This seminar course for senior undergraduates will introduce those enrolled to a number of critical issues in the current theory and practice of history. It is not a course on methods and approaches, nor on the philosophy of history per se. Rather the intent is to discuss some past and current key thinkers on historiographic matters over the past century, and current issues both within and outside the academic profession. In the second half of the course, we will endeavour to combine theory with practice by choosing cases where positions taken with respect to the past have had a significant impact in the public sphere. Issues discussed will include how we use the past to make sense of the present (and vice-versa); who “owns” the past; the implications of DNA and genetic data; the moral and ethical responsibilities of the historian; the question of judgment in history; the relationship between history and memory; and the impact on historical writing of postmodernism and postcolonialism. Students will take positions and defend them to their classmates and will engage in at least one role-playing exercise involving a public controversy about the past. The course covers several of the same topics as History 845 but with a lighter reading load.
