Uses of the past) or HSY3080 (Reading history) which will prepare them for fourth-year study.

Fourth-year level

In addition to writing a dissertation on an approved topic and attending the general seminar, honours students are required to take three eight-point subjects. A student who has not previously taken a third-year introduction to honours or methodology subject will be required to take an introductory course of a series of seminars in historical method to be conducted between March - Easter 1998 Students who have completed HSY3790/HSY3800 (Historical method) or HSY3010/HSY3020 (Making histories) may study either two subjects of historiography and method and one special subject or one subject of historiography and method and two special subjects (each from a different subject area).

Subjects offered

Combined honours in history and other disciplines

Combined honours may be taken in history and other disciplines (eg sociology, politics, geography, anthropology and English) provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the heads of both departments/centres.

Enrolment advice

Students seeking advice on their selection of subjects should obtain an appointment with one of the following, by contacting the Department of History office, room 510, telephone 9905 2172.

David Garrioch, room 610, telephone 9905 2175 or

Val Campbell, room 508, telephone 9905 2199.

Fourth-year coordinator, Peter Howard, room 521, telephone 9905 9209

<< >> ^