Seminar in Historical Analysis (405-0-23)

Topic

Microhistory

Instructors

Edward Muir
847/491-3653
Harris Hall - Room 244

Meeting Info

Harris Hall room 101: Tues 9:30AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

In recent years historians have developed a new technique called microhistory for capturing the lives of the people who have been lost to history—peasants, heretics, poor women, gays, and con-conformists of all sorts. These were the people who because of their low social status, rural origins, illiteracy, or unpopular beliefs were ignored, despised, or persecuted by the dominant society. Microhistory is a method of investigation that usually relies on the evidence from judicial trials of otherwise obscure people who found themselves in trouble with the authorities. The method gives a voice to those who otherwise left no written record of their lives. The result of the studies has been a remarkable re-evaluation of the experiences and beliefs of the common people of Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Learning Objectives

Enhance critical reading and analytical skills; navigate debates within academic fields; get a firm grounding in the historical phenomenon of Orientalism, as well as theoretical attempts to understand it

Evaluation Method

Short response papers throughout the quarter; final paper on a topic of your choosing

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): European