History of North America and its transcultural context

This is an online block seminar that will analyze the causes, the course, and the transformative consequences of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period from 1850 to 1877. This seminar will focus on political, legal, sociocultural, racial, and gendered aspects of Civil War and Reconstruction history. The course will thereby examine the antebellum practices of slavery, southern sectional politics as well as the broader context of 19th century national conflicts over the distribution of domestic power, central characteristics and developments of the Civil War, as well as Reconstruction’s political, sociocultural, and economic changes, roadblocks, and failures. Learning outcomes include students’ ability to identify, discuss, and analyze key events, developments, and historical contexts of the antebellum and postbellum development of the United States.

This seminar will take place as a block course over two weeks (four days in total) in January 2022. The preparatory online meeting on November 5, 2021, at 4:00 PM is mandatory.

The first part of the block seminar (January 20-21) will focus on the history of the Civil War, whereas the second part (January 27-28) will relate the first part’s insights and discussions to the history of Reconstruction.

As their course assignment (Studienleistung), students will serve as “session experts.” They will prepare the reading (literature and at least one source) of a seminar session on a topic of their choice, i.e., a specific aspect of Civil War and/or Reconstruction history that provides additional insights. They will also lead the respective session (90 minutes). Students will prepare the bulk of this assignment in advance (November and December 2021).

As the seminar’s literature, sources, and class language will be (in) English, a very good command of the language is necessary. Modulabschlussprüfungen (MAP), in contrast, can subsequently be completed in English or German according to the student’s choice.