487B  PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1815     (Roediger)

            Topic:  Slavery, Expansion and Race in Antebellum U.S.

            This course, taught in a seminar format, centers on the reading and discussion of nine books and a few articles.   The readings open onto broad questions regarding the ways in which ideas about race, and racist practices, developed out of the experience of settler colonialism as well as out of racial slavery.  With some exceptions (mostly fiction by Herman Melville) the readings are historical, albeit interdisciplinary in their approaches.  Students will report on one book not read by classmates and will lead discussion (with a partner) once during the semester.  Short (2-3 pp.) writing assignments accompany those tasks.  A longer (10-12 pp.) final paper puts Melville in dialogue with the historians.