Admission requirements
Students can only register for this course after they have been selected by the organizers. This selection is based on a paper or thesis written within their previous studies, which will be evaluated in terms of the quality of the writing and argumentation. On top of this, students are asked to briefly motivate (one paragraph) how their paper could be rewritten and developed into an article, review, artistic paper or joint article (max 2 persons) that relates to this year´s theme ´matter´.
The idea is for you to take your own disciplinary research as a point of departure and to think, associatively, of how this research connects to the broader theme of ‘matter’. That term relates to the material, for example, the tangible and the concrete, but also to the undefined and the shapeless. In fact, it relates the world around us and how we connect with it and shape it. Understanding ´matter´ as a verb, it says also something about our relation with things, about affectivity, belonging, value. If you think about "Things that matter" it implies a distinction between what is considered valuable, what is considered trash, between the affective and the abject. Is it possible to read or re-write history through the live of things, through objects? In what sense is the virtual world related to matter? Does matter think, feel, have agency? Is it possible to think outside the frame of anthropocentrism? Art and literature might have an important role in a re-imagining our relation with matter. They, in fact, use it as medium. And many more avenues could be explored here.
We aim for a diverse group of students from different (disciplinary) backgrounds. The maximum number of participants in this seminar is 15 students.Proposals (paper + motivation) should be sent to Nanne Timmer and Astrid Van Weyenberg before 15 December 2023. Students are recommended to attend the online information session on 1 December 2023 at 10am (via Kaltura live room).
Description
This intensive seminar invites students from different (R)MA programmes within the Faculty of Humanities to work towards a publication in the fourth issue (Summer 2024) of the online, annual, faculty-broad Leiden Elective Academic Periodical (LEAP). Under the guidance of two senior scholars, students work both as individual authors and as a collective editorial board, jointly responsible for the journal issue as a whole. While students depart from their own disciplines, they also engage in a dialogue with peers from other disciplines. This allows them to experience first-hand what interdisciplinary collaboration (which can be difficult, but also productive) entails.
In weekly board meetings students discuss their work in progress. This involves intensive rewriting, peer-reviewing and editing each other’s work, collectively deciding on the structure and format of the journal issue, and various other organizational tasks. Students also learn how to engage with and respond to the feedback of expert peer-reviewers (staff from within the Faculty of Humanities). In addition, students are trained in editing and proofreading their own work and that of their peers. In practice, students together form the members of the editorial board of this year’s issue, with the two senior scholars operating as the chief editors. In principle, the journal should be able to accommodate different languages and alternative genres (such as a book review or a video-essay), so as to safeguard inclusivity.
In the course of the semester, students additionally prepare the mini-symposium Leiden Humanities Presents, where they present their work-in-progress to students and staff within the Faculty, thus practicing how to prepare and coordinate a symposium. Finally, to festively conclude the project, students organize a Journal Launch, where they present their work to family, friends, and other interested people from outside the university.
The Leiden Elective Academic Periodical (LEAP) is intended as a platform where (R)MA students can present their work. Each seminar edition results in a new journal issue, with a new (broad) theme that holds relevance within different scholarly fields and within society at large. The Journal, therefore, functions as a bridge between the different disciplines of the Humanities, but also between the Faculty of Humanities and the wider world. It is a space where Leiden University can communicate the diverse ways in which ‘culture’ is studied within the Humanities. In a world in which the value of the Humanities is increasingly questioned, this visibility is especially important.
Course objectives
After this course students:
Have experience in writing an academic article, review or artistic paper for a journal.
Have experience in collaborating as the editorial board of a journal
Have learned how to engage with and respond to the feedback of expert peer-reviewers
Have learned how to edit and copy-edit their own work and that of their peers
Have learned how to work as part of an interdisciplinary team
Have organizational experience
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar, with individual and group work
Assessment method
Assessment and weighing
The final mark for the course is established by the following criteria:
a) Group work as a board, collaboration
b) Article / review / artistic paper (writing, rewriting, responding to feedback)
c) Peer-reviewing, editing, proofreading
Resit
Participation in this course does not automatically guarantee a publication in LEAP. Passing this course does not necessarily depend on a publication in LEAP. Should the article be insufficient, it will be possible to take a resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Students compose their own readings lists according to the topic of their article.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal
Remarks
Not applicable.