HUHI 6313:
Scandals, Trials,
and Microhistory

Microhistory is an increasingly popular and influential method within cultural history. It focuses close attention on seemingly minor or intensely "local" events from the past in order to discover what possibilities and constraints shaped human behavior at specific historical moments. Scandals and trials provide an exemplary opportunity for this sort of analysis, for they create a highly charged confrontation between individuals and a variety of social institutions and discourses.

In this seminar we will read and discuss a selection of recent microhistorical monographs that examine scandals and trials from the fifteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Our goal will be to identify and critique the range of approaches these historians have taken; to articulate what microhistory means as a field; and to explore the potential and limitations of this form of historical writing.

At the same time, students will undertake their own preliminary research in microhistory. They will be expected to examine available newspapers, journals and books to locate an event prior to 1960 which would be an interesting and suitable topic for microhistorical analysis. They will then write a proposal describing the event and its significance and laying out a plan for research.


REQUIRED TEXTS:

REQUIREMENTS/EVALUATION CRITERIA:
Seminar preparation and participation; one 5-7 page analytical essay; one 10-12 page research proposal.

 

June 8: INTRODUCTION
June 10:
  • Edward Muir & Guido Ruggiero, History From Crime (1994), Introduction (pp. vii-xi only) & Afterword
  • *Carlo Ginzburg, "Microhistory: two or three things that I know about it," Critical Inquiry 20:1 (Autumn 1993)
  • *Giovanni Levi, "Microhistory" in Peter Burke, ed., New Perspectives on Historical Writing (1991)
  • Silvano Cavazza, "Double Death: Resurrection and Baptism in a Seventeenth-Century Rite" (1982) in Muir & Ruggiero
  • Giovanna Fiume, "The Old Vinegar Lady, or the Judicial Modernisation of Witchcraft" (1987) in Muir & Ruggiero
June 15:
  • Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms (1976)
  • *Dominick LaCapra, "The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Twentieth-Century Historian" in History and Criticism
June 17:
  • Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (1983)
  • *Jean de Coras, "Memorable Decision of the High Court of Toulouse...," Triquarterly 55 (1982)
  • *Robert Findlay, "The Refashioning of Martin Guerre," American Historical Review 93 (1988)
  • *Natalie Davis, "On The Lame,"American Historical Review 93 (1988)
June 22:
  • Judith Brown, Immodest Acts (1986)
June 24: RESEARCH & WRITING
June 29: LIBRARY ORIENTATION

5-7 PAGE ANALYTICAL PAPER DUE
July 1:
  • Muir & Ruggiero, History From Crime, Chapters 2, 4 & 5
  • *Mary Lindemann, "Confessions of an Archive Junkie" from P. Karsten & John Modell, eds., Theory, Method and Practice in Social and Cultural History (1992)
July 6:
  • Amy Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers
July 8: RESEARCH
July 13:
  • Angus McLaren, A Prescription for Murder (1993)
July 16: RESEARCH
July 20:
  • Larry Wolff, Child Abuse in Freud's Vienna (1988)
  • Ingeborg Walter, "A Dream of Infanticide in Fin-de-siècle Vienna," in Muir & Ruggiero
July 22: RESEARCH
July 27: 10-12 PAGE RESEARCH PROPOSAL DUE