SOPHIS has announced its second and third year History offerings for 2013. These include two new units, ATS 2/3932 Struggles for justice: The history of rights and ATS 2/3933 The meaning of things: Writing cultural history, that are being offered for the first time. First year units like Contemporary Worlds, Medieval Europe and Nations at War will run as usual.
First semester
ATS2057 Genocide
ATS2124 / 3124 Bread lines behind the Iron Curtain: Everyday life in communist Eastern Europe
ATS2604 / 3604 Arthur: History and myth
ATS2607 / 3607 Nationalism and revolution in Southeast Asia
ATS2614 / 3614 Slavery and freedom: From the American to the French Revolution
ATS2576 / 3576 History wars: The uses of the past
ATS2616 / 3616 Twentieth-century America: Race, rights and power
ATS2633 / 3633 Global cities: Past, present, future
ATS2909 / 3909 Villains and rogues: A history of ideas about gangsters
ATS2932 / 3932 Struggles for justice: The history of rights
ATS3288 Angels and demons: Rome, the papacy and the world
Second semester
ATS2580 / 3580 The Middle East in the modern world
ATS2583 / 3583 History and film: Nazi Germany and the Jewish Holocaust
ATS2588 / 3588 Australia to 1901: Making a nation
ATS2596 / 3596 The Vietnam War
ATS2600 / 3600 The Holocaust in an an of genocide
ATS2603 / 3603 The age of crusades: Cultures and societies
ATS2617 / 3617 The American Civil War
ATS2626 / 3626 Global disasters: Impact, inquiry and change
ATS2933 / 3933 The meaning of things: Writing cultural history
Summer semester
ATS3285 Dante’s medieval world: Politics, religion and the city
*New* Dante’s Medieval World: Unit Guide
ATS2057
Genocide
Dr Noah Shenker
6 points
Clayton and Caulfield – first semester
This unit examines the phenomenon of genocide and mass killing in history. The twentieth century has been called ‘the century of genocide’ but genocidal violence has continued unabated into the new millenium. This unit will ask why genocide takes place and how people come to participate in mass violence. It will focus on case studies of genocide including Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and the elimination of indigenous populations in the Americas and Australia. The unit will study how the field of genocide studies came to be constituted beginning with the writings of Raphael Lemkin in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Students will research the causes of genocide and reflect on models of genocide prevention.
ATS2124/3124
Bread lines behind the Iron Curtain: Everyday life in communist Eastern Europe
Dr. Karen Auerbach
6 points
Clayton – first semester
This unit will examine how Communism transformed everyday life for East European populations by reshaping social structures and communal ties. Through literature, films, photography, and other primary sources, students will study and analyse the impact of politics on popular culture, religion, rituals of work, family life, the environment, education, humour, architecture, and living spaces. Readings, lectures, and tutorial discussions will explore the degree to which individuals carved out private spaces at home, at work, and in social circles to limit the impact of politics on private life. The unit will look at individual countries as case studies for broader themes that are relevant to the entire region. The unit will begin with a background on East European politics and culture before the establishment of Communist governments and will end with an examination of the post-Communist period. Discussions of primary sources in tutorials will provide students with the skills to analyze similar primary sources in their written work.
ATS2576/3576
History wars: The uses of the past
Al Thomson
6 points
Clayton – first semester
The past is over, but history is replayed and remade every day. This unit explores how the past is re-presented and contested in contemporary societies. It examines the use and significance of the past through critical examination of current literature, Australian and international case studies and fieldwork excursions to ‘public history’ sites in Melbourne. Case studies will include social history museums, heritage and the built environment, family photographs and memory, war memory and national identity in Australian and overseas, Holocaust memory in Melbourne’s Jewish community, and reconciliation and remembering in post-conflict contexts such as South Africa after apartheid.
ATS2580/3580
The Middle East in the Modern World
Andrew Markus
6 points
Clayton, Caulfield – second semester
This unit examines aspects of contemporary Middle Eastern politics encompassing both the Arab and the non-Arab worlds. The political culture, development and processes of key countries will be analysed. Regional relationships and conflicts will be examined, including the ongoing Gulf Conflict, the Lebanon War, and the Arab-Israel conflict. The implications for wider international politics will also be considered.
ATS2583/3583
History and film: Nazi Germany and the Jewish Holocaust
TBA
6 points
Clayton – second semester
This unit explores the nature of film as history, using Nazi Germany and the Jewish Holocaust as case studies. It will consider temporary newsreels, photographs and feature films, as well as historical documentaries and feature films, in the course of examining the role of film in past times, the influence of these upon historical understanding since, the strengths and weaknesses of historical film, the criteria historians should adopt to critically assess filmed history, and the part historians have played in film-making.
ATS2588/3588
Australia to 1901: Making a nation
TBA
6 points
Clayton – second semester
This unit offers a critical examination of Australian people and culture from the earliest days of European settlement until the federation of the colonies in 1901 and the introduction of the White Australia policy. It explores the economic, social and cultural impact of colonisation and emigration on both newcomers and indigenous people; looking also at conflict over access to land, mineral wealth, political power and the control of working conditions; contests over the definitions, benefits and limitations of citizenship and at the fate of the family. It will also examine how artists, novelists, film-makers, politicians and historians have pictured Australia’s colonial past.
ATS2596/3596
The Vietnam War
Jane Drakard
6 points
Clayton – second semester
This unit traces the origins of the war in resistance to French colonialism after 1945 and examines deepening US involvement, analysing the motivations of the main participants. The unit will focus not just on the military phases of the war, but also on its cultural and ideological ramifications in Vietnam, the USA and Australia. Lectures will provide a general framework with tutorials focussing on more specific issues such as contrasting styles of warfare, cold war ideology, the role of the media, anti-war protest, POW and veterans issues and approaches to commemoration and remembrance. The wider ramifications of the war in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia, will also be studied.
ATS2600/3600
The Holocaust in an age of genocide
Dr Daniella Doron
6 points
Clayton, Caulfield – second semester
This unit examines the Holocaust and its place in the broader phenomenon of genocide and mass killing in history. Major topics covered include antisemitism, the Nazi state, ghettos and death camps, and the responses of victims, perpetrators and bystanders. The course will reflect on the Holocaust as a symbol of the modern condition, its uniqueness and relationship to other forms of violence and genocide. Other themes studied are trauma and testimony, the limits of representation, the survivor experience across generations and cultures, the role of the law in adjudicating war crimes, media coverage of atrocity, and the failure to prevent genocide in the post-war period.
ATS2603/3603
The age of crusades: cultures and societies
Megan Cassidy-Welch
6 points
Clayton – second semester
ATS2604/3604
Arthur: history and myth
Carol Williams
6 points
Caulfield, Clayton – first semester
This unit examines the debate around whether or not King Arthur actually existed and the ways in which the figure of Arthur became a mythic figure in subsequent centuries. It considers the earliest sources relating to Arthur, in particular Geoffrey of Monmouth in the early 12th century, who constructs a credible narrative from earlier sources and Chretien de Troyes later in the same century, who with considerable literary skill transformed the warrior leader into a chivalric king. This myth-making is explored across the centuries through Malory’s Morte d’Arthur and into the literature of the 19th century.
ATS2607/3607
Nationalism and revolution in Southeast Asia
Jane Drakard
12 points
Clayton – first semester
This unit aims to provide students with a thorough knowledge of the development of nationalism in three Southeast Asian colonies (drawn from Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, The Philippines and Malaysia) during the early twentieth century and a comparative understanding of the way in which these movements developed into revolutionary struggle and led to eventual independence from colonial rule. The unit aims to develop students’ awareness of the rich complexity of cultural and political change in this period of anti-colonial struggle and to encourage them to consider theoretical work on nationalism and cultural change in the context of these specific historical examples.
ATS2614/3614
Slavery and freedom: From the American to the French Revolution
David Garrioch
6 points
Clayton – first semester
The debate over the slave trade was one of the key issues of the Enlightenment and was closely linked to debates about freedom and despotism in Europe itself. This unit follows changing ideas about slavery and freedom from the mid eighteenth century into the French Revolution and through to the rule of Napoleon. It will use case studies to explore the intellectual and social conflicts of the period and the way European society, culture, and politics were changing. Students will choose their group presentations from a range of topics linked to religious, political, scientific and literary debates and conflicts of the period.
ATS2616/3616
Twentieth-century America: race, rights and power
Tim Verhoeven
6 points
Caulfield, Clayton – first semester
After providing a general overview of the history of the United States in the twentieth century, this unit examines three key themes. ‘Race’ traces struggles over the meaning of racial difference in America, with a particular emphasis on the civil rights and black protest movements. ‘Rights’, examines the contest over civil, social and human rights in the United States between 1900 and 2000 and the meaning of ‘freedom’ for women, cultural minorities and the poor. ‘Power’ examines Americans’ continuing debates about their place in the world, with a particular emphasis upon the role of the United States in twentieth-century global and regional conflicts.
ATS2617/3617
The American Civil War
Tim Verhoeven
6 points
Caulfield, Clayton – second semester
This unit will relate the history of the American Civil War, with a particular focus on the political, social and ideological origins of the conflict between North and South; contemporary and historical understandings of the causes and outcomes of the war; the international significance of the Civil War as a political, military and social conflict; the experience and perspectives of ‘ordinary Americans’ before, during and after the war, with particular attention to soldiers and on slaves before and after emancipation; and the representation of the conflict in photography, fiction, film, popular memory and historical scholarship during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
ATS2626/3626
Global disasters: impact, inquiry and change
Susie Protschky
6 points
Caulfield, Clayton – second semester
This unit examines the history of significant disasters since the late nineteenth century. Beginning with the eruption of Krakatoa, each case study examines the process of inquiry and debates over changes to mitigate future catastrophic impacts. Disasters encourage societies to examine causes, solutions and risks, and spark debates about how to render people less vulnerable. The case studies include natural as well as ‘man-made’ catastrophes, with both short- and long-term impacts. By examining real disasters, and ideas about potential disasters-such as asteroid impact or climate change-it also explores the ways in which disasters have been used to explore a range of possible global futures.
ATS2633/3633
Global cities: Past, present, future
Seamus O’Hanlon
6 points
Caulfield, Clayton – first semester
How have cities contributed to the progress of globalisation over the past two millennia? This unit analyses a series of major world cities, examining their histories, contemporary situation, and emerging or possible future development scenarios. The overarching theme will be the historical and contemporary role of cities as drivers of economic and social change, with a sub-theme around the idea of cities as centres of cultural interaction.
ATS2909/3909
Villains and rogues: A history of ideas about gangsters
Ernest Koh
6 points
Clayton – first semester
For much of the 20th century, the exploits of gangsters have been constantly re-imagined in books, music, film, radio, and television. In popular culture and the news media, gangsters are often either portrayed as rogues resisting the intrusive state, or as villains who commit heinous crimes. But beneath the veneer of sensationalism, gangsters have had a much more complex relationship with states and societies. Just what makes a gangster, and what do gangsters tell us about the societies that cast them as such? This unit will explore the very idea of the gangster in modern history. Using case studies from the United States, Britain, China, and Japan, we will track the emergence of the idea of the gangster as a contemporary character in world history.
ATS2932/3932
Struggles for justice: The history of rights
Bain Attwood
6 points
Clayton – first semester
Throughout the ages, human beings have struggled for justice by claiming rights of one kind or another. This unit examines this phenomenon from the late eighteenth century, when the concept of ‘the rights of man’ came to the fore, to the present day, when the ideal of ‘human rights’ seems to have triumphed. We will trace both changes and continuities across the modern age by paying special attention to the advocates of rights, their reasons for campaigning, the ways they defined and legitimated the rights they claimed, and the means they adopted to win hearts and minds.
ATS2933/3933
The meaning of things: Writing cultural history
Clare Monagle
6 points
Clayton – second semester
Societies express themselves through art, literature, ritual, everyday objects and other cultural artefacts. One of the tasks of the historian is to understand this interplay of culture and society, and how it manifests in different historical periods or places. In this unit we explore the ways in which historians of many different periods (from late antiquity to the present) write about culture, from ‘great’ art to the stuff of daily life. Students will be introduced to a broad range of cultural products and their meanings, and be required to undertake in-depth research into a topic, area and period of interest of their choice.
ATS3285
Dante’s medieval world: Politics, religion and the city
Clare Monagle, Carolyn James, Constant Mews
12 points
Prato – summer semester (November, December)
Dante’s medieval world (1265-1321) was one of cultural innovation, religious revival and economic growth, as well as of political strife in many urban communities throughout Italy. This unit explores the political, social, artistic and spiritual worlds of Dante and his contemporaries, and in so doing will give coherency to this dynamic medieval period. Taught in Prato and its environs, the unit provides an opportunity to understand Dante’s literary achievement and political activities through direct experience of Dante’s Tuscany during the medieval period.
ATS3288
Angels and demons: Rome, the papacy and the world
Peter Howard
12 points
Clayton – first semester
The papacy has been central to the development of the modern world. A mysterious and powerful institution, it lies at the heart of European culture and the broader Catholic world. This unit explores the nature and role of the papacy in relation to changing political, social, intellectual and cultural circumstances from the medieval to modern periods. Topics include: understandings of papal polity, religious reform and revolt, the impact of humanism, cultural encounters and exchanges, Catholicism and modernity, the papacy on the world stage, as well as expressions of power in papal Rome.
