Admission requirements
This course is part of the (Res)MA History Programme. It is not accessible for BA students.
There will be an entry test for this course: reading will be communicated through Blackboard
Description
How did ancient Greeks and Romans perceive their nights? Undoubtedly they considered them to be dark, cold, and dangerous. But what else? In the literature, insufficient light has been shed on these questions.
Historical research is often concerned with issues and problems related to events that took place during the day. What happens when we, instead, focus on the night? Which events or activities took place at night?
The symposium, burglary, night fishing, magical practices and sex are just a few of the examples that might be mentioned here. Some of these examples took place at night out of practical necessity, others out of cultural habit.
In the latter cases the night may have allowed for a sense of equality that was not felt during the daytime; or perhaps a perceived amplification of emotions enabled new possibilities for interaction. Each student will research an individual topic in the context of ancient conceptions and ideas about the night, expanding our understanding of this important and quotidian part of life. Jasper Verplanke, who specializes in the topic of the ancient night, will provide a guest lecture.
This topic is a suitable subject for comparative historical research. For example, it has been argued that the ‘colonization of the night’ only took place in the Early Modern period due to technical innovations. Is this true? Which similarities between the ancient world and other periods might we deduce?
Course objectives
General learning objectives
The student has acquired:
- The ability to independently identify and select literature, using traditional and modern techniques;
- The ability to independently identify and select sources, using traditional and modern techniques;
- The ability to analyse and evaluate a corpus of sources with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
- The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
- 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;
- The ability to independently set up and carry out an original research project that can make a contribution to existing scholarly debates;
- 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;
- The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
- 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;
- (ResMA only): The ability to participate in a discussion of the theoretical foundations of the discipline.
Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation
- 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 Ancient History: unification processes in the Graeco-Roman World, 400 BC – 400 AD; insight into the recent large-scale debates in the field with respect to both the history of mentality and socio-economic history.
- 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 Ancient History: the comparative method; application of socio-scientific methods; specialized source knowledge, in particular of documentary sources, and more specifically epigraphy.
Learning objectives, pertaining to this Research Seminar
The student:
- Can identify current debates about the night in a historical context;
- Can develop ways in which to explore the night;
- (ResMA only): Interprets a potentially complex corpus of sources; shows the ability to identify new approaches within existing academic debates; shows knowledge of the interdisciplinary aspects of the specialisation.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA History website.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Course Load
Total course load 10 EC x 28 hours= 280 hours
Lectures: 26 hours
Study of compulsory literature: 71 hours
Assignment(s): 8 hours
Paper: 175 hours
Assessment method
Written paper (ca. 7500 words, based on research in primary sources, including footnotes and bibliography)
Measured learning objectives: 1-8; 10-15 (ResMA also 9 and 16)Entry test
Measured learning objectives: 8, 13, 14Oral presentation
Measured learning objectives: 3-7Assignment 1 (Heuristic assignment)
Measured learning objectives: 2, 3, 7
Weighing
Written paper: 70 %
Entry test: 10 %
Oral presentation: 10
Assignment 1: 10%
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
Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, the paper is to be revised after consultation with the instructor.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
Communication between lecturer and students
Information
Reading list
Literature to be announced.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
None