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Refuge. Fleeing From, To and Within Europe, 1800-Now

Vak
2024-2025

*Course description is subject to change

Admission requirements

BSA norm and a pass for both first year Themacolleges

Description

Why did people leave Europe, why did they come? What kinds of movements of refugees have taken place within the continent in the last two hundred years? How have these histories shaped the continent? This course approaches the history of refuge asking what prompted departures, what life in transit looked like and how forced displacement influenced the lives of refugees, the places they came through, the places they reached and those they left behind. We will approach the history of forced migration from a broad array of angles including the politics involved, the social questions that triggered refuge and that refuge caused in return, cultures of movement and exile and the memories they created.

The course traces the journeys of different groups of refugees as well as individuals starting from religious persecution over political displacement and until histories of ethnic exclusion and cleansing. Together, these discussions will point to the intertwined nature of the effects of refugee movement on life in Europe and beyond. Questions of class, ethnicity and gender will be discussed just as well as the role of revolutions, histories of empires and periods of war in their effects on modern refugee history. Along the way we will encounter different ways of doing history: we will learn how to write the histories of refugees through texts, images, songs, and objects that people took with them or created on the way. Secondary sources will further guide our discussions and provide an overview of scholarly debates that have been defining the field in recent years.

Course objectives

General learning objectives

  1. carry out a common assignment
  2. devise and conduct research of limited scope, including
    a. searching, selecting and ordering relevant literature;
    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.
  3. reflect on the primary sources on which the scholarly literature is based;
  4. 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.
  5. participate in discussions during class.

Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation

  1. The student has knowledge of a specialisation, more specifically in the specialisation Economic History, on the global interaction between trade networks in the early-modern period, the nineteenth-century industrialisation of the Netherlands in a world history perspective, and the political economy of the globalising economy in the twentieth century; in the specialisation Social History, on explaining differences between groups from a comparative perspective (local, regional or international, class, gender, ethnicity and religion) and the role of individuals, groups, businesses and (international) organisations (including churches) in processes of inclusion and exclusion from round 1500 to the present.
  2. The student has broad knowledge and understanding of the key terms, the apparatus and the research methods and techniques of the chosen specialisation: in the specialisation Economic History, on the application of economic concepts in historiography and on an understanding of the interaction between policy and economy; and on the use of qualitative and quantitative sources; in the specialisation Social History, on the application of concepts from the social sciences and the acquisition of an understanding of the interaction between social processes through research into both qualitative and quantitative primary sources.

Learning objectives, pertaining to this specific seminar

  1. reflection on memory culture
  2. insights in rerfugee migration from a social and economic perspective
  3. insights in the use of visual sources

Timetable

The timetables are available through MyTimetable.

Mode of instruction

  • Seminar (attendance required)

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 (5000-6000 words, based on historiography, excluding title page, table of contents, footnotes and bibliography)
    measured learning objectives: 2-4, 6-7, 8-10

  • Oral presentation
    measured learning objectives: 3-4, 8-10

  • Participation
    measured learning objectives: 5, 7-10

  • Assignment 1 (outline paper)
    measured learning objectives: 2, 3, 8-10

  • Assignment 2 (section on literature)
    measured learning objectives: 2-5 2-5, 8-10

  • Assignment 3 (oral presentation)
    measured learning objectives: 1-10

Weighing

  • Written paper: 60%

  • Oral presentation: 20%

  • Particiation: 5%

  • Assignment 1: 5%

  • Assignment 2: 5%

  • Assignment 3: 5%

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.

Resit

The written paper can be revised, when marked insufficient. Revision should be carried out within the given deadline, as published in the corresponding Brightspace course.

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

To be announced

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about registering for courses and exams can be found here.

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] (https://www.organisatiegids.universiteitleiden.nl/en/faculties-and-institutes/humanities/faculty-office/student-affairs/education-administration-offices/huizinga-education-administration-office).

Remarks

Not applicable