From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Historical Research Methods Syllabus 2023a (Spring)


[a] Land and ocean RF
Method and Theory in History
(History Workshop)
History 190
Spring 2023
Monday-Wednesday (Friday Research)
8:00-9:45 a.m.

Robert André LaFleur                                              Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 206                                                  Monday          11:45-12:30
363-2005                                                                     Wednesday   11:45-13:00     
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                      ...or by appointment (just send               
                                                                                         me an email message)                
Required Books           
Booth, Wayne. The Craft of Research
Delgado, Richard. Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (Third Edition)
Duby, Georges. History Continues.
Farge, Arlette. The Allure of the Archive
King, Charles. Gods of the Upper Air
Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City
Lin, Jennifer. Shanghai Faithful.
Presnell, Jenny. The Information-Literate Historian
Peacock, James. The Anthropological Lens
                                       ***  *** 
Research notebook
Chicago Manual of Style Guidelines
Round and Square (www.robert-lafleur.blogspot.com)
The New York Review of Books (NYRB)

Readings Available in .pdf Format
Geil, William Edgar. Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917).
Geil, William Edgar. China's Sacred 5 (1926).
Geil, William Edgar. The Isle That Is Called Patmos (1896, 1904).
Stead, William T. William Edgar Geil: The Missionary Missioner (1910).
Wilson, William Whitwell. An Explorer of Changing Horizons (1927).
 ***  ***
Doylestown Historical Society Geil Exhibit (2010) 
Newspaper Articles with a Geil Focus 

Reserve Books
All books are on library reserve.

Course Description  
This course acquaints students with the different approaches to writing history by providing samples of the various ways in which historians (and non-historians) have treated problems in the past. The class also aims to give students experience doing history by working with various kinds of sources. Finally, the course seeks to excite students about the field of history by addressing the issue of why someone would want to become an historian. This course is required for all history majors, who should complete it by the end of their sophomore year or before they declare a major.

Evaluation
Quizzes                                                 10%        Every Session
Research Proposal Letter                     15%        Week Five
Exam I                                                   10%        Week Seven
Research Proposal (Skeletal Version)  15%        Week Ten
Exam II                                                  10%        Week Fifteen
Presentation                                          10%        Week Fifteen
10,000-word Research Proposal           30%       Finals Week
Class attendance and participation is expected.  

HIST 190
Method and Theory in History (History Workshop) 
Spring 2023
Week I 
Monday, January 23. 
Duby, History Continues (get started; discussion continues on Wednesday)
          Foreword, by John W. Baldwin
          Preface
          The Choice
          The Patron
          The Building Blocks
          The Treatment
          Reading
          Construction
          The Thesis
          Matter and Spirit
          Mentalités
          Art
          The Collège de France     
          Travels
          Honors
          On Television
          William the Marshall
          Kinships
          Projects   
     
Wednesday, January 25 (all of this will be on Wednesday's quiz)
Round and Square 
Syllabic Cycles: Introduction (a-d)  Read all four posts, not just “a.”
From the Geil Archive (read all nine posts before class)  
     Introduction 
     1-Southern Mountain Museum
     2-Sacred Mountain Map
     3-Hat and Cattle
     4-Seeking Anthropology
     5-Curly Fives
     6-How to Write the Book
     7-Mortarboard Man
     8-Orator
Film: Geil of Doylestown (in-class Wednesday)
 
Friday, January 27
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Spend half an hour or more looking carefully through the DHS online archive. Follow these instructions carefully. [1] Click on "Archives." [2] Search "Geil." Now you should have access to hundreds of pages of material (4,300+ individual items). Just proceed randomly for now, and explore the different kinds of documents in the Geil archive. Send me an e-mail message of at least a few brief paragraphs describing your exploration (lafleur@beloit.edu).

Week II  
Monday, Janaury 30
Round and Square Quotidian Quizzes:Introduction (a-h) 
Read all eight posts, not just “a.” (You may skim a-d, but begin reading carefully with post "e," or "5", depending on the link (some are listed a-h and others 1-8; they are the same). The last four are crucial; your grade depends on it).
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, xv-xix, 1-51 
       Preface
       Historians and the Research Process: Getting Started
       Reference Resources 
Booth, The Craft of Research: 1-50
       Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research
       Connecting with your Reader: (Re-)Creating Yourself and Your Reader
       From Topics to Question
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
      13  Out of the Frying Pan

Wednesday, February 1
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 19-97
     The First Book: Apprenticeship
          The Horizons
          His Inheritance
          The Struggles of a Student
          The Objective
          Towards the Sun
          The Twilight of Old Turkey
          The Island of Saints
          The Seven Lamps
          The Arming of Europe
William T. Stead, "Missionary Missioner," 1-62
     The Man and His Methods
     Round the World after Missionaries
     The Great Melbourne Mission
     Across China and Darkest Africa
     In Defence of Missions
     A Missioner for the Missions

Friday, February 3
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Spend half an hour or more looking carefully through the DHS online archive. Follow these instructions carefully. [1] Click on "Archives." [2] Search "Geil." Now you should have access to hundreds of pages of material (4,300+ individual items). Just proceed randomly for now, and explore the different kinds of documents in the Geil archive. Send me an e-mail message of at least a few brief paragraphs describing your exploration (lafleur@beloit.edu).

Week III
Geil, The Isle That Is Called Patmos (1896) Spend thirty minutes with this book.
     Carefully read all front matter...in detail.
     Examine all photographs carefully and study the book's organization     
            A Trip to Patmos
            The Monastery of St. John
            Persecutions
            John and the Revelation
            The Geography of Patmos
            Georgirene's Description of Patmos
            St. John's Visit to Patmos
            Patmos in Classical History
            The Re-Inhabiting of the Island
            The Female Monastery
            Home Life on Patmos
            Mount St. Elias
            Prochorus
            Hermits of Patmos
            The Monastery of the Apocalypse
            A Meditation
*Geil, The Isle That Is Called Patmos (1904) Spend at least two hours with this book (your success in this class depends upon it). Review the marked (*) chapters especially carefully
            *The Voyage to Patmos
            *Landing in Patmos
            *The Geography of Patmos
            *Persecutions and John
             John and His Writings
            *John in Legend
             Christodoulos, Founder of the Monastery
             *Patmos in 1677
             *The Monastery of St. John
             *The Monastery Library
             Hermits of Patmos
             The Nunnery
             The Seminary
             Mt. St. Elias
             The Monastery of the Apocalypse
             *The Laity of Patmos
             *Home Life in Patmos
             *The South of Patmos
             *The North of Patmos
             *Farewell to Patmos 

Wednesday, February 8
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 52-103 
     Finding Monographs and Using Catalogs
     Finding Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers: Using Indexes 
Booth, The Craft of Research: 51-101
     From Questions to a Problem
     From Problems to Sources
     Engaging Sources 
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, xiii-xxi; 1-18
     Foreword
     Preface to the Third Edition
     Introduction
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)

Friday, February 10
Spend half an hour or more looking carefully through the DHS online archive. Follow these instructions carefully. [1] Click on "Archives." [2] Search "Geil." Now you should have access to hundreds of pages of material (4,300+ individual items). Just proceed randomly for now, and explore the different kinds of documents in the Geil archive. Send me an e-mail message of at least a few brief paragraphs describing your exploration (lafleur@beloit.edu).
Week IV
Peacock, The Anthropological Lens, vii-xii; 1-145
     Preface to the First Edition
     Preface to the Second Edition
     Substance
     Method 
     Significance

Wednesday, February 15
Geil Exhibit (Doylestown Historical Society)
Geil Newspaper Articles (Doylestown Historical Society)
     Both of these resources will be provided via Dropbox by the instructor
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 19-43
     Hallmark Critical Race Theory
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)
    23  Geil, An Intellectual Bricoleur

Friday, February 17
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Spend half an hour or more looking carefully through the DHS online archive. Follow these instructions carefully. [1] Click on "Archives." [2] Search "Geil." Now you should have access to hundreds of pages of material (4,300+ individual items). Just proceed randomly for now, and explore the different kinds of documents in the Geil archive. Send me an e-mail message of at least a few brief paragraphs describing your exploration (lafleur@beloit.edu).

Week V
(February 20-24)
King, Gods of the Upper Air
          Away
          Baffin Island
          All is Individuality
          Science and Circuses
          Headhunters
          American Empire
          A Girl as Frail as Margaret
          Coming of Age
          Masses and Mountaintops
          Indian Country
          Living Theory
          Spirit Realms
          War and Nonsense
          Home

Wednesday, February 22
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 104-167 
     Evaluating Your Sources
     The Thrill of Discovery: Primary Sources
Booth, The Craft of Research: 103-151
     Making Good Arguments: An Overview
     Making Claims
     Assembling Reasons and Evidence 
     Acknowledgments and Responses
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 44-57
     Legal Storytelling and Narrative Analysis
From the Geil Archive (read all five posts)

Friday, February 24
Spend half an hour or more looking carefully through the DHS online archive. Follow these instructions carefully. [1] Click on "Archives." [2] Search "Geil." Now you should have access to hundreds of pages of material (4,300+ individual items). Just proceed randomly for now, and explore the different kinds of documents in the Geil archive. Send me an e-mail message of at least a few brief paragraphs describing your exploration (lafleur@beloit.edu).

Week VI
(February 27-March 3)
Monday, February 27
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus
LaFleur, Writing, History, and Culture
     Part One: Writing and Time
     Part Two: The Writing Process
        Read carefully and don't dismiss it because "it's too hard"
     Part Three: Navigating Grammatical Forests 
        Read the individual items and quickly skim the examples
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 101-271
(It's o.k. to "skim"; just get a sense. of what Wilson is doing in the biography)
     The Second Book: Achievement
          The Enquiry
          Salt of the South Seas
          Savor of the Salt
          Thresholds of China
          Yankee on the Yangtze
          From Burmah to Bombay
          Across Africa
          The Pigmies
          The Great Wall 

Wednesday, March 1
Frank Saloman, On the Art of Writing Proposals (.pdf file) 
Philip Whitwell Wilson, An Explorer of Changing Horizons, 275-372
(It's o.k. to skim; just get a sense. of what Wilson is doing in the biography)
     The Third Book: Association
          A Layman's Use of the Bible
          The Forest and the Pagoda
          Changes in Changeless China
          The Mind of China
          The Soul Within the Mind
          The Book That Never Was Written
          The Final Victory
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 58-76
     Looking Inward
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)
Friday, March 3
Work on your letters!
***  ***

Week VII
Do all of the readings and do the quiz, but (check your email) there is
LaFleur, Writing, History, and Culture
     Part Four: Chicago Cites, Chicago Writes
        Read carefully
From the Geil Archive (read all four posts)

Wednesday, March 8
Farge, The Allure of the Archive
        Foreword
        Traces by the Thousands
        On the Front Door
        Paths and Presences
        She Has Just Arrived
        Gathering and Handling Documents
        Captured Speech
        The Inventory Room is Sepulchral
         Writing  
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 77-101
     Power and the Shape.of Knowledge


 HIST 190
Historical Research Methods (History Workshop) 
Spring 2023 
                                           Week IX 
Monday, March 20
Review the work you have done in the first half of the course.
Exam I Preparation (discussion in class)

Wednesday, March 22
Exam I (in-class)

Friday, March 24
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Work through the DHS website, and check the DVDs on library reserve if you wish. Work systematically (as we have done in class), and save files you might need for your final proposals onto a disk you can access while writing. If you are "done" with Geil, let me know about where the rest of your research is going. Whether or not you are using DHS, search specifically for research items for your own proposal (think of Presnell's book; use "everything"). Send me an e-mail by 11:00 p.m. telling me how the process went.
 
Week X
(March 27-31)
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus
Monday, March 27
Lin, Shanghai Faithful
  Part I—Foreign Ghosts
     Cook: Fujian Province, Mid-1800s
     Doctor: Fujian Province, 1890
     Firstborn: Fuzhou, 1907
  Part II—Patriots
     Light and Truth: Shanghai, 1913
     A Modern Man: Aboard the SS Nanking, 1918
     A Second Daughter: Fuzhou, 1920
     Running Dog: Fuzhou, 1924
     Alma Mater: Fuzhou, 1928
  Part III—A House Divided
     Watchman Nee: Shanghai, 1932
     Island of Shanghai: Shanghai, 1937
     Bund to Boardwalk: Shanghai, 1949
  Part IV—New Order
     American Wolves: Shanghai, 1950
     Missing: Shanghai, 1955
     Prelude: Shanghai, 1957
Part V—Bad Elements
     Lane 170: Shanghai, 1966
     Yellow Music: Shanghai, 1968
     Barefoot Doctor: Jilin Province, 1969
     Passages: Shanghai, 1971
     Father, Hello! Shanghai, 1972
     Lost: Jilin Province, 1973
  Part VI—Revival
     Faith: Fuzhou, 2015

Wednesday, March 29
Geil, A Yankee on the Yangtze
Table of Contents (read carefully)
All 100 Photographs (look through them all)
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 102-112
     Critiques and Responses to Criticism

Friday, March 31
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Work through the DHS website, and check the DVDs on library reserve if you wish. Work systematically (as we have done in class), and save files you might need for your final proposals onto a disk you can access while writing. If you are "done" with Geil, let me know about where the rest of your research is going. Whether or not you are using DHS, search specifically for research items for your own proposal (think of Presnell's book; use "everything"). Send me an e-mail by 11:00 p.m. telling me how the process went.
Week XI
(April 3-7)
          Prologue: Aboard the Olympic
          Part I: Frozen Music
          Part II: An Awful Fight
          Part III: In the White City
          Part IV: Cruelty Revealed
          Epilogue: The Last Crossing
          Notes and Sources
          Bibliography

Wednesday, April 5
Geil, A Yankee in Pigmy Land
            Table of Contents (read carefully)
             All 100 Photographs (look through them all)
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 113-129
     Critical Race Theory Today (a)

Friday, April 7
This week, I would like you to spend your Friday work making progress toward your "perfect page" of writing that we have been discussing in class (and due on Sunday, April 16). You have already started a spoke outline meant to help you explain your mountain (as described on page 25 of the writing guide. For Wednesday, you were supposed to "thicken" those spokes on the outline (see page 26 of the writing guide, and make sure that you have "thickened" it enough for next steps; if you haven't, spend some more time doing so).

Now, for today, look at pages 27-28 of the writing guide. The idea is to take the index cards I handed out in class (by the way, there are more outside my office if you need them) and, from those individual spokes on your outline, transfer those ideas into actual prose on a note card for each spoke.

When you are done, you should have six, eight, ten, twelve notecards. Now, sort through them and find the order that will work best for "telling" about your proposal. Read through the cards and send me an email message by noon today telling me how the process went (lafleur@beloit.edu).
Week XII
(April 10-14)
Monday, April 10
Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus  
Geil, The Sacred 5 of China (1926)
     Carefully read all front matter...in detail, especially "The Magic of 5" (xv-xix)
      Spend a solid two hours reading the text (a bit on each mountain)
     Examine all photographs carefully and study the book's organization
            Tai Shan, Green Peak of the East
            Heng Shan, Red Peak of the South
            Sung Shan, Yellow Peak of the Centre
            Hua Shan, White Peak of the West
            Heng Shan, Black Peak of the North
              ***. ***
Sort the stack of note cards you made on Friday and type a first draft of your "perfect page" assignment from the details on your notecards. If it is longer than 300 words, don't worry. It is "just" a draft" (and the longer draft could be helpful down the road.
Print it and bring it to class on Monday.

Wednesday, April 12
Geil, The Great Wall of China
            Table of Contents (read carefully)
             All 100 Photographs (look through them all)  
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 129-151
     Critical Race Theory Today (b)

Friday, April 14
Week XIII
(April 17-21)
See my class attendance and participation policy 
Geil, Adventures in the African Jungle Hunting Pigmies (1917)
     Off For Mombasa
     Pigmies of Long Ago
     Approaching Africa
     Billy is Kidnapped
     The Escape From The Fort
     Donkeys and Dangers
     The Land of the Lions
     Sure-Shot, the Missionary
     Billy Outwits a Lion
     Africa's Inland Sea
     Monkeys and Sleeping Sickness
     A Human Panther
     Over the Swamps Toward Sunset
     More Hobnobbing With Royalty
     Fever in the Foothills
     Termites and Driver Ants
     Snakes and Avalanches
     A Bag of Jiggers
     A Savage Welcome
     On a Curious Lake
     A Letter From the Explorer
     African Dwarfs, and Others
     The Forest of Eternal Twilight
     Pigmies At Last
     The Haunts of the Pigmies
     Pigmy Palaver
     The Burial of a Pigmy
     Lost in the Forest of the Pigmies
     A Letter Home
     A Visit to the Jolly Pigmies
     Still More Pigmies
     Wrecked in the Rapids
     Noble Lives

Wednesday, April 19
Research Proposal Examples (look through them carefully)
Geil, The Eighteen Capitals of China
            Table of Contents (read carefully)
             All 100 Photographs (look through them all)  
Delgado, Critical Race Theory, 152-165
     Conclusion

Friday, April 21
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Work through the DHS website, and check the DVDs on library reserve if you wish. Work systematically (as we have done in class), and save files you might need for your final proposals onto a disk you can access while writing. If you are "done" with Geil, let me know about where the rest of your research is going. Whether or not you are using DHS, search specifically for research items for your own proposal (think of Presnell's book; use "everything"). Send me an e-mail by 11:00 p.m. telling me how the process went.


Week XIV
(April 24-28)
Monday, April 24

Wednesday, April 26
Spring Day (no class)

Friday, April 28
Doylestown Historical Society Online Archive 
Work through the DHS website, and check the DVDs on library reserve if you wish. Work systematically (as we have done in class), and save files you might need for your final proposals onto a disk you can access while writing. If you are "done" with Geil, let me know about where the rest of your research is going. Whether or not you are using DHS, search specifically for research items for your own proposal (think of Presnell's book; use "everything"). Send me an e-mail by 11:00 p.m. telling me how the process went.
Week XV
Monday, May 1
Presnell, The Information Literate Historian, 168-321
     History and the Internet
     Maps: From Simple to Geographic Information Systems  
     Beyond the Written Word...
     Statistics: Quantifying History  
     Presenting Your Research
Booth, The Craft of Research, 153-276
     Warrants
     Planning
     Drafting Your Report
     Revising Your Organization and Argument
     Communicating Evidence Visually
     Introductions and Conclusions
     Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
     Some Last Considerations

Wednesday, May 3
Exam II (in class)

[b] Method RF


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