Program Overview

Invitation to History: Tourism History (HIST*1050)

Course Details

The course code for Invitation to History: Tourism History is HIST*1050, with a section number of 03, offered during the Fall 2019 term. The course instructor is Kevin James.

Course Synopsis

This course introduces students to the basics of the historian's craft, including interpreting primary sources, locating and critically analyzing secondary sources, and writing for history. Each offering of the course in a semester focuses on a specific topic, with this seminar exploring tourism and travel history, focusing on Scotland.

Tours in Tartanland

The course explores what has drawn people to particular sites and landscapes in Scotland, such as dramatic mountains or glistening streams, and how people have navigated and narrated these places. Using the university's renowned Scottish Studies collection and drawing on the perspectives of scholars of travel, tourism, performance, and literature, students critically examine what it meant for people to tour and be toured in the past.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will:

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

Methods of Evaluation and Weights

The methods of evaluation and their respective weights are:

• Primary Source Activity: 15%
• Mid-Term Examination: 20%
• Research Assignment: 30%
• Seminar Participation: 10%
• Final Examination: 25%

Texts and/or Resources Required

All readings are available online.

Departments and Schools

The course is associated with the following 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

The course may draw resources from:

• 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