This class encourages awareness and self-awareness about the processes involved in constructing histories of U.S. foreign relations since the 1890s. It aims less at promoting factual mastery than at fostering historical understanding C that is, the ability to think, converse, and act flexibly and nondogmatically with what one knows.
History is a field of contested meanings .
The class will be divided into units that each concentrate on a particular topic and era. There will be a heavy use of information via internet. There will also be a heavy emphasis on classroom presentation and discussion. There are five papers due, including the final take-home exam. Each will ask you to examine some particular text.