The Schedule of Senior Seminars
History 4499, the Senior Seminar, is one of three upper
division courses required of all History majors.
Prerequisites:
History
2270 - Intro to Themes in History (titled "Local History Research"
through summer 2007)
History
3376 - Historiographical Debates (titled "Problems and Philosophies of
History" through summer 2007)
Both
must be passed with a grade of "C" or better.
To register for a Senior Seminar a student must complete THIS form, including obtaining all
required authorizing signatures.
Seminars
Scheduled
Below are the seminars scheduled as of March 31, 2010 .
Instructors’ names are provided, with an email link for
students who have questions about the seminar.
Spring 2012
Seminar Title: Atlanta and the Long Civil Rights Movement
Instructor: Dr. LeeAnn Lands (llands@kennesaw.edu)
Seminar Title: The Early
Reformation
Instructor: Dr. Paul Dover (pdover@kennesaw.edu)
Fall 2011
Seminar Title: Heretics
and Martyrs
Instructor: Dr. Gerrit Voogt (gvoogt@kennesaw.edu)
Seminar Title: Georgia
in the New South
Instructor: Dr. David Parker (dparker@kennesaw.edu)
Spring 2011
Seminar Title: Labor in
the Twentieth Century South
Instructor: Dr. Randy Patton (rpatton@kennesaw.edu)
Seminar Title: Women and War
Instructor: Dr. Katya Vladimirov
(kvladimi@kennesaw.edu)
Course
Description: Throughout history, the business of war has generally been the
preserve of men. In the 20th century, however, the role of women in the armed
forces began a process of transformation that is still happening to this day.
In the Red Army during World War II, women served as pilots, tank crew,
infantry, snipers and military police. Women now served in an increasingly wide
range of jobs, including positions as jet fighter pilots in the Royal Navy, RAF
and US Air Force. We will explore women's role in the military during the time
of war and analyze how they had changed modern day societies. In addition, we
will compare various case studies of women at the home front and female
civilians as casualties of war and victims of genocides.
Fall 2010
Seminar Title: The United States in World Affairs, 1914-1990
Instructor: Dr. James Piecuch (jpiecuch@kennesaw.edu)
Course
Description: This course will cover the history of American diplomacy from
1914-1990. Topics will include American
involvement in World Wars I and II, the origins and progress of the Cold War,
and the U.S. interventions in Korea and Vietnam. Key elements that shaped American policy in
this era including presidential leadership, political and ideological factors,
economic interests, and external threats to American security will be
emphasized. Students will read a variety
of works on these subjects in preparation for researching and writing an
article-length essay (the senior thesis).
Seminar Title: China in the Western Imagination
Instructor: Dr. Jiayan Zhang jzhang3@kennesaw.edu
Course Description: Based on source
materials such as the travels of Marco Polo, accounts of Jesuit missionaries,
works of Enlightenment thinkers, imperialists' reports in the nineteenth
century, stereotyped images of Chinese in Hollywood movies, personal
observations of Red China, and information on the Rising Dragon, this seminar
will explore how western understanding or imagination changed from the
thirteenth century to the twenty-first. This will be an intensive reading and
writing course (resulting in a senior thesis), but all of these materials are
in English, so students do not have to know Chinese.
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Previous Senior Seminars
Spring 2010
Seminar Title: A History of American Suburbs
Instructor: Dr. Thomas A. Scott tscott@kennesaw.edu
Course Description: The majority of
the U.S. population now lives in suburban areas. But it wasn’t that way
until relatively recently. While suburbs can be found in America as far back as
1820, the movement to suburbia reached tidal proportions only about fifty or
sixty years ago. In his 1985 classic, Crabgrass Frontier: the Suburbanization
of the United States, Kenneth T. Jackson defines suburbanization “as a
process involving the systematic growth of fringe areas at a pace more rapid
that that of core cities [and] as a lifestyle involving a daily commute to jobs
in the center.” Even in 1985, the latter part of that definition had
become limiting, as jobs moved out of the inner cities to the suburbs, as
suburbs became demographically diverse, and as the fringe areas increasingly
took on urban characteristics. Among other things, this course will examine the
role of technology, architecture, developers, idealists, and planners in
creating a suburban nation.
We will also look at the sometimes unintended consequences of government
programs in creating sprawl, isolation, urban decline, white flight, and other
metropolitan problems. The class will read a number of books and articles,
including Kenneth Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier; Dolores Hayden’s
Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000; Rosalyn Baxandall
and Elizabeth Ewen’s Picture Windows: How the Suburbs Happened; Andres
Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck’s Suburban Nation: The Rise
of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream; and Matthew Lassiter’s
The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South. Students will
write an original research paper using primary sources.
Seminar Title: The Age of Imperialism
Instructor: Dr. Akanmu Adebayo aadebayo@kennesaw.edu
Course
Description: This course is a discourse
on imperialism. Although imperialism has been a part of human history since the
rise of ancient empires and civilizations, the course will concentrate on the
phase termed the “Age of Imperialism,” from the late nineteenth to
the middle of the twentieth centuries; and it will focus on the causes and
consequences of European imperialism in Africa. Students should be prepared to
read, critique, and articulate the central ideas, theories, and controversies
on imperialism. Students are also required to research and write a senior
thesis on any topic related to the “Age of Imperialism,” using
published and unpublished primary sources.
Fall 2009
Seminar
Title: Black Death
Instructor: Dr. Paul Dover (pdover@kennesaw.edu)
Course
Description: Semester-long examination
of the course, causes and consequences of the catastrophe that killed upwards
of half of the Eurasian population in the late Middle Ages. Extensive reading
in the many debates surrounding the disease's epidemiology and its effects on
social institutions and cultural mentalities. Students will produce an original
research essay on the course's subject matter based on their treatment of primary
sources. Reading and writing intensive.
Seminar
Title: Georgia History
since 1733
Instructor: Dr. David
Parker (dparker@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description: This senior seminar covers Georgia
History from 1733 to the present. The first few weeks of the course will be
based on discussions of common readings, giving students the necessary
background for their senior theses. During the remainder of the semester,
students will research and write their theses, which can be on any aspect of
Georgia history. We will meet regularly to critique drafts and discuss
individual research.
Spring 2009
Seminar
Title:
History of American Suburbs
Instructor: Dr.
Thomas A. Scott
(tscott@kennesaw.edu)
Course
Description: The majority of the
Seminar
Title: England under Elizabeth I
Instructor: Dr.
Paul Dover (pdover@kennesaw.edu)
Course
Description: An examination of reign and realm of Elizabeth I of England
(1559-1603). Extensive reading in the debates surrounding Elizabeth's style of
rule, conduct of foreign affairs, and religious policy. Students will produce
an original research essay on the course's subject matter based on their
treatment of primary sources. Reading and writing intensive.
Fall 2008
Seminar Title: America in The Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Instructor:
Dr.
David B. Parker (dparker@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description: This chronological course covers
American history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Topically, the
course is broad, examining political, social, cultural, intellectual, and
economic matters, as well as foreign policy. The first six weeks of the course
will be based on discussions of common readings, giving students the necessary
background for their senior theses. During the remainder of the semester,
students will research and write their theses, which can be on any aspect of
America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. We will meet regularly to
critique drafts and discuss individual research.
Seminar Title: The Influence of Sport on World
History and Culture
Instructor:
Dr.
Elsa Nystrom (enystrom@kennesaw.edu)
From
the ancient word to modern times, sport has played an important role in many
societies. In this course we will look at how many societies used sport as both
entertainment and method of social control; moving from ancient Greece and Rome
to 20th century Europe, Latin America and Africa.
Seminar title: The Cold War (c. 1947-1990)
Instructor: Dr. Gerrit Voogt (gvoogt@kennesaw.edu)
The Cold War (c. 1947-1990) stands out as an ideologically and
economically determined power struggle between two political systems and ways
of life, with fighting taking place mostly in the form of proxy conflicts due
to nuclear deterrent. This conflict was a world war: it was fought on all
continents (and in space), and on many different levels which we will explore
in this class. During the first weeks we will lay the groundwork by studying
and discussing common readings on the whole period, providing the context and
orientation for the construction of the senior thesis. Then the students
prepare and write their theses, meeting regularly to critique drafts and
discuss individual research.
Spring 2008
Seminar
Title: The Confederate Experience
Instructor: Dr.
J. D. Fowler
This
course is designed to acquaint students with the history of the Southern
Confederacy and guide their selection of a senior thesis topic. Although the birth and death of the Southern
Republic was a political and military event, political decisions grow out of
the needs and experiences of ordinary people.
We will, therefore, be paying close attention to the experiences of
soldiers and civilians, whites and blacks, and men and women of all social
classes, emphasizing regional, racial, class, and gender conflicts within the
republic. Therefore, students will be encouraged to explore a broad range of
potential research topics in both military and
nonmilitary aspects of the Confederate experience. Indeed, the range of possible topics will be
limited only by available sources. We
will devote the first weeks of the course to class readings and discussions,
laying the groundwork for the selection of research topics. For the remainder of the semester, students
will conduct their research and write their papers. The class will continue to
meet on a regular basis to discuss the progress of their research and writing,
critique drafts of their colleagues’ papers, and assess how their
individual research relates to the larger issues in the scholarship of the
Confederacy.
Seminar
Title: Women
and War: Personal accounts of wars and conflicts in the 20th century.
Instructor: Dr. Katya Vladimirov (kvladimi@kennesaw.edu)
Most
of the good history being taught and written today looks at the whole range of
human activities, making an effort to place them in solid historical context.
Since the historical doings of women have been often overlooked, or ignored, or
poorly researched, we mainly have had a history which is seen through only “a
half-opened window”. This class is
an effort to flesh out the historical reality the lives of the half of humanity
which has to be thoroughly researched and written about.
Rather
unfortunately wars have been a permanent part of human history. Women were
rarely passive observers. Victims and guerrilla fighters, war heroes and
martyrs, nurses and pilots, dissidents and activists, mothers and daughters,
they were an important and often essential component. Who were these women? How
did they see themselves? What did they think about violence and war? Were their
roles assigned or adopted? How did their lives change afterwards and how did it
change the world? We will examine these and other questions looking at women’s
participation in international wars and conflicts of the 20th
century, such as World War I and II, the Stalinist purges and Gulag, the
Holocaust, revolutions in Central America, wars in Africa, former Yugoslavia,
and Iraq. We will also examine the rhetoric and iconography of war using lots
of primary sources and scholarly research on the subject.
Fall 2007
Seminar Title: The History of Sport in
America from Colonial Times to the Present
Instructor: Dr. Elsa A. Nystrom (enystrom@kennesaw.edu)
In this seminar students will look at the influence
of sport and sporting events in American history through selected readings,
film and discussion. Topics covered will include individual and participatory
sports in the 18th and 19th century such as hunting,
horse racing, bicycle racing and pedestrianism, the growth of team and
spectator sports in the 19th and 20th centuries and the
creation of fan culture. In addition, we will look at the impact of the
Olympics and the concept of patriotism and sport, cheating to win, and the role
of the media in sports promotion. We will also watch and discuss a selection of
the most outstanding American sports films. Students will write their seminar
paper on a topic selected from one of these areas.
Seminar Title: History through War Cinema
Instructor: Dr. Katya Vladimirov (kvladimi@kennesaw.edu)
Summer 2007
Seminar
Title:
History of Higher Education in the United States
Instructor:
Dr. Thomas A. Scott (tscott@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description:
A semester-long seminar on the evolution of American colleges and
universities from the small liberal arts schools of the colonial era to the
proliferation of research institutions, state universities, and junior colleges
in the late twentieth-century. We will
use John Thelin’s History of American
Higher Education as a textbook. In
addition we will read selections from a wide variety of books and articles
posted on Vista or available online.
Students will write an original research paper using primary
sources.
Spring 2007
Seminar
Title:The Black Death
Instructor: Dr. Paul Dover (pdover@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description: A
semester-long examination of the course, causes and consequences of the
catastrophe that killed upwards of half of the Eurasian population in the late
Middle Ages. Extensive reading in the many debates surrounding the disease's
epidemiology and its effects on social institutions and cultural mentalities.
Students will produce an original research essay on the course's subject matter
based on their treatment of primary sources. Reading and writing intensive.
Seminar
Title: America in the Gilded Age and
Progressive Era
Instructor: Dr. David B. Parker (dparker@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description:
This chronological course covers American history in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Topically, the
course is broad, examining political, social, cultural, intellectual, and
economic trends, as well as foreign policy. The first six weeks of the course
will be based on discussions of common readings, which will give students the
necessary background for their senior theses. During the remainder of the
semester, students will research and write their theses, which can be on any
aspect of America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. We will meet regularly
to critique drafts and discuss individual research.
Fall 2006
Seminar Title: Daily Life and Culture in the Old South
Instructor: Dr. John D. Fowler
This course is designed to
acquaint students with the everyday life in the Antebellum South and guide
their selection of a senior thesis topic.
The readings will cover a variety of subjects, including myths and facts
about southern society and culture, slavery, and the strengthening of southern
distinctiveness. Although political and
economic events will be discussed, this course will focus primarily on the
social and cultural dimensions of early southern society. Therefore, in order
to understand this society’s evolution, we must explore the needs,
desires, and experiences of the region’s various ethnic, racial, and
socioeconomic groups as well as the role of gender. We will devote the first weeks of the course
to class readings and discussions laying the groundwork for the selection of
research topics. For the remainder of
the semester, students will conduct their research and write their papers. The
class will continue to meet on a regular basis to discuss the progress of their
research and writing, critique drafts of their colleagues’ papers, and
assess how their individual research relates to the larger issues in the
scholarship of Southern history.
Seminar
Title: Fairy
Tales and Popular Folklore: Historical and Cultural Analysis
Instructor:
Dr. Katya Vladimirov (kvladimi@kennesaw.edu)
A comparative study of the folk and fairy tales from
around the world (British, German, Asian, Scandinavian, Spanish, Russian, and
others). This course provides a simultaneous introduction to the folklore and
fairy tale genres and the interpretation of fairy tales and the folklore in
historical context. Both genres have been documented widely across history and
geography, facilitating a comparative perspective on historical change.
Folklore and fairytales have been persistent in form and content and they
continue to be recycled in an enormous range of contemporary cultural forms.
While all tales are based on a traditional foundation of narrative themes,
motifs that are arranged into tale types, the specifics of each re-telling are
historically and culturally bound, and a comparison of the differences as well
as the similarities across telling and across time and space can reveal
complicated discourses on gender and familial relationships, class structure,
and sexuality. A goal of this course is to analyze the origins and function of
the tale, their role in socialization, to extract patterns and to locate
British, German, Russian, Japanese, Scandinavian and other folk and fairy tales
in their social and historical contexts. Among the topics we will discuss
heroes and villains, wonderful beasts and goblins, vampires, magic and
magicians.
Spring
2006
Seminar Title: The South since World War II
Instructor: Dr. Randall Patton (rpatton@kennesaw.edu)
Course Description: This seminar will offer students an opportunity to
examine the recent history of the American South in depth. The seminar
will open with several weeks of common readings so that students will be able
to place their research within a broader context. Students will first
become familiar with the broad interpretations of the South’s
history—continuity versus change, the search for a central theme,
etc. Students will then engage in a series of selected readings on
various topics of interest within the broader field of southern history—race,
economic development, politics, etc. Some of the common readings will be
drawn from the general historiography of the South since the Civil War.
Students will choose paper topics that emphasize events/developments during or
after World War II. After the introduction to historiography, students
will conduct research and write a major paper based chiefly on primary
sources. The class will continue to meet so that students may share their
progress and exchange ideas.