A&H 275 Emotions. A Social and Cultural History

Content

Do emotions have a history? Historians believe they do. While people in the world may share a universal, basic set of emotions – e.g. love, hate, fear, anger, joy, pride – the expressions and experience of these emotions have varied greatly in time and space. Today, some scholars even state that the emotions themselves have changed over time. The recognition that emotions are not exclusively biological reactions but learned responses that have a large social and cultural component has opened the way for historical and anthropological research into the differentiating effects of culture and society on emotions.

This course introduces students to the burgeoning field of the history of emotions, taking a long-term perspective and exploring the topic from a wide range of angles: the different words our forebears used to describe their emotions, the changing ‘emotional regimes’ governing the verbal and non-verbal expression of emotions, the theories scholars developed on the interaction between body and mind, and the impact of emotions on the making of history. While the emphasis will be on emotions in Europe, other parts of the world will be studied as well.

Assignments in the course aim at fostering critical skills in interpreting primary and secondary historical sources, reviewing arguments and methods of research, and assessing major trends and theories in the field. Students are trained to present their analyses and arguments both orally and in writing. The final paper will be historiographical in its focus, that is, it will analyse and describe the evolution of scholarly thinking on a particular subject within the history of emotions.

Instructor

Dr. Dorothee Sturkenboom

Track

History – Europe and the World

Period

Fall / 2009

Course Material

To be announced.

Prerequisites

One needs to have followed one of the following courses in order to take this course:

• A&H 176 Rise and Fall of Europe
• A&H 177 Socio-economic History
• A&H 185 Introduction to American Studies
• SSC 121 Introduction to Psychology

Additional Prerequisites

In special circumstances and at the discretion of the instructor one can be allowed to enroll without having taken one of the above mentioned 100-level courses.

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following course:

• A&H 387 From Buffalo Bill to Dr. Phil: American Culture at Home and Abroad