Admission requirements
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Description
Some historians have argued that the “integration of global space” is a defining feature of early modernity. This course will synthesize scholarship on trade, migration, biological exchange, and cultural encounters. This synthesis will be achieved by the weekly study of literature, which will be discussed intensively in every class session. The students will also work towards such a synthesis by writing an essay of +/- 7,000 words in which they can chose their own topic, within the overarching subject matter of encounters and the chronology of the early modern period. This paper must include (printed) primary sources that help the student to build his/her argument and upon which the analysis of the paper must be (partially) based.
Course objectives
Objectives of the course are that students acquire:
The ability to independently identify and select sources
The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question
The ability to analyze and evaluate literature and sources for the purpose of producing an original scholarly argument
The ability to interpret a corpus of sources
Knowledge and comprehension of the specialisations Migration and Global Interdependence and its historiography specifically:
1.The manner in which migrations (of people, goods and ideas) between and within states have led to shifts (in cohesion, ethnic composition, policies, imaging, culture, and power relations) in the period 1750-2000.
2.The interdisciplinary approach (application of theories and methods from social sciences), the comparative perspective (diachronic and synchronic) and working with a large variety of primary sources;
Specific objectives:
Gain nowledge of, and insight into, the process of early modern encounters, with an emphasis on the role of biological, economic, and social factors in shaping and creating these encounters.
Knowledge of, and insight into, the major historiographical debates surrounding the ways in which early moderns people encountered one another.
Use of key concepts such as globalization, institutions, networks for the development of a hypothesis to be explored in a research paper.
Perfect the skills of an historian such as searching for relevant literature, developing a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, using primary and secondary source literature, and presenting this reearch in an understandable way.
This includes the ability to independently identify and select sources
The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question
The ability to analyze and evaluate literature and sources for the purpose of producing an original scholarly argument
The ability to interpret a corpus of sources
Knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the specialisation, more specifically how global (political, socio-economic, and cultural) connections interact with regional processes of identity and state formation; hence insight in cross-cultural processes (including the infrastructure of shipping and other modes of communication) that affect regions across the world such as imperialism, colonisation, modernisation and globalization
Knowledge of and comprehension of developments in political economy since ca 1600, increasing global interdependence throughout the centuries
Extra course objectives for Res Master Students:
The ability to interpret a potentially complex corpus of sources
The ability to identify new approaches within existing academic debates
Knowledge of the interdisciplinary aspects of the specialisation
Timetable
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Course Load
Total course load for the course: 280
Hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 28 hours
Time for studying the compulsory literature: 135 hours
Time for completing assignments (presentations and weekly assignments): 37 hours
time to write a paper: 80 hours
Assessment method
A paper demonstrating the following skills: 60%
The ability to independently identify and select literature
The ability to give a clear written report on the research results in English
The ability to engage with constructive academic feedback
The ability to independently identify and select sources
The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question
The ability to analyze and evaluate literature and sources for the purpose of producing an original scholarly argument
The ability to interpret a corpus of sources
Class presentations and weekly assignments demonstrating the following skills: 20%
- The ability to give a clear oral report on the readings and the student’s research in English
- The ability to engage with constructive academic feedback
- The ability to engage with literature and clearly and succinctly distill the main points, while also place it in comparision with other readings and literature assigned for the class
Class participation demonstrating the following skills: 20%
- The ability to engage actively with the assigned literature
- The ability to engage actively with other students
- The ability to express oneself clearly in English
Additional requirements for the ResMa students
The paper has to be based on more extensive archival research or research based on primary sources. The student has to show (especially in the paper) innovative insights.
Assessment and grading method (in percentages):.
Final Paper 60%
Class Participation 20%
Class Presentations 10%
Weekly Written Assignments 10%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Students have one chance to rewrite their final papers. The deadline for the resubmission of papers is on the History Institute’s website. Geschiedenis – roosters – overzicht deadlines
Blackboard
Blackboard is used for this course:
Weekly assignments
Turn in their papers
Announcements
Optional Forum
Reading list
- Charles Parker, Global Interactions in the Early Modern Age, 1400-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
This book should be purchased and read before the first class
Registration
via uSis