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Academic Year 2002/2003

The New England Century: Sin, Superstition, and Society in Early America, 1630-1704
HIST 314 FA
Crosslistings:
AMST 319

This seminar offers an alternative portrait of early New England, from the settlement of Massachusetts Bay in 1629 to the Deerfield Massacre of 1704. The course will be concerned to explode popular myths about New England's first settlers as stern prudes dressed in black and white. Among the topics to be explored: art and architecture, captivity, crime, environmental history, family life, Indian-white relations, religion, sex, and witchcraft. There will be at least one film screening and two field trips - one to the Yale University Art Gallery and a second to the Mashantuckett Pequot Museum.

MAJOR READINGS

Paul S. Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, SALEM POSSESSED: THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF WITCHCRAFT (1974)
William Cronon, CHANGES IN THE LAND: INDIANS, COLONISTS, AND THE ECOLOGY OF NEW ENGland (1983)
John Demos, THE UNREDEEMED CAPTIVE: A FAMILY STORY FROM EARLY AMERICA (1994) COMP., REMARKABLE PROVIDENCES: READINGS ON EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY (1991)
David D. Hall, WORLDS OF WONDER, DAYS OF JUDGMENT: POPULAR RELIGIOUS BELIEF IN EARLY NEW ENGLAnd (1989)
Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, THE PRACTICE OF PIETY: PURITAN DEVOTIONAL DISCIPLINES IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEW ENGLAND 1982)
Jane Kamensky, GOVERNING THE TONGUE: THE POLITICS OF SPEECH IN EARLY NEW ENGLAND
Sumner Chilton Powell, PURITAN VILLAGE: THE FORMATION OF A NEW ENGLAND TOWN (1963)
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, GOOD WIVES: IMAGE AND REALITY IN THE LOVES OF WOMEN IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND, 1650-1750 (1980)
Daniel Vickers, FARMERS AND FISHERMAN: TWO CENTURIES OF WORK IN ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, 1630-1850 (1994)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Each student will write an ungraded, two- to three-page response paper each week and a final essay of twelve to fifteen pages. Topics for the longer paper should be drawn from the lively pages of the Essex County (Mass.) Court Records, and may include abortion, adultery, bestiality, drunkenness, guns, homicide, Indians, premartial sex, rape, and trespassing, among others.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Swinehart,Kirk Davis   
Times: .M..... 01:10PM-04:00PM;     Location: CAMS 3
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 17)
SR. major: 5   Jr. major: 4
SR. non-major: 4   Jr. non-major: 4   SO:    FR:

Special Attributes:
Curricular Renewal:    Reading Non-Verbal Texts, Writing, Focused Inquiry Course
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-18-2003

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