HIST 407/507 European Artisans Fall Term 2012 Professor George Sheridan Tuesday 2:00 – 4:50 pm 359 McKenzie Hall, 541 346-4832 475 McKenzie [email protected] CRN 17137/17139 Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 11:45 – 12:30 Introduction This seminar addresses the historical experience of artisans in Europe since the late Middle Ages and through the nineteenth century. While the common readings focus on artisans in England and France, students may devote their independent work to other European countries as well, and may even include non-European areas as long as a significant European content is included. The topic of the research paper may also extend into the twentieth century. By “artisans” are meant manual workers who labored with their hands, largely in urban contexts and originally with materials, techniques, and skills learned through apprenticeship and regulated by custom and frequently also by law. The seminar is less concerned with wage-earning workers in factories, though the experience of the latter is sometimes relevant to issues concerning artisans. Moreover, artisans often applied their skills in factories as wage-earners. The seminar addresses a variety of features of artisan experience, including culture and community as well as work, organization, and militancy. The approach taken combines historical studies of artisan life, values, and initiatives with first-hand testimony by individual artisans in diaries and autobiographies. Method of the Course The course meets in one session each week. Seminar participants discuss readings assigned for that session, with one or more students initiating the discussion through an oral report. Each student will sign up to deliver an oral report for one session. This first oral report (10-15 minutes) will address an aspect of the readings assigned for that session. In the last few weeks of the term, each student will also make a brief presentation (second oral report) on the topic of his/her research paper for the course. Organization and scheduling of the first oral report will be done in the second session of the course (October 2); that of the second oral report will be done towards the end of the term. All students are expected to participate in each seminar session. For this purpose, each student will draft a one or two paragraph reflection on at least one of the assignedsecondary readings for the week AND on one of the assigned autobiography readings. The instructor will call upon individual students to share their reflections in each seminar session. Failure to respond when called upon will impact negatively on the grade for participation. Students are encouraged to keep these reflections in a journal or log for reference in discussion throughout the course of the term. The research and writing of the seminar research paper is the single most important requirement for each student in the seminar. Details of the paper are described below. The development of the paper requires completion of certain tasks at each stage. Completion of each stage is required by the specified due date. No research paper will be accepted that fails to complete each stage. Seminar Research Paper The major assignment of the seminar is the completion of a research paper of approximately 3000 to 3500 words (12-15 pages). The paper may address any topic of any European country or region, relevant to the broad theme of the course. The number and nature of sources used for the paper will vary depending on the topic and the sources used. All papers must use at least two book length scholarly studies and draw extensively from these studies knowledge of the topic, thesis or argument of the paper, or background to the topic. In addition, other sources are required – historical documents or other original sources, articles in scholarly journals, visual material, other books or chapters in books. The number of these will vary according to the on the nature of the topic and the nature and availability of sources. For instance, a paper making significant use of documents or other original text materials, such as autobiographies, or of materials in foreign languages, may not require the same quantity of source material as a paper relying exclusively on secondary studies in English. Materials from websites are acceptable only if these are original sources (primary sources or documents), scholarly books, or online versions of scholarly articles. Use of material from generic non-scholarly online sites such as Wikipedia is not acceptable. Students with questions about acceptability of specific online materials should consult the instructor. Both the topic of the research paper and the sources used for it require the instructor’s approval. For this purpose the statement of the topic and the gathering of sources are essential stages in the development of the paper. Each stage is to be completed by the due date specified below. Bibliographies pertaining to various aspects of European artisans will be provided to assist in the development of a topic and initial identification of relevant sources. All students should plan to invest extensive time, during the first few weeks of the course, exploring collections in the two libraries on campus most relevant to the topic of this course – the main library (Knight Library) and the AAA library in Lawrence Hall. An orientation to various collections of library materials will take place in the first session of the seminar. Throughout the term, John Russell, Social Science Librarian, is available for consultation at the UO Knight Library. Feel free to contact him at the following email address for assistance: [email protected] 2Following are the required stages for development and completion of the research paper, with due dates for each stage. A research paper is not complete unless each stage of the process is completed. Delays in completing the relevant stage are also grounds for refusal of a request for an incomplete in circumstances where this might otherwise be justified. October 9: Topic statement for research paper (one or two paragraphs) and citation of at least one major book on the topic, with specification of author, title, and publication date of the book. October 23: Detailed bibliography with