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Introduction
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n t r o d u c t i o n
At Reed, history is treated as a basic component of general education. The department attempts to include in its course offerings as many periods and areas of study as student enrollment and available faculty make possible. The priority, however, is on diversity of approach—constitutional, intellectual, economic, social, diplomatic, cultural—rather than on specific coverage of conventional fields. The aim is to arouse sufficient interest in history to stimulate a student’s independent inquiry and the necessary analytical thought and perspectives that go with historical study.
The department tries to inculcate students with a sense of history—to impress them with the legacy, conscious or unconscious, that each present has inherited from its past, as well as the many perspectives one can have on that legacy. While many graduates have become prominent as professional historians and teachers of history, it is even more as a fundamental contribution to liberal, humanistic education and the development of a critical intelligence, carried through in many different professions and ways of life, that the department program is conceived and directed to majors and non-majors alike.
The junior qualifying examination in history is a critical essay dealing with a given issue or problem within a particular historical field and period. The department expects students to develop some competence in various periods and areas of history, as specified in the course requirements below. The department administers the junior qualifying examination only in November and April of each academic year. Exceptions are made only for students returning from leave away from campus, or for other circumstances beyond the student’s control. The department encourages but does not require its students to pursue the study of a foreign language.
American Studies is a major for the student who wants additional course work in American society and culture. American studies majors usually select a disciplinary concentration in history, literature or political science. Among other possible programs are interdisciplinary majors involving history, such as history-literature and international studies.
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