SENIOR SEMINAR: HISTORY OF THE BODY IN THE UNITED STATES PROVISIONAL SYLLABUS Mondays, 2:00 – 4:50, McKenzie 471 Carrie Adkins McKenzie 340P Office Hours: Mondays, 10:00 – 1:00 [email protected] Course Description This course is a senior seminar devoted to the production of a scholarly research paper that addresses the role of the physical body in American history. Readings will highlight many of the ways that historians have approached the body in their explorations of a variety of topics, including race, gender, sexuality, health, and disability. We will spend half of our class time discussing these readings and examining the ways that historians who deal with the body frame their questions, organize their arguments, analyze their sources, and reach their conclusions. The second half of our class time will generally take the form of a workshop aimed at guiding you through the process of selecting your own research topic, locating primary and secondary sources, formulating a historical argument, and writing your paper. Ultimately, each student will write an effective and original historical research paper of approximately 20 pages. Requirements and Grading 1. You are required to produce a scholarly research paper of approximately 20 pages on a topic approved by the instructor. Your overall grade in this class will depend largely on the quality of this paper. 50% 2. Each student will be responsible for leading a class discussion of one of the assigned articles. You will sign up for an article and receive specific instructions for this assignment in class. 10% 3. As noted on the course calendar, there are a number of smaller assignments due at regular intervals. These assignments are the building blocks of your paper, and taking them seriously will result in a stronger, more effective paper at the end of the quarter. 40% (about 5% per assignment) 4. Attendance and participation are mandatory. I reserve the right to lower the final grade of any student with more than one unexcused absence. Three unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. Warning: Academic dishonesty of any sort (plagiarism, fabrication, or other forms of misconduct) is cause for severe sanction by the University of Oregon. For more information, and for useful definitions and discussion of what does and doesn't constitute academic dishonesty, see the UO Policy on Academic Dishonesty. If you've read this material, and still have any doubt about when and how to use citations, be sure to ask the instructor before you submit your paper.POSSIBLE ARTICLE READINGS (STUDENTS WILL CHOOSE AMONG THEM) Boster, Dea H. “An ‘Epeleptick’ Bondswoman: Fits, Slavery, and Power in the Antebellum South.” Briggs, Laura. “The Race of Hysteria: ‘Overcivilization’ and the ‘Savage’ Woman in Late- Nineteenth-Century Obstetrics and Gynecology.” Brown, Kathleen. “‘Changed . . . into the Fashion of Man’: The Politics of Sexual Difference in A Seventeenth-Century Anglo-American Settlement.” Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. “‘Something Happens to Girls’: Menarche and the Emergence of the Modern American Hygienic Imperative.” Camp, Stephanie. “The Pleasures of Resistance: Enslaved Women and Body Politics in the Plantation South, 1830-1861.” Coco, Adrienne Phelps. “Diseased, Maimed, Mutilated: Categorization of Disability and an Ugly Law in Late Nineteenth-Century Chicago.” Griffith, R. Marie. “Apostles of Abstinence: Fasting and Masculinity during the Progressive Era.” Hirschbein, Laura Davidow. “The Glandular Solution: Sex, Masculinity, and Aging in the 1920s.” Leavitt, Judith Walzer. “‘Typhoid Mary’ Strikes Back: Bacteriological Theory and Practice in Early Twentieth-Century Public Health.” Lewis, Carolyn Herbst. “Waking Sleeping Beauty: The Premarital Pelvic Exam and Heterosexuality during the Cold War.” Markel, Howard. “‘The Eyes Have It’: Trachoma, the Perception of Disease, the United States Public Health Service, and the American Jewish Immigration Experience, 1897-1924.” Mumford, Kevin J. “’Lost Manhood’ Found: Male Sexual Impotence and Victorian Culture in The United States.” O’Connor, Erin. “Pictures of Health: Medical Photography and the Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa.” Pernick, Martin S. “The Calculus of Suffering in Nineteenth-Century Surgery.” Reis, Elizabeth. “The Devil, the Body, and the Feminine Soul in Puritan New England.” Reis, Elizabeth. “Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America, 1620-1960.”Stern, Alexandra Minna. “Buildings, Boundaries, and Blood: Medicalization and Nation- Building on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1910-1930.” Zschoche, Sue. “Dr. Clarke Revisited: Science, True Womanhood, and Female Collegiate Education.” COURSE CALENDAR AND DUE DATES Week 1 – April 2 Syllabus and Course Overview Introductions and Possible Topics Article Selections and Presentation Sign-Ups Week 2 – April 9 ***PAPER TOPIC ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Rampolla 41-43 (“Thinking Like a Historian”) Rampolla 67-70 (“Moving from Topic to . . .”) Article 1 (TBA) Article 2 (TBA) Week 3 – April 16 ***PRIMARY SOURCE ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Rampolla 6-23 (“Working with Sources”) Rampolla 70-73 (“Developing a Research Plan . . .”) Article 3 (TBA) Article 4 (TBA) Week 4 – April 23 ***SECONDARY SOURCE ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Article 5 (TBA) Article 6 (TBA) Week 5 – April 30 ***MANDATORY MEETING WITH INSTRUCTOR***No class today. Use the extra hours on your paper! Week 6 – May 7 ***INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Article 7 (TBA) Week 7 – May 14 ***CITATIONS ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Rampolla 94-128 (“Quoting and Documenting Sources”) Article 9 (TBA) Week 8 – May 21 ***ROUGH DRAFT ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Reading Assignments for Today: Rampolla 57-65 (“Revising . . .” and “Editing . . .” Week 9 – May 28 No class today – Memorial Day Holiday. Week 10 – June 4 ***IN-CLASS PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT DUE*** Monday, June 11, by 2:00 – Final Papers