Email: kdierks@indiana.edu

Office hours: Ballantine 734, Tuesdays, 12:15-2:15 p.m., or by appointment

Office phone: 855-6288

Course description:

This course focuses on the cultural and social history of communications in early America between the late fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  Taking a comparative and multicultural approach, the course considers how acts of communication affected the lives of people in different social groups:  Native Americans, European and English immigrants, and African Americans; men, women, and children; affluent, middling, and impoverished folk.  We will examine the changing ways communciations was deployed as an instrument of power, and how these changes contributed to the transition from a pre-modern to a more recognizably modern world.

At the end of the course, I hope you will have sharper analytical skills with which to assess evidence and formulate your own arguements, as well as sharper writing and verbal skills with which to organize and articulate your own ideas -- beyond the confines of history, and and useful in any field of endeavor.  I also you will have a solid grounding in a formative period of American history when writing and printing were as crucial instruments of power as email communication and satellite technology are in the present day.

Course requirements:

CLASS PARTICIPATION.  Because this course is an intensive seminar, its success depends on your regular attendance and your active participation.  Attending every class is thus absolutely mandatory.  If you must be absent at some point, you should have the courtesy to alert the professor beforehand and to provide official written notification from the Dean of Students (Franklin Hall 108) for any such absence to be excused.  Unexcused absences will result in a steep grade deduction on the ensuing paper.

You are expected to have completed the readings prior to coming to class, and to be prepared to contribute to respectful, informed, and constructive discussions.  Class participation will count 20% toward your final grade.

READING ASSIGNMENTS.  Weekly reading will generally involve a blend of "primary" documents produced by people in the past, and "secondary" readings written by historians.  Links to these readings can be found in the course syllabus, from where you can print them out.  Be sure to bring print-outs with you for discussion.  In addition, there are three course books to be purchased (as listed below).

Specific questions to keep in mind as you do the weekly reading can be found by clicking on the "Readings" headings in the course syllabus.  For general tips on interpreting primary documents and evaluating secondary readings, see the following two guidelines:  Strategies for Interpreting Primary Documents; Strategies for Evaluating Secondary Readings.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS.  Consistent with the intensive writing requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences, there will be two shorter papers and one longer paper, as well as a number of one-page response papers.  All of these assignments will be posted ahead of time on the course syllabus, from where you can print them out.  The centerpiece of the J400 course is a 15-page research paper (50%).  There will also be a shorter paper (10%), and a series of one-page response papers (20%).  (As indicated above, class participation accounts for the remaining 20% of your final grade.)  Improvement over the course of the semester will be rewarded.

Papers are due at the beginning of the class period.  All papers should be double-spaced, in a readable font, and stapled (no folders), with your name (but never your social security number), course number and title, date, and paper title at the top of the first page.  Lateness will be penalized, unless excused by official written notification from the Dean of Students (Franklin Hall 108).

Plagiarism will result in failure of and withdrawal from the class, and will become a permanent part of the student’s transcript and academic record.  Writing must be original, and all quotations, derivative ideas and uncommon facts must be duly footnoted.

See plagiarism guidelines from Writing Tutorial Services.  See plagiarism procedures from IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct  (II. Student Responsibilities; G. Academic Responsibilities and Misconduct; 3. Plagiarism).

For general assistance with writing papers or other study skills, you are encouraged to visit Writing Tutorial Services, one of the Academic Support Centers, or the Study Smarter Workshops run by the Student Academic Center.

Highly recommended for paper writing strategies is “Research and Writing Resources for History J300 and J400.”

ASSISTANCE.  If at any time during the semester you have questions about the course website, lecture material, reading material, writing assignments, or your performance in this class, please feel free to speak to the professor before or after class, during office hours, via email, or via telephone to make an appointment.

If you have a disability or learning disability, please provide me with official written notification from either Disability Services for Students (Franklin Hall 096, 327) as soon as possible so that any necessary accommodations can be made.

CLASSROOM PROTOCOLS:

Turn off all electronic devices, especially cell phones, prior to entering the classroom.  (Laptops may be used, obviously for note-taking purposes only.)

For safety information related to Ballantine Hall, see http://www.indiana.edu/~bhsafety/.

Course book: (available at the college bookstores, via online booksellers, and on reserve at the Wells Library: P92.U5 S646)

Starr, Paul.  The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications.  New York: Basic Books, 2004. 

Course syllabus: