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Class Meets: Thursdays 1-4:40 p.m.
Room: Salazar 2025
Instructor: Steve Estes
Office Hours: M/T/W 11-12:00
Office: Stevenson 2070 D
steve.estes@sonoma.edu or 707.664.2424
This course will familiarize students with the modern history and historiography of California, and it will also hone students’ research and writing skills. The Golden State’s distinctiveness lies in its diversity, and we will explore this diversity in California’s changing environment, demographics, economy, and culture. At the conclusion of the course, students will write a ten-page research paper that examines primary and secondary source material on a topic in California history of your choosing.
Robert Mailer Anderson, Boonville
Gray Brechin, Imperial San Francisco
Chitra Divakaruni, William Justice, James Quay, eds., California Uncovered
Henry Yoshiitaka Kiyama and Frederik L. Schodt, The Four Immigrants Manga
Carey McWilliams, Fool’s Paradise: A Carey McWilliams Reader
Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory
Kevin Starr, California: A History
Plus Additional Reserve Articles & Essays
Class Participation (25% of final grade): For this course to work, every student must keep up with the reading and actively participate in class discussion every week. Attendance is mandatory, but you may miss up to two classes without an excuse. After the second absence three points are deducted from your final grade per absence regardless of the excuse. Your participation grade will be based on the frequency and quality of contributions to the class discussion.
Readings Journal (40% of final grade): Each week, you need to write a typed review of the book or articles that we are reading (400-500 words). This review should briefly summarize the primary argument or topic of the readings, and it should analyze how effectively the author conveys his or her main points. For academic books, does the author look at the relevant source material? Does s/he place the work in a historical and historigraphical context? What questions did the work(s) raise in your mind? Was the writing engaging? I will take up the journals twice during the semester during class meetings of my choosing, so you must bring all entries to each class and be prepared to turn them in.
Research Paper (30% of final grade): The final assignment for the class is a ten-page research paper based on both primary and secondary sources. Over the course of the semester, you will complete a proposal, introduction, rough draft, and final draft of this paper. You will make copies of these assignments for the instructor and the other members of your writing group.
Research Presentation (5% of final grade): At the conclusion of the semester, you will present your research to the class. This presentation will be five minutes long, followed by five minutes of Q&A with your classmates. The presentation should explain your paper’s topic (briefly), thesis, and include two examples/anecdotes from your research that support your thesis. You should conclude by discussing the questions your paper left unanswered and/or possible areas for future research on this topic.
Extra Credit (possible extra 5% of final grade): One week during the semester, you can bring in a primary source (e.g. newspaper editorial, song, photo collection, painting, poem, or movie clip (no more than ten minutes)) to show the class relating to the topic of that week’s reading. If you have a print source, you will need to bring copies for the class. You need to come up with three discussion questions for the class related to your source. Finally, you need to email me a few days before class with your idea for a source and questions. Each student can only do this one time for up to five additional points on the final grade.
1.17 “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” California in the Popular Imagination
Video Clips: Beach Blanket Bingo, American Graffiti, & Clueless
Audio Clips: Woody Guthrie, Beach Boys, Dead Kennedys, Tupac Shakur, etc.
1.24 Early California History
Kevin Starr, California (Introduction, Chronology, and Chapters 1-5)
1.31 The California Century
Kevin Starr, California (Chapters 6-13)
2.07 The Rise of an Imperial City
Gray Brechin, Imperial San Francisco (xxi-170)
2.14 Immigration and Animation
Henry Kiyama and Frederik Schodt, The Four Immigrants Manga
2.21 The Fall of an Imperial City?
Gray Brechin, Imperial City (245-330)
2.28 Where Fools Rush In (Part 1)
Carey McWilliams, Fool’s Paradise (ix-146)
3.06 Where Fools Rush In (Part 2)
Carey McWilliams, Fool’s Paradise (147-262)
3.13 Research Day [No Class]
3.20 Black and Blue
Steve Estes, I Am a Man! (153-178) and Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop (357-380)
(Both readings are on reserve in the library)
*****Research Paper Proposals Due.*****
Bring three copies of a one page research proposal that outlines the topic, scope, primary sources, secondary sources, and a list of questions that will drive your research paper.
3.27 Spring Break [No Class]
4.03 Affirmative Reaction
Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory
4.10 Out in the Boonies?
Robert Mailer Anderson, Boonville
*****[Draft first three pages (introduction) to term paper.]*****
4.17 California Cultures (Part I)
Divakaruni, Justice, and Quay, eds., California Uncovered, vii-176
4.24 California Cultures (Part II)
Divakaruni, Justice, and Quay, eds., California Uncovered, 177-364
[Begin student research presentations]
5.01Your California
*****Research Papers Due*****
[Complete student presentations]
5.08 Final Exam (TBA)