Connecting Dreams: Europe in Africa, Africa in Europe

Admission requirements

Not applicable.

Description

There have always been connections and migration between Europe and Africa. In this course, we study these contacts and movements. We look at the novelists who travelled through Africa in the nineteenth century,
the explorers, the European immigrants and the missionaries, but also at the current ‘expats’ of the major multinationals (Shell, Unilever) and people working for NGOs. We combine this with a study of Africans in Europe: the few who came before the twentieth century, and the larger numbers who arrived in recent decades. We study the ties these migrants have with each other and with their countries of origin, and the organisations they created (enterprises, churches). After an introduction to the literature, students carry out research based on primary sources: newspaper articles, novels, interviews, visual material (photos, paintings, cartoons), government publications and business archives.

Course objectives

General learning objectives
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. (ResMA only:) The ability to participate in a discussion of the theoretical foundations of the discipline.

Learning objectives, pertaining to the specialisation

• 10. 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);
• 11. 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 Research Seminar
The student has gained insight into:

• 12. 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 1750-2000.
• 13. 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;
• 14. (ResMA only) Research Master show in their work:
      a) The ability to interpret a potentially complex corpus of sources;
      b) The ability to identify new approaches within existing academic debates;
      c) Knowledge of the interdisciplinary aspects of the specialisation

Timetable

See Timetable and deadlines History

Mode of instruction

• Seminar

Course Load

Total course load: 10 EC x 28 hrs = 280 hours

• Writing paper: 98 hours.

• Attendence: 28 hours.

• Preparing for class/reading literature: 48 hours.

• Preparing presentations: 16 hours.

• Carrying out research: 90 hours.

Assessment method

Assessment

• Written paper (ca. 7500 words, based on research in primary sources, including footnotes and bibliography)
  Measured learning objectives: 1-8, 12-13 (ResMA also: 9, 14)

• Oral presentation (two oral presentations)
  Measured learning objectives: 3-8, 12-13

• Assignment 1 (Participation)
  Measured learning objectives: 3-4, 7-8, 10-13

Additional requirements for the ResMa students: The paper has to be based on more extensive archival research or research based on primary sources. The student has to show (especially in the paper) innovative insights.

Weighing
Written paper: 70%
Oral presentation: 20%
Class participation: 10%

Deadlines
Written papers should be handed in within the given deadline.

The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average of the above assessments, with the additional requirement that the written paper must always be sufficent.

Resit
Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, the paper is to be revised after consultation with the instructor.

Blackboard

Information will be provided via Blackboard
Students admit assignments via Blackboard.

Reading list

We will use articles that can be downloaded from the university library. The list will be distributed at the first meeting.

Registration

Via uSis

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact

dhr. Dr. I.A. Glynn
mw. Prof.dr. M.E. de Bruijn

Remarks

None