HIST 4501B: Seminar in British History: Fashion History Workshop
Winter 2025
Instructor: Danielle Kinsey
Course description: What is fashion and what meaning is built into it? How does fashion history contribute to our knowledge of British history in general? Can fashion be controlled and, if so, by who, how, and to what effects? How do we study fashion history — what sources and theory can we use? These are the main questions we’ll be investigating in this seminar-workshop. In the first few weeks of the semester, the class will decide on one or two decades of British history to focus on between 1750 and 2010. The first half of the semester will be devoted to reading and discussing the theory and historiography of British fashion, particularly within the class’s chosen time period. “Fashion,” of course, doesn’t have to mean just what rich people wore. It can include any kind of popular or group trend having to with consumption, consumerism, and design. This includes clothing, hair, ornamentation, interior design, manners, leisure activities, art, music, dance, and food. The second half of the course will be about students 1) carrying out their own research project on a topic within the class’s chosen time period; 2) producing a compelling historical or historiographical argument that is backed up with evidence; and 3) sharing that work with peers to gather and give feedback.
Class Format: This is a 0.5 credit seminar that will meet in-person once per week for three hours. All students are expected to attend every class.
Prerequisites: Students should complete either HIST 3810 or 3820 before taking this class so that they have been introduced to the concepts and content of historical theory and historiographical analysis.
Assessment: The summative piece of work students will produce for this class will be an original, sustained, and compelling historical or historiographical argument about British fashion that is rigorously backed up by the analysis of primary and secondary sources. Likely this argument will be made in the form of a formal, written essay but I am open to other modes of presentation. Students will have to identify their own specific research topic and craft their argument themselves, with input from the class. To support the production of this summative assignment, students will participate in weekly discussions of readings, complete weekly reflective assignments, research sources and input them to Zotero, create a proposed topic and research plan for their project, produce and share drafts of their work, and participate in constructive peer review of their own and others’ work.
Required readings:
Readings for this course have not yet been set and will depend in some part on which decade(s) the class decides to focus. Having said that, students should be prepared to read and discuss about 100 pages of text per week. This reading load will come in the form of academic journal articles, monograph chapters, and theoretical texts, some of which will be challenging (which is why I want you to have gained an introduction to theoretical discussions already through courses like HIST 3810 and 3820). Of course, we will discuss the ins and outs of each reading so there is no expectation that everyone will come to class with a perfect understanding of all things for the week but do know that some of the readings, especially in the first few weeks, will be challenging.
Email the instructor if you have any questions or concerns.