Admission requirements
This course is part of the (Res)MA History Programme. It is not accessible for BA students.
Description
From the late sixteenth century onwards the exchange of people, goods and ideas between Africa, the Americas and Europe intensified and diversified. In the course of the centuries that followed an integrated world developed that historians have come to refer to as the Atlantic World. Historians in the Netherlands have focused primarily on the business history of the Atlantic world. During this course we will use archival sources to study how economic ties and commodity chains were dependent on networks of power and knowledge.
Course objectives
General learning objectives
The student has acquired:
- 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 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;
Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation
The student has acquired:
- Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subtracks 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);
- Thorough knowledge and comprehension of one of the specialisations or subtracks as well as of the historiography of the specialisation, focusing particularly on the following;
- 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;
- 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;
Learning objectives, pertaining to this Research Workshop
The student:
- Is acquainted with the historiographical trends in Atlantic History.
- Is aware of the possibilities and limitations of archival research regarding the early modern Atlantic World.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA History website.
Mode of instruction
- Workshop (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.
Assessment method
Assessment
Written paper (ca. 2.500-3000 words, based on research in primary sources)
Measured learning objectives: 1-6, 8-11*Oral presentation
Measured learning objectives: 4-6, 10-11*Assignment 1 (Historiographical essay)
Measured learning objectives: 10Assignment 2 (Archive plan)
Measured learning objectives: 11Assignment 3 (Peer review)
Measured learning objectives: 7
Weighing
Written paper: 60%
Oral presentation: 10%
Assignment 1: 10%
Assignment 2: 10%
Assignment 3: 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.
Deadlines
Assignments and written papers should be handed in within the deadline as provided in the relevant course outline on Brightspace.
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.
Reading list
Literature will be made available online before the start of the semester.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in [English])http://hum.leiden.edu/students/study-administration/usis-english.html) and Dutch.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable
Contact
Remarks
None.