History 1000:0002 First Year Seminar: History Through the Novel

Fall Semester 2015

Instructor: Jeffrey Cox

Class: 1:30-3:05. 143 Schaeffer Hall (SH)

Office: 109 Schaeffer Hall Phone: 335-2298

E-Mail: jeffrey-cox@uiowa.edu

Home Page: http://myweb.uiowa.edu/jlcox/

Office Hours: Monday 3:30-5; Thursday, 10:30-12

History Dept: 280 Schaeffer Hall, Phone: 335-2299

Dept. Chair: Elizabeth Heineman

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policies classroom policies:

http://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-syllabus-insert

Objectives: The purpose of this seminar is to read some important novels as a way to learn about history. The focus will be on the history of India and Africa during and after the period of British imperial rule. The only out of class assignment will be reading. In class, students will discuss the novels, make short presentations on their thoughts about them, and do short writing exercises to improve their rhetorical skills.

Complaints. Complaints about academic aspects of this course should be directed to the chair of the History Department. Complaints about sexual harassment may go to any officer of the university, or to the Office of Affirmative Action. If you have a complaint, or are involved in a dispute, or just have a question about procedures at the university, you might wish to consult the office of the Ombudsperson, C108 Seashore Hall, 335-3608. All communications with that office are confidential.

Accommodation. I would like to hear from anyone in this class who may require some modification of seating, testing or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please see me after class or during my office hours.

Grade: This is a graded course, and the grade will be based on class attendance (mandatory), and on seven in-class writing exercises. The grade will be based on the average grade of the in-class writing exercises. Each unexcused absence will result in lowering the final grade by one letter.

These books are available for purchase at Prairie Lights Bookstore on Linn Street:

Lynn Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves; William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style; H. Rider Haggard, She, Oxford World's Classics; E. M. Forster, A Passage to India, Harcourt Brace; Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Anchor Books; Bapsi Sidhwa, Cracking India, Milkweed Editions

Schedule of Class Meetings

August 24. Introductions

August 31. Discussion of She; Eats, Shoots and Leaves pp. 1-67; The Elements of Style, Introduction

September 7. Labor Day. No Class,

September 14. Discussion of She; Eats, Shoots and Leaves, 68-102; The Elements of Style, ch. 1, The Elementary Rules of Usage

September 21. Discussion of A Passage to India

September 28. Discussion of A Passage to India

October 4. Discussion of Things Fall Apart

October 11.Discussion of Cracking India; The Elements of Style, ch IV Words and Expressions Commonly Misused.

October 18. Discussion of Cracking India.