This class is intended for L3 students who intend to engage in a master’s-level project in US history (in the UFR Etudes Anglophones or elsewhere) or who are otherwise impassioned by the history of the United States. Its main objective it to introduce students to some of the major historiographical debates, theoretical frameworks, and methodological tools used by historians within a range of subfields of twentieth- and twenty-first-century US history. Our readings are drawn from high impact works of historical scholarship, and we will use these works as entry points into discussions of some of the major currents shaping the world of research in the humanities and social sciences today: critical race studies, gender studies, feminism, queer studies, environmental studies, cultural studies, transnationality, intersectionality, among others. One of our main objectives will be to expose students to the ways these theoretical approaches have pushed the boundaries of the discipline. Another will be to reflect on the relevance of studying history, and more particularly of historicizing the present—that is to say, excavating the structures and subterranean histories that help to determine the political possibilities of our time. Because we will also examine historical methodologies, we will be particularly attentive to the sources and texts historians have used to tell their stories.
- Enseignant.e: Andrew Diamond