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Academic Year 2003/2004
Theory and Method in Labor Studies
AMST 202 SP
This seminar examines the major theoretical and methodological issues in the field of labor studies and introduces the history of American workers to the end of the nineteenth century. We will trace the expanding scope
of the field, from the institutional history of organized labor to the ordinary lives of a wide spectrum of working men and women. Students will be asked to critically evaluate the principal interpretive innovations of
the
last few decades. Topics explored will include the relationship between coerced labor and wage work, the role of gender relations in working class history, and the impact of recent transnational approaches on the
perennial
question of American exceptionalism.
MAJOR READINGS
Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan, eds., CULTIVATION AND CULTURE: LABOR AND THE SHAPING OF SLAVE LIFE IN THE AMERICAS (UP of Virginia, 1993)
W. Jeffrey Bolster, BLACK JACKS: AFRICAN AMERICAN SEAMEN IN THE AGE OF
SAIL (Harvard UP,
1997)
Thomas Dublin, TRANSFORMING WOMEN¿S WORK: NEW ENGLAND LIVES IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (Cornell UP, 1995)
Paul E. Johnson, SAM PATCH, THE FAMOUS JUMPER (Hill & Wang, 2003)
Peter Linebaugh and
Marcus Rediker, THE MANY-HEADED HY
DRA: SAILORS, SLAVES COMMONERS, AND THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ATLANTIC (Beacon Press, c2000)
David R. Roediger, THE WAGES OF WHITENESS: RACE AND THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS (Verso,
1999)
Daniel Vickers, FARMERS & F
ISHERMEN: TWO CENTURIES OF WORK IN ESSEX COUNTRY, MASSACHUSETTS, 1630-1850 (University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
Recommended: WHO BUILT AMERICA?: WORKING PEOPLE AND THE NATION¿S ECONOMY, POLITICS, CULTURE,
AND SOCIETY, Vol. I, by Bruce Levine
, et al. (Pantheon Books, c19899-)
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
To be announced.
COURSE FORMAT:
Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): Pursell,Matthew C.
- Times: ..T.R.. 01:10PM-02:30PM; Location: CAMS 3
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 15)
- SR. major: 6 Jr. major: 9
- SR. non-major: 0 Jr. non-major: 0 SO: 0 FR: X
Special Attributes:
- Curricular Renewal: Speaking, Writing
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459