Admission requirements
This course is part of the (Res)MA History Programme. It is not accessible for BA students.
Description
Maritime history encompasses humankind’s relationships to the seas and oceans of the world. It is a heterogeneous research field which brings a variety of research perspectives together: shipping, nautical science, cartography, warfare at sea, overseas trade, exploration and encounters, port communities, the steam revolution, containerization, maritime labor market and seafaring culture are some of the main subjects.
In the past two decades maritime history has enjoyed a real renaissance. Besides economic, political and nautical themes, there is a new attention to social and cultural phenomena and the relation between maritime and global history, and between maritime history and cultural heritage institutions. This seminar focuses on recent scholarly views and insights in the field of maritime history.
Course objectives
General learning objectives
The student has acquired:
- The ability to analyse and evaluate literature with a view to addressing a particular historical problem;
- 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 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;
- The ability to participate in current debates in the specialisation;
- (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 subspecialisation Maritime History: the development of maritime history from the 16th century onwards; insight into recent issues in the field;
- (ResMA only): Thorough knowledge and comprehension of the theoretical foundation of the discipline and of its position vis-à-vis other disciplines.
Learning objectives, pertaining to this Literature Seminar
The student:
- Is able to assess, discuss and criticize recent scholarship in the field of Maritime History, and understand the relative position of individual authors and monographs within this field;
- Is able to write clear and concise book reports, summarizing interpretations of a substantial amount of reading into a relative short review;
- Is able to discuss the interaction between the fields of Maritime History and Colonial and Global History.
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 7 × 2h: 14h
Practical work: Reading seven monographs and writing short book reports: 266 hours
Assessment method
Assignment 1 (Short written book reports, 1.000 words each)
Measured learning objectives: 1-3, 6, 8-10 (5 & 7 for ResMA students)Assignment 2 (Oral report on relevance of book for study of maritime history)
Measured learning objectives: 1-3, 6, 8Assignment 3 (Active participation in class discussions)
Measured learning objectives: 4
Weighing
Written papers: 70%
Oral presentation: 20%
Participation in discussions: 10%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average with the additional requirement that the written papers must always be sufficient.
Resit
Should the overall mark be unsatisfactory, one or more of the written assignments is/are to be revised after consultation with the instructor.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
Submission of assignments
Dissemination (after class) of the lecturers’ powerpoint presentations
Reading list
Jaap Bruijn, The Dutch Navy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1992)
Michael Pearson, The Indian Ocean (London: Routledge, 2003) & Edward Alpers, The Indian Ocean in World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)
Eric Robert Taylor, If We Must Die: Shipboard Insurrections in the Era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006)
Michael North, The Baltic: A History (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2015)
W. Jeffrey Bolster, The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2012)
Michael Miller, Europe and the Maritime World: A Twentieh-Century History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
One or more introductory essays. This reading list is subject to change
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
Prof. dr. M. van Groesen (until 1 September 2016)
You may contact Dr. Suze Zijlstra from 1 September onwards.
Her contact details will be published here as soon as possible.
Remarks
None