UC Santa Barbara > History Department > Prof. Marcuse > Courses > Hist 201e Homepage
The Persistance of Memory, by Dali 1931 Salvator Dali, "The Persistance of Memory," 1931
see: Wikipedia page & MOMA interpretation

Graduate Reading Seminars in Public and German History
(UCSB Hist 201E)

by Professor Harold Marcuse (homepage)
contact: marcuse@history.ucsb.edu

class e-mail: 26203-W2007@ulists.ucsb.edu (course use only)

page begun Dec. 23, 2006; last update: 1/11/09


Announcements
(at top)

Old Announcements
( at bottom)
Course description
& requirements
Links
My other courses
Hist 2C, 33D, Hitler;
Hist 133
A, B, C, P, Q;
200E-Germany: 2002;
233AB Seminar
: 2003

Announcements (old announcements move to bottom)(visitor stats)

  • Jan 11, 2009: I'm splitting this page into several subpages, one for each seminar. Thus there is now a subsite for the "Collective Memory" seminar, and one for the Museums seminar.
  • Nov. 26, 2008: A former student sent me this article from a new journal Memory Studies: Paul Connerton, "Seven Types of Forgetting," in: Memory Studies 1:1(2008), 60-72. (pdf; abstract with link to free pdf in upper right). His types of forgetting: Repressive Erasure, Prescriptive Forgetting, Forgetting Constitutive of a New Identity, Structural Amnesia, Forgetting as Annulment, Forgetting as Planned Obsolescence, and Forgetting as Humiliated Silence.
  • Oct. 19, 2008: See this review (in German) of the 2007 Festschrift for Aleida Assmann: Arbeit am Gedächtnis (20 essays). Part IV is about Generation and Memory.
    • Also Jason Tebbe's H-Memory review of Jeffrey Olick's book: The Politics of Regret: On Collective Memory and Historical Responsibility (New York Routledge, 2007), 229 pp. It sounds like a critique of Halbwachs' static concept of Collective Memory that lays out a process-oriented alternative ("counter-concepts" laid out on p. 91). The periodization of postwar German 'memory' by the interpretations of May 8, 1945 strikes me as an odd one to choose, but I haven't read the book yet.
  • Sept. 26, 2008: This Oct. 2008 conference in Kiel, "Geschichtspolitik und kollektives Gedächtnis. Rückblick, Kritik, Perspektiven," announcement on HSK has a number of interesting presentations. It would be worthwhile to see what the presenters have published.
  • Aug. 1, 2007: I just discovered an interesting radio show (WNYC's Radiolab, June 8, 2007) on the physiology of memory: "Memory and Forgetting." The first 22 mins. before the break are the most relevant in a social-historical context.
  • Apr. 1, 2007: good links on History and the Internet:

Course Description & Requirements (back to top)

Hist 201E (Readings in European History): " This graduate reading seminar explores how scholars have attempted to conceptualize how historical events affect the social and political behaviors of individuals, groups, and societies. Scholars often conceive of this process as an interaction between "the past," or at least an objectively fixable "history" as recorded in sources and interpreted by professional historians, and a more subjective and malleable "memory" that accrues in the minds of individuals and is shared among groups.

The course is designed both for students with a dissertation field in European history, and for students with an emphasis in public history. It should not only provide solid grounding in aspects of public history in Europe, but also prepare students in a general way for my subsequent 2-quarter research seminar in public history (Hist 217BC).

Each week we will all read several articles, chapters, or a monograph as "core readings." Two students will work with the professor to produce a thesis paper on those readings. Additionally, pairs of students will read supplementary selections and present their results to the class.



New & Recent Books (back to top)

 




Old Announcements (back to top)

  • December 29, 2006: site still under construction. For those who saw my preliminary list of topics, the "theory" has expanded somewhat (with more approaches and case studies), while public history in the academy, and history and the internet have been dropped.
  • Jan. 4, 2007: I think I'm going to leave the order of weekly topics as they are now. I'm still deciding on the core readings for some weeks. The lists of readings for each topic are in random order for now; I'll put the core readings first by the time the quarter starts. (My idea is that everyone will do the core readings, and we'll break into pairs for the others.)
    Note that the readings on jstor and project Muse require a UCSB login (set up your browser as a proxy server--directions on-line).
  • Jan. 7, 2007, 9pm e-mail excerpt: One of you just asked on e-mail whether there are any readings for tomorrow. While I didn't consider assigning any, I did put links to some on the course website, which I plan to mention/present briefly during our first discussion. (My idea was--and still is--that you can refer to them afterwards.) However, if you have time and desire to peruse them beforehand, it couldn't hurt.
    The website is still more disorganized than I'd like it to be, since I haven't finished selecting the core readings for all of the weeks, nor even the books I recommend for purchase, which differ slightly depending on your focus (German, public, US history, non-history fields). In fact, I'd like to keep the topics of the final weeks open until I meet you all and learn about your interests.
    With that said, here is the link: [to this page]
  • Jan. 8, 2007, after class:
    • I've updated the reading list for next week, and added your initials to the supplementary readings.
    • Monday holiday meetings: Jan. 15 same time anyway; Feb. 19->Feb. 21, 5 or 7pm
    • Daniel Schacter, author of one of our readings during the "cognition" week, will be speaking this Friday, Jan. 12 at UCSB:
      Daniel Schacter, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, "Memory and the Mind: How We Construct True, False, and Imaginary Events,": 4-6pm, Life Sciences Building 1001 (beyond the library, towards the south)
  • Jan. 9, 2007: Halbwachs pdfs added: chapter 1 (2Mb), chapter 2 (2.7Mb)
  • Jan. 21, 2007: Reader Table of Contents added; Pennebaker essays for 1/22 as follows:
    Ch. 1: Megan and Stacy; Ch. 2: Joe and Mira; Ch. 7: Abraham; Ch. 8: Nanette; Ch. 14: Tara
  • Jan. 25, 2007: Week 2 1989 Funkenstein article added (12 page searchable pdf)
    Book order is here: Wertsch $22.50; Gross $10.65. Supplementary for 1/29 as follows:
    Abraham: Ho Tai; Stacy: Ho Tai or Nora revs.; Mira: Schulze/Francois; Megan: Rousso; Joe: Nora revs.; Nanette: Bal et al; Tara: Wood entire.
  • Feb. 4, 2007: Week 5: We'll focus on the Wertsch book this week, with the following students focusing on the following chapters: 1-Stacy; 2-Nanette; 3-Joe; 4-Abraham; 5-Mira; 6-Megan; 7-Tara. Everyone should look over Gross's book on Jedwabne, so we can get a head start on next week. Additionally, 2 scheduling notes:
    • 2/19 is a holiday. We'll meet onWed. 2/21, at 6pm at my house, with dinner.
    • 2/26: I am co-organizer of a talk by Steven Beller about Jews in Austria, which starts at 4pm. If we can all start at 1pm, maybe we can shift the class earlier, but in any case I'll need to end early that day. And I hope you'll all attend! [note 2/8: we have room 4041 from 1-2pm]
  • Feb. 8, 2007: Week 6: Read all of Jan Gross's Neighbors, as well as the introduction to Polonski/Michlic, The Neighbors Respond; AND my short overview of "Memories of the Holocaust and WWII in Europe" (reader nos. 7 and 8). Individual supplements (do a page find [ctrl-f] for the full citation below, or jump down to the week 6-Poland section):
    • Ronit Lentin chapter 10: Abraham
    • Fogu et al (chapter): Stacey
    • History & Memory 2006 essays: Tara and Megan
    • Huener: Nanette
    • Steinlauf: Joe
    • Polonski/Michlic (overview): Mira
  • Feb. 12, 2007: Hist 217B in Spring will meet Thursdays, 9-11am.
    Supplementary readings for next Wed., 6pm (directions to my house, #932):
    • Anton Kaes, From Hitler to Heimat (Tara, Nanette)
    • Claude Lanzman, Shoah (Abraham)
    • Thomas Keneally, Schindler's List (Joe)
    • Tim Cole, Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler (n.n.)
    • Holocaust miniseries: http://www.zeitgeschichte-online.de/site/40208179/default.aspx (Mira)
    • Mintz, Alan, Popular Culture and the Shaping of Holocaust Memory in America (2000) [also reviews below]
    • Yosefa Loshitzky (ed.), Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on Schindler's List (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997) [also reviews below] (Megan)
    • Elinore Brecher, Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (not at UCSB)
  • Feb. 9, 2007: Karl Mannheim, "The Problem of Generations" (1927/28) added:
    (26-page, 4.3MB pdf).
    • Also: updated syllabus. I'll pass out a hard copy including the class contact list next Monday.
  • Feb. 26, 2007: today we meet in HSSB 4041 from 1 to 2pm, then the usual room til 4. (At 5pm is Dr. Beller's talk about Jews in Modern Austria.) Supplementary readings:
    • Peter Loewenberg, "The Psychohistorical Origins of the Nazi Youth Cohort," American Historical Review, 76: 5 (December 1971), 1457-1502. (jstor, pdf) (Tara)
    • Alan B. Spitzer, "The Historical Problem of Generations," in: AHR 78:5 (Dec. 1973), pp. 1353-1385. 32 page pdf (Abraham)
    • Hans Jaeger, "Generations in History: Reflections on a Controversial Concept," in: History and Theory 24:3 (Oct. 1985), pp. 273-292. (translation of a 1977 Gesch & Gesell article). 19th origins, long discussion of Mannheim 18 page pdf
    • Tamara Hareven, "The Search for Generational Memory," in: Daedalus 107:4(Fall 1978); reprinted in Leffler/Brent, Public History Readings (1992), 270-283. (searchable pdf) (Megan)
    • Joseph Demartini, "Change Agents and Generational Relationships: A Reevaluation of Mannheim's Problem of Generations," in: Social Forces 64:1 (Sept. 1985), 1-16 pdf (Stacy)
    • Jane Pilcher, "Mannheim's Sociology of Generations: An Undervalued Legacy," in: British Journal of Sociology 45:3 (Sept. 1994), pp. 481-495. 14 page pdf
    • Marianne Hirsch, Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory (Harvard, 1997). (Mira & Nanette) -- not available
    • Harald Welzer et al, Opa war kein Nazi: Nationalsozialismus und Holocaust im Familiengedächtnis (Fischer, 2002), selections (Tara)
  • March 4, 2007: Tomorrow we will discuss Colette Waddell's Through the Eyes of a Survivor. Our guests will be the author, and Prof. Janet Walker from film studies, whose recent films Portraits of Survival feature interview footage with Nina Morecki. Our reading also includes an essay by Mark Roseman about his experience interviewing Marianne Strauss and later finding documents recounting the same events with some striking differences.
    • As the written assignment, please prepare questions to ask Colette, and select passages for discussion.
    • Also, if you have time, there is a talk relevant to our seminar at on Monday March 5, noon-1pm in HSSB 4020: Professor Claudio Fogu from the Department
      of French and Italian will speak on "The Politics of Memory and the Poetics
      of History in Postwar Europe."

      In this talk Professor Fogu will discuss a volume of essays, The Politics of Memory in Postwar Europe, which he edited with Richard Ned Lebow and Wulf Kansteiner. Professor Fogu's talk will first discuss the methodological premises of the project, the criteria for the selection of the case
      studies, and the definition of "politics of memory." He will then discuss the lessons learned by the contributors in their attempts to create a channel of communication between cultural approaches to the study of memory and scholars in the social sciences with issues such as democratization, identity, and European unification. Finally, he will discuss the comparative results emerging from the seven national case studies that review the institutionalization of memories of Nazism, fascism, and World War II in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and Russia/USSR, and focus in particular on the Italian case.
    • Last but not least, in the next few days (by Wednesday 4pm if possible), I would like you to write up a 1-2 page prospectus of what you will be writing about for your paper for this course. It can be submitted by e-mail.
  • March 12, 2007, 10am : I've received three precis so far, which I'm sending out now instead of waiting until the last minute. They are:
    • Joe on Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me (1994)
      Stacy on Nash, Crabtree & Dunn, History on Trial (1997, 2000)
      Abraham on Barton & Levstik, Teaching History for the Common Good (2004)
      Megan and Tara on Ronald Evans, The Social Studies Wars (2004)
    • Additionally, in the course reader we have as common reading the 1991 essay by Wineburg on the disjuncture between the ways professional historians vs. students read historical texts.
      Image of missing pages 516-517, taken from the book publication pp. 81f. (smaller version)
    • If you haven't yet picked or had time to read one of the listed books, I'd suggest starting Nietzsche's 1873 essay "On the Uses and Abuses of History for Life" (see under week 1 on this website). At Claudio Fogu's talk last week, Fogu said that the group that produced that collection kept coming back to that text (in particular N's description of 'critical history') in their exploration of memory and identity. It is a short selection, and you don't have to read much of it to get the jist.
    • We'll be a smaller group today, since Tara, Mira and Paul won't be there. See you at 2!

author: H. Marcuse

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7 on 12/29/06
28 on 1/3/07
34 on 1/5/07 (only me)
41 on 1/7/07 before e-mail
51 1/8, 9am, 62 at 11pm
81 on 1/11/07=7/day
141 on 1/21/07=6/day
176 on 1/25/07=7/day
244 on 2/4/07=7/day
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13.2/day in 2007

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27,906 on 1/1/11
19.7/day in 2010
(until Jan. 1, 2011, this counter was also counting the Collective Memory and Museums Seminar break-out pages created in Jan. 2009)
30,230 on 1/3/2013=3.2/day
since Jan. 2011
30,961 on 6/24/14


2006: page views=/day; entry, exit
2007: page views=/day; entry, exit
2008: 17,230 page views=47.2/day; 14,646 entry, 14,189 exit
2009:   5,055 page views= 13.8/day;   4,273 entry,   3,604 exit