Admission requirements
History students should have successfully completed their propaedeutic exam and both second-year BA-seminars, one of which in Algemene Geschiedenis. By choosing this seminar, students also choose Algemene Geschiedenis as their BA graduation specialisation.
Description
For the past century, survivors and opponents of genocide, political persecution, and imperial exploitation have been making increasing—and often highly contested—demands to represent their collective history in the public sphere. Our seminar will track dramatic shifts in what counts as a monument and which groups are considered worthy of remembrance. Each week of the syllabus is organized around major public and scholarly debates about history and its memorialization: First, what is a monument: Should monuments be physical structures, or can archives, criminal trials, and other kinds of performance serve major public memorial functions too? What is the historic relationship between public monuments and collective identity, and how have contemporary memorial practices posed a challenge to this relationship? Do monuments always “matter,” and how has their public meaning shifted over time? How have victims and survivors shaped (or been excluded from) public memory, and what are the ethics of representing traumatic history? Finally, how have far-flung historic events across the globe become linked through transnational and “multidirectional” memorial practices?
This course will include one fieldtrip to a memorial site in Amsterdam, to be scheduled on a Friday.
modernhistory
culturalhistory/genderhistory/globalhistory/climatehistory/colonialhistory/minorityhistory/politicalhistory
Course objectives
General learning objectives
The student can:
- devise and conduct research of limited scope, including:
a. identifying relevant literature and select and order them according to a defined principle;
b. organising and using relatively large amounts of information;
c. an analysis of a scholarly debate;
d. placing the research within the context of a scholarly debate. - write a problem solving essay and give an oral presentation after the format defined in the first year Themacolleges, including:
a. using a realistic schedule of work;
b. formulating a research question and subquestions;
c. formulating a well-argued conclusion;
d. giving and receiving feedback;
e. responding to instructions of the lecturer. - reflect on the primary sources on which the literature is based;
- select and use primary sources for their own research;
- analyse sources, place and interpret them in a historical context;
- participate in class discussions.
Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation
- The student has knowledge of a specialisation, more specifically;
- in the specialisation General History: of the place of European history from 1500 in a worldwide perspective; with a focus on the development and role of political institutions.
- Knowledge and insight in the main concepts, the research methods and techniques of the specialisation, more specifically;
- in the specialisation General History: of the study of primary sources and the context specificity of nationally defined histories.
Learning objectives, pertaining to this specific seminar
The student can:
- critically evaluate the relationship between history and memory across various national and trans-national contexts
- describe how and why global memory practices have shifted over the last century;
- apply the methods of cultural history to research questions in the field of global memory studies
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar (compulsory attendance)
This means that students have to attend every session of the course. If you are not able to attend, you are required to notify the teacher beforehand. The teacher will determine if and how the missed session can be compensated by an additional assignment. If specific restrictions apply to a particular course, the teacher will notify the students at the beginning of the semester. If you do not comply with the aforementioned requirements, you will be excluded from the seminar.
Assessment method
Assessment
Written paper (6000-7000 words, based on problem-oriented research using primary sources, excluding front page, table of contents, footnotes and bibliography)
measured learning objectives: 1-5, 7-11Oral presentation
measured learning objectives: 3-6Participation
measured learning objectives: 6-11
Weighing
Written paper: 70%
Oral presentation: 10%
Particiation: 20%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average with the additional requirement that the written paper must always be sufficient. Attendance must also be sufficient; students may only miss up to two class sessions for serious reasons (such as illness or bereavement).
Resit
The written paper can be revised, when marked insufficient. Revision should be carried out within the deadline as provided in the relevant course outline on Brightspace.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organised.
Reading list
Assigned materials will be made available on Brightspace.
Registration
Registration takes place via a form that is sent to all BA3/3+ History students on the day registration opens in MyStudyMap.
Seminars may be cancelled in case of insufficient interest.
Cancellation is possible up to 2 weeks before the start of the seminar. Students will be informed immediately and make an alternative choice in consultation with their study advisor.
Seminars are guaranteed to take place with an enrolment of 24 students.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
Course will be conducted in English with opportunities for small-group discussion in Dutch. All written work must be submitted in English.