MA Thesis Seminar (Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence)

Admission requirements

Not applicable.

Description

The seminar consists of bi-weekly meetings in which students are given the opportunity to present their work and to comment on the work of others, and to discuss practical matters. Attendance of the thesis seminar is compulsory for all students in the MA-programme Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence and the subspecialisation Economic History from the start of their thesis until the completion of the thesis.

Course objectives

General learning objectives
The Thesis seminar is the supporting course for the Thesis. After finishing the Thesis the student has acquired:

• 1. The ability to independently identify and select literature, using traditional and modern techniques;
• 2. The ability to independently identify and select sources, using traditional and modern techniques;
• 3. The ability to analyse and evaluate a corpus of sources with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
• 4. The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
• 5. The ability to independently formulate a clear and well-argued research question, taking into account the theory and method of the field and to reduce this question to accessible and manageable sub-questions;
• 6. The ability to independently set up and carry out an original research project that can make a contribution to existing scholarly debates;
• 7. The ability to give a clear and well-founded oral and written report on research results in correct English, when required, or Dutch, meeting the criteria of the discipline;
• 8. The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
• 9. The ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity, and formulate judgments with incomplete or limited information, including the ability to reflect on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of knowledge and judgments;
• 10. The ability to reflect on one’s own professional integrity and moral conduct;
• 11. The ability to provide constructive feedback to and formulate criticism of the work of others and the ability to evaluate the value of such criticism and feedback on one’s own work and incorporate it;
• 12. Understanding of the relevance for society of the historical discipline in general and the specialisation in particular.

Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation

• 13. Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subspecialisations as well as of the historiography of the specialisation, focusing particularly on the following:
  • in the specialisation Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence: 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 1600-2000, with a focus on (urban) networks (within and across borders);
  • in the subspecialisation Economic History also: the origin and outcomes of the Great Divergence, developments in political economy since ca 1600, increasing global interdependence throughout the centuries, the development of global governance in the twentieth century, as well as the most important debates in recent Economic History;
• 14. Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the specialisation or subspecialisation in question, with a particular focus on the following:
  • in the specialisation Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence: 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;
  • in the subspecialisation Economic History also: the application of economic concepts, research methods or models; insight into the argumentation of current debates;

Timetable

See Timetable and deadlines History

Mode of instruction

• Thesis seminar. Students are given the opportunity to present their work and to comment on the work of others, and to discuss practical matters.

Course Load

• ca. 14 hours (part of course load Thesis)

Assessment method

None, supporting course.

Blackboard

Blackboard.

Reading list

Not applicable.

Registration

Via uSis

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact

Coordinator of studies: drs. E. Buizer-Janssen

Remarks

None