Program Overview

Invitation to History (Theme: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Early Modern England) (HIST*1050)

Course Description

This course will introduce students to the basics of the historian's craft, including locating, analysing, and interpreting both primary and secondary sources. It will provide students with the skills needed to be successful in their History major, minor, or area of concentration.

Topic

Focusing on London, England, this course will investigate contemporary understandings of class, race, gender, and sexuality and how these were core to understanding the self and society in the early modern period. Primary sources will include court records, poetry, midwifery guides, artwork, letters, and wills. In addition to historical research skills, students will learn to critically assess primary and secondary documents by considering gender and intersectionality as a lens for examining the past.

Methods of Evaluation and Weights

• Class Participation: 20%
• Research skills assignment: 20%
• Short Writing Assignment: 20%
• Project/Essay Proposal: 10%
• Research Project/Essay: 30%

Learning Outcomes

1. Students will learn how to manage their time in university for success.
2. Students will learn how to distinguish between important information and unnecessary details.
3. Students will learn how to distinguish between a scholarly and a non-scholarly source.
4. Students will develop effective written and oral communications skills and enhance listening comprehension.
5. Students will learn to analyse and interpret a variety of primary and secondary sources and construct a historical argument.
6. Students will learn how to act with academic integrity.
7. Students will learn how to cite sources appropriately in history classes.
8. Students will learn that historical interpretations change over time and in response to evidence.
9. Students will learn that history is a diverse enterprise which helps us to understand different cultures, regions, and states.

Texts and/or Resources Required

All readings are available online.

Departments and Schools

• School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing
  • School of Fine Art and Music
  • School of Languages and Literatures
  • Department of History
  • Department of Philosophy
  • Interdisciplinary Programs

Centres, Institutes and Labs

• Centre for Scottish Studies
• Grounded and Engaged Theory Lab (GET)
• Interdisciplinary Design Lab
• The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation
• The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration Lab (THINC)
• The School of Fine Art & Music Print Study Collection