Table of Contents - Hartwick College

History
We use the word ‘history’ to define both past events and accounts of those
events. All past and current cultures throughout the globe made and make
sense of their experiences within historical perspectives, whether
genealogical, mythic, magical, or analytical. In Western traditions the
ancient Greeks saw history as a form of knowing based on inquiry of
particular things. Since the classical era, Western historians have sought
to understand the past through careful analysis of evidence in the form of
documents and other physical remains of past cultures with the
assumption that the past and the present are closely linked and that in
understanding the past we might avoid previous mistakes and fashion a
better future. Within this framework, learning history is first and
foremost learning the methodologies for studying the past and mastering
the discipline to apply these methodologies effectively. The faculty
members in the History Department are committed to the students
learning the discipline and practicing it.
Recent scholarly debate among historians around the globe, however, has
challenged the presumptions of objectivity and scientific disinterest
implied by the traditional model of the discipline. The new perspective
argues that practicing historians are engaged in their subjects with a
political commitment and passion that guides research agendas and our
understanding of documents. Nevertheless, rather than making historical
analysis impossible, this recognition of the personal involvement of
anyone who tries to understand the past places even more emphasis on
applying the discipline with care and self-awareness. We cannot learn the
truth about past cultures, but we can develop hypotheses about their
values and legacies. Even with tentative conclusions, we can come to a
fuller and more critical understanding of our own cultures and an
appreciation of the cultures of others. This is the goal for learning that is
supported by the department’s faculty members.
The Program: Hartwick’s history program (courses, opportunities for
individual study, off-campus experiences) is intended to heighten
students’ understanding of the complexities of the cultural roots of
contemporary America and the historical forces that have produced the
increasing interdependency of cultures across the globe. Exploring
history, whether as part of a liberal education or as a major, engages
students to question the historical ‘truths’ offered as justifications of
current systems of power and inequality. Students also learn to analyze
information critically and to test generalizations (including their own).
Departmental offerings cover American, Latin American, European, and
Global histories. Classroom experience emphasizes active student
learning through class discussion, group work, peer critiques, and
individual presentations. Regularly offered courses cover topics as diverse
as Slavery and Abolition in the United States, Issues in Indian Country
Today, Gender and Power in Latin America, The Renaissance, World War
II and the Home Front, and the History of Western Medicine since 1500.
Special topics courses can cover themes ranging from the religious lives of
medieval women to American autobiographies. The history faculty also
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