Syllabus

HIST 480-009, Senior Seminar: Slavery in the Western World, University of Northern Colorado, Spring 2002

Course Meets: Wednesday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Michener L68.

This course examines slavery in the Western World.  It proceeds from the proposition that to understand this institution historically, it is helpful to look at slavery and other coercive labor systems in a wide variety of different times and places. Exploring across time and space not only illuminates the complexities and varieties of slavery, but also reveals the sometimes-ambiguous boundary between “slave” and “free” labor.

To accomplish the task of understanding slavery in the West, the class will examine each week some aspect of forced labor in a different temporal and geographic context.  This exploration will start in ancient times, but the emphasis of the class will be on the enslavement of people of African descent in the Americas that commenced in the 1500s.  The course also will look at the legacy of African slavery in the United States, and the survival of coercive labor systems into the twentieth century worldwide.

“Slavery in the Western World” is a capstone course for history majors at the University of Northern Colorado.  As a capstone course, students will have the opportunity to synthesize the skills and knowledge acquired at UNC.  In particular, this course will require students to make the utmost use of their reading, writing, and oral communications skills.  Knowledge of Western Civilization and American history will be helpful, but is not absolutely essential.

Required Readings.

Some of the course readings—designated with a ®—will be available on two-hour reserve in the Michener Library.  A small number of readings will be accessed via the instructor’s web site.  However the following book should be purchased (for use later in the semester) either at The Bookstop (931 16^th Street) or at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in the University Center.

• Kevin Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (1999)

There will also be three reading packets of articles for the course that will be used on January 23, February 27, and April 10, respectively—designated with a ©.  These packets will be available at The Bookstop.  Prof. Shaffer will alert the class when a new packet should be acquired.

Course Requirements

• Attendance at every class meeting.  Because this course is a seminar, the vast majority of the class time will be spent in discussion and learning from each other.  When students are absent they are not only hurting themselves, but the entire class.  Hence, absences from class without a very good excuse (serious illness, judicial subpoena, etc.) will be penalized.  Attendance will be taken.

• Class participation.  A signification portion of grades will depend on student involvement at class meetings.  Twice during the course of the semester, each student will be called upon to make an oral report on one of the books on the agenda.  They should prepare a 10-20 minute presentation on their book, describing its thesis and presenting a synopsis of its major issues for presentation to the class.  Students also need to be prepared to discuss other student’s presentations and general course readings.  More guidelines on preparing book presentations and how to act in class will be available on the course web site.

• Writing Assignments:
  • Short Papers.  Besides making an oral presentation on the books, each student will be expected to write a 3-4 page summary for each book they read and report on, to be submitted to the instructor.  Please see the course web site for more specific guidelines on how to prepare these summaries.
  • The Research Paper.

The ultimate assignment for the course, toward which students will be working the entire semester, is a major research paper, 15-25 pages.  This assignment requires that each student present an original historical interpretation based on his or her own primary research.  The essence of history is creating new interpretations of the past through primary research and analytical writing.  Before graduating, students need to cap their work as a history major by experiencing this process.  This course will provide that experience.

The subject of each student’s paper will be one of their own choosing.  However, a strongly suggested way of framing a paper will be to examine the experience of slaves in one particular state in the U.S. South.  This approach will allow a student to make use of the WPA slave narratives as their main primary source, simplifying the task of locating primary sources.  Please note: this approach is not required.  The instructor welcomes other topic choices by students.  In any case, all topics for research papers must be cleared with Prof. Shaffer.

Students will be using secondary sources in their papers (books, articles, etc.,), but primary sources will be its cornerstone.  For an example of such a paper, please see the course web site later in the semester.  More detailed guidelines for the research paper also will be posted there.

• Preparation Assignments.  To assist students along in the process of completing their research paper, they will complete a number of preparatory assignments along the way.  These will include a library research exercise, a formal proposal, an annotated bibliography, a rough draft, and group critiques (i.e., students will be critiquing each others’ papers).  Detailed guidelines for each assignment will be distributed via the class web site over the course of the semester.

• Research Paper Presentation.  Each student will be required to make a 15-minute oral presentation on their research paper to the entire class at the end of the semester.  More guidance on these presentations also will appear on the course web site later this semester.

• Student-Instructor Meetings.  Each student will be required to meet with the instructor twice during the semester, once before February 27 and once between April 3 and May 1.  The purpose of these meetings will be primarily to discuss the student’s choice of topic for their research paper and to assess their progress in completing it.  If possible, the meetings should take place during office hours.  In any case, please schedule an appointment beforehand.

This page last modified on 07/02/07.

Copyright 2002  Dr. Donald R. Shaffer
Address e-mail to drshaff@unco.edu