Department of History
Appalachian State University

Information

Courses Taught

The Black Death

 
Course Description:
The Black Death has been described as the "greatest ecological disaster in human history."  In order to study and understand and analyze its impact on the world of the fourteenth century, it is necessary to utilize a variety of disciplines and historical methodologies.  It is the aim of this course to introduce students to both tried and true, and newer, computer-based historical methods and tools, while all the while focusing on the Black Death.  It is hoped that students will come away from this course with some understanding of the variety of disciplines, tools, and methods available to the modern historian, and the ways in which using them effectively in combination can more fully illuminate the past.

Course Objectives:
This course is designed to introduce the undergraduate student to the essentials of historical practice.  The discipline of history belongs both to the humanities and the social sciences, which requires historians to be familiar with a wide variety of research resources and methods.
Professional historians must be both teachers and researchers.  As a teacher and a professional who listens to, reads and evaluates the work of others, the professional historian is also a professional critic.  In this course, students will research, write, critique and teach, and present - all skills necessary for the history major and the professional historian.

Readings:
Readings for the course have included, William H. McNeill's Plagues and Peoples, Michael W. Dols' The Black Death in the Middle East, Mavis E. Mate's Daughters, wives, and widows after the Black Death, Anna Foa's The Jews of Europe after the Black Death and Millard Meiss' Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death.

Grade:
In the past, grades have been based on:

Black Death Class Web Page