Universität Wien

070184 SE Seminar - Historical sources and critique - The Political Culture of the United States of America (2024W)

8.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle
Mo 02.12. 18:30-20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

In the middle of the semester, on November 5, the US elections take place. If all goes peacefully (!), by January 20, 2025 the members of the 119th Congress and the next President of the United States will have taken office. A viewing of the inauguration ceremony and a discussion of this event in light of what we have discussed in seminar will therefore be the topic of the final seminar session on January 27, 2025.

  • Monday 07.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 14.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 21.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 28.10. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 04.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 11.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 18.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 25.11. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 09.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 16.12. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 13.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 20.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00
  • Monday 27.01. 18:30 - 20:00 Seminarraum 6, Kolingasse 14-16, EG00

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The concept "political culture" can be defined as „the set of shared views and normative judgments held by a population regarding its political system.“ The topic of this seminar is the creation and reception of normative ideals (such as the claim in the Declaration of Independence of 1776 that „all men are created equal“, or the assertion by Thomas Paine in the same year that this was to be „a government of laws, not of men“) and documents (such as the Constitution of 1786, the Bill of Rigts of 1791 and other ammendments), that have become foundational for the political life of the United States. The significance of these foundational ideas and documents has never been denied, but their interpretation and realization have been and remain sharply, sometimes violently disputed. The central questions of the seminar are therefore: (1) How did the central political beliefs and values of American political culture arise? (2) How and why have these foundational beliefs, their interpretation and above all the participation in these debates changed in the long course of American history? (3) Were these foundational beliefs always understood in the same way by everyone? If not, how and why has their realization been questioned?
In the seminar selected written, visual and audiovisual primary sources from the Revolution to the present will be offered for common discussion. A major goal of the seminar in addition to historical analysis of the content of these sources will be to introduce students to historical source analysis (historische Quellenkunde). A central issue of the seminar from this perspective is how to deal with documents that have multiple authors; can we even speak of authorship in such cases? In addition different versions of source texts or the differences between the official and earlier versions may be discussed.

Assessment and permitted materials

Mode of work: Each session will be led by one or more students who will introduce the source texts with a brief thesis paper and then lead the following discussion. The thesis papers will be sent to all students in advance of the session to enable preparation for high-quality discussion. In order to make possible common discussion in depth, regular reading of the primary texts for each session is absolutely necessary.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The seminar is open to students in the Master program in history, but students from other disciplines are cordially welcome. Basic knowledge of the history of the USA would be helpful, but is not required. However, the seminar is not a substitute for a survey course in American history.
Assessment: Student achievement will be assessed according the three criteria: (1) regular and active participation in the seminar sessions (25 per cent); (2) the quality of discussion leadership (thesis paper and moderation), which can be done individually or on a team basis (25 per cent); (3) a seminar paper of 15 to 20 pages, which can be either an analysis of a historical source text or an analysis of a more general historical topic on the basis of independent research (50 per cent).

Examination topics

Achievement criterion 1 (active participation, 25 points) is fulfilled by documented presence and active participation in seminar discussions.
Achievement criterion 2 (discussion leadership, 25 points, is fulfilled by reading ALL of the texts for the chosen seminar session, writing a brief thesis paper to introduce the discussion topic (which can be done individually or on a team basis) and distributing it to ALL students in advance of the session, and leading the following discussion.
Achievement criterion 3 (seminar paper, 50 points) is fulfilled by submitting on time a paper of 15 to 20 pages, which can be either an analysis of a historical source text in context (Anrechnung Quellenkunde) or an analysis of a freely chosen, relevant historical topic on the basis of independent research. Detailed guidelines for the formulation of seminar papers will be made known in advance and discussed in a seminar session.

Reading list

Required readings: In each session one or more relevant primary source texts in the original English, for example: The Declaration of Independence 1776; the Constitution of 1787 and the "Bill of Rights" 1791; Texts by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison from the "Federalist Papers" 1794-1795; Speeches by Abraham Lincoln 1861, 1863, 1865 and the Constitutional ammendments 14-16 (1866-1870), which reformed the requirements for American citizenship and voting rights; Texts of "New Deal" legislation (1933-1936) that laid the foundations for a American welfare state; texts by foreign observers such as Alexis de Tocqueville (excerpts from "Democracy in America" 1834), by pioneers of the first and second feminist movements such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton ("Declaration of Sentiments" 1848) and Gloria Steinem (1976), or Blacks such as Sojourner Truth, Fredrick Douglass (What to an American Slave is the 4th of July? 1852), Martin Luther King Jr. (Letter from a Birmingham Jail and the „I have a Dream“-speech 1963) and James Baldwin; speeches and television apperances by various U.S. Presidents of the 20th and 21st centuries such as Franklin D. Roosevelt ("Four Freedoms"-speech 1941), Harry S. Truman ("Containment" speech 1947), Dwight D. Eisenhower ("Atoms for Peace" 1953 und "Farewell Address" 1960), John F. Kennedy (Inauguration speech 1961), Barack Obama (Speech accepting the nomination for President 2008) und Donald J. Trump (Inauguration speech 2017).
Optional reading: Secundary literature for the contextualisation of the source texts will be recommended for each session.
Optional reading on the history of the USA in preparation for the seminar: Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States. New York 2018 (dt.: Diese Wahrheiten. Eine Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. München 2019); Building the American Republic, 2 vols., open access via Press.uchicago.edu; Ellen DuBois/Lynn Dumeneil (eds.): Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents, 2 vols.; Susan Ware (ed.): American Woman Suffrage: Voices from the Long Struggle for the Vote 1776-1965 (2020).
On historical source research: Artikel „Quellen“: https://goonline/univie.ac.at/methoden-quellen/quellen
Maria Rhoda and Ernst Wawra, Quellen und Quellenkritik im Geschichtsstudium In: Dies. (Hg.), Quellenanalyse. Ein epochenübergreifendes Handbuch für das Geschichtsstudium. Brill/Schöningh 2020, 14-30. Siehe auch Teil IV über Quellen der Zeitgeschichte. Online: https://www.utb.de/doi/book/10.36198/9783838551128.

Association in the course directory

MEd: SE Vertiefungsseminar 1: Quellenkunde und Quellenkritik (6 ECTS)
MA Geschichte: SP Neuzeit, Zeitgeschichte,Globalgeschichte (8 ECTS)

Last modified: Su 15.09.2024 13:45