History (Master 2016-2017) - Prospectus

Programme

Literature Seminar (10 EC)
Students commence their programme with a Literature Seminar, whether starting in September or February.

Research Seminar (10 EC)
Students follow one Research Seminar in the first semester of their programme. Students starting in September follow their Research Seminar in the Fall Semester, students starting in February in the Spring Semester.

Optional Courses (10 EC)
Students follow one or two optional courses. All MA courses offered at level 400 or higher can be followed as optional course. These may comprise MA courses offered by Leiden University and those offered by other (foreign) universities. Alternatively, students can also opt for an internship. For more information about the different possibilities, see the specific MA Optional Courses page.

Thesis and exam (30 EC)
The Master’s Programme will be concluded by a MA-thesis. Students are guided in writing their thesis by thesis supervisors. Half way the first semester a student commences with the thesis and has to ask a member of staff active in the field of his/her specialisation to act as their thesis supervisor. In the Overview of Staff, divided by specialisation, possible supervisors can be identified. The thesis is written in the second semester.
Before graduation students sit for a final exam for which they defend their thesis and answer questions on additional literature.

Thesis Seminar
Students are expected to take a thesis seminar. This seminar consists of a number of meetings in which students are given the opportunity to present their work and to comment on the work of others. The seminar aims at providing students with some additional support in the writing process as well as achieving further uniformity where practical matters are concerned.

Optional Courses

Course	EC	Semester 1	Semester 2
First Semester (Fall Semester)
Literature Seminar
Current Debates in Medieval and Early Modern History I	10
Debating the Ancient Economy	10
The Muslim World as the Crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe	10
Understanding the Archives	10
Essential Readings in Economic History	10
Migration and Integration	10
Politiek Debat	10
Political Culture and National Identities	10
Maritime History	10
Research Seminar
Portals of Globalization: Exchanging Money, Goods and Ideas in Early Modern Port Cities (1500-1800)	10
The Last Pagan. Julian Apostata as Emperor and Intellectual	10
Towards a New Administrative Culture? Culture and Administration in the Late Medieval Netherlands	10
The Spanish Black Legend in Europe	10
House of Glass: Bureaucracy and Bureaucrats in the Dutch East Indies	10
Mapping the Ocean, 1550-1750	10
The Rise of Banal Nationalism	10
Political Eloquence	10
Epigraphy	10
Negotiating Power in Africa	10
You Are What You Eat: Gender, Class, Ethnicity and Food Culture	10
History of Migration and Diversity	10
American Radicalism: Challenging and Empowering U.S. Democracy	10
The American People and Their Constitution, 1776-1896: "To Form a More Perfect Union"	10
The History of Humanitarian Intervention	10
The Fringes of Enlightenment: Colonialism and Society in Asia, 1750-1850	10
Second Semester (Spring Semester)
Literature Seminar
Current Debates in Medieval and Early Modern History II	10
Roman North Africa: A Stolen Continent	10
Globalization and Empire	10
Understanding the Archives	10
Migration and Integration	10
Political Culture and National Identities	10
Research Seminar
European Overseas Commercial Companies, 1600-1750: Bringing Back the Human Agency Perspective	10
From Dusk till Dawn: the Ancient World at Night	10
Violent Transformation: The Decolonization War in Indonesia, 1945-1950	10
The Rooseveltian Century: The Rise of the U.S. as a Global Power in the Twentieth Century	10
Connecting Dreams: Europe in Africa, Africa in Europe	10
Memory of the Holocaust	10
A Sacred National Duty: Military Conscription in Western Europe (1815-1945)	10
The Russian Revolution Revisited	10
Continuity and Change in Urban Politics, 1300-1750	10

More info

Objectives

The programme has the following objectives:

1. To enable students to acquire academic knowledge, understanding and skills, and train them in the use of scientific methods in the field of history;
1. To enable students to develop the following academic and professional skill:
- Independent academic reasoning and conduct,
- The ability to analyse complex problems,
- Academic reporting;
1. To prepare students for an academic career and further education;
1. To prepare students for a career outside academia.

Programme

The Master programme in History (60 EC) offers you the chance to determine a study based on your own particular interests and ambitions. With several specialisations on offer – each containing a number of specific subjects – you will pay specific attention to the development of theories on historical processes, historiography and methodology of historical research.

Structure

Literature Seminar 10 EC
Research Seminar 10 EC
Optional Course 10 EC
Thesis, Thesis Seminar and Exam 30 EC

Specialisations

The Master History programme has the following specialisations:
Ancient History
Archival Studies
Europe 1000-1800
Europaeum Programme – European History and Civilisation: Leiden-Oxford-Paris Programme
Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence
(with subtracks Economic History & Governance of Migration and Diversity)
Colonial and Global History
(with subtrack Maritime History)
Political Culture and National Identities
(with subtrack Political Debate)

Requirements for graduation in the specialisation

Masterlanguage

The language of instruction and examination of the programme is English and Dutch. Students are expected to have an adequate command of the language of instruction of the programme.

Coordinator of studies

Esther Buizer