Admission requirements
This course is part of the sub-master Governance of Migration and Diversity. It can only be taken by students who have chosen that sub-master.
Description
This course is given at and by Leiden University, and is part of the Governance of Migration and Diversity Master programme.
The course will help you make a quick start with the MA thesis you will be writing in the second semester. The corpus of empirical material you will be using for this thesis is larger than that of the material you have been using in earlier years. I requires special skills to design and manage this larger project. In this course we will review material and historical methods which are particularly suited for research into migration and diversity. We will look at several theories and see how these are best connected to empirical sources. How best to design a doable research? How to do a good pilot study? How best to manage large sets of data? How can you avoid bias or methodological nationalism? How to ‘read’ against the grain, how to interpretate silence? How do you juggle the numbers? How to combine a very different array of sources (novels, interviews, newspapers, parliamentary debates, organizational archives) without drowning in your project? What is the saturation effect? You will read a set of recent articles, and do a pilot study using primary sources.
Course objectives
Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation
The student has acquired:
1) 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).
2) 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.
Learning objectives, pertaining to this course
The student has acquired:
3) The ability to independently identify and select sources and literature on methods;
4) The ability to analyse and evaluate a corpus of sources with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
5) The ability to give a clear and well-founded oral and written report on preliminary research results in English;
6) 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;
7) Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical, conceptual and methodological aspects of the specialisation or subspecialisation in question, with a particular focus on 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.
8) The ability to interpret a potentially complex corpus of sources; the ability to identify new approaches.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA History website
Mode of instruction
- Seminar (compulsory attendance) This means that students have to attend every session of the course. If a student is not able to attend, he is 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 a student does not comply with the aforementioned requirements, he will be excluded from the seminar.
Course Load
Total course load 4 EC x 28 hours= 140 hours
Attendance: 12 hours.
Preparing for class/reading literature: 30 hours.
Preparing presentations: 8 hours.
Carrying out research: 45 hours.
Writing paper: 45 hours.
Assessment method
Assessment method
Students will write an essay of 2000 words based on the literature and their pilot study. Presentation and participation will also influence the grade.
Written paper: 70%
measured learning objectives: 1-4, 7-8Oral presentation: 20%
measured learning objectives: 5Class participation: 10%
measured learning objectives: 6
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.
Inspection and feedback
How and when a review of the written paper will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the results, a review of the written paper will have to be organised.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
submission of preliminary papers.
communicating readings
Reading list
Students will read articles. A list of articles will be made available before the start of the class via Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
None.