Admission requirements
This course is available for students of the Humanities Lab.
If you have received your propaedeutic diploma, or completed your first year, within one academic year, your academic results are good and you are a very motivated student, you may apply for a place in the Humanities Lab.
There is a maximum of 14 places available for this course. Students may be asked to write a short motivation, and the lecturer will select the participants based on their motivation.
Description
Fortunately, few of us have experienced war and warfare first hand. Perhaps your grandparents have and they may have given oral accounts of 'the old days'. However, what we know or think we know about war and combat is most likely to be the product of media such as war movies, novels, images, museums, memorials and commemorative rituals. This module is about the way we remember war, how this memory is produced and for which political, ideological and other goals ‘a useable past’ it is generated. How does 'collective memory' – if there is such a thing – relate to experience, historiography and (national) identity? And in what way is individual memory shaped by the dominant cultural representations of the past? In the course of six weeks we will look at several armed conflicts of the wider 20th Century, such as the First and Second World War, the Indonesian War of Independence and the Vietnam War and analyse the way they have been remembered through the prism provided by various media.
Within six weeks, you will be familiar with some basic concepts and issues in Cultural Memory Studies, and you will start your own research in a case of cultural memory from your own country, background or area of study, and write an academic paper on your findings.
Course objectives
After finishing this course, you will:
Understand the theory of memory vs. historiography
Be able to analyze cultural (re-) constructions and representations of war
Be able to draw conclusions on the functions and effects of cultural memory of war, using the appropriate theory
Be able to set up a research into cultural memory and write an academic paper about it.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
a. Plenary (guest)lectures
b. Seminars
c. Excursion
The excursion will take place on Friday 3 December. We will pay a visit to the National Military Museum and escape room Bunker 83 More details will be announced. Please note that you have to be available on 3 December from 8 o’clock in the morning until early evening. The excursion is a mandatory part of the course.
d. Literature study
Assessment method
a. Individual assignment: an academic paper of 3.000 – 3.500 words
b. Individual presentation
c. Two group presentations (one during the excursion)
The academic paper will make up 70 percent of the final grade, which has to be a 6 minimum. The remaining 30 percent will be the average of the presentations and overall participation during class. The paper needs to be graded with a 6 minimum. If the final grade is insufficient there is the possibility of retaking the final essay.
Attendance
Attendance is compulsory for all meetings (lectures, seminars, excursion). If you are unable to attend due to circumstances beyond your control, notify the lecturer and/ or the Humanities Lab coordinators in advance, providing a valid reason for your absence, and hand in your weekly assignment in writing to the lecturer (if applicable). Being absent without notification and valid reason may result in lower grades or exclusion from the course.
Exam review
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 organized.
Reading list
We will read works on cultural memory by Jan and Aleida Assman, Jay Winter, James E. Young and others. Most of these will be made available through Brightspace.
Registration
Students of the Humanities Lab will be registered in uSis by the administration of the Humanities Lab. Students register for the Humanities Lab modules through an online form, more information will be provided by Umail.
General information about uSis is available on the website.
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
This course is part of the Humanities Lab programme, visit the website for more information.
Visit the Honours Academy website for more information about the Honours College.