6 ECTS credits
150 u studietijd
Aanbieding 1 met studiegidsnummer 4020169FNR voor alle studenten in het 1e semester met een gespecialiseerd master niveau.
This course takes the 'consumer revolution' of early modern Europe (1500-1800) as its point of departure. Since the 1980s a wide-ranging historiographical debate has focused on the roots of modern consumer culture, and many historians have traced these to the early modern period. In this course we will focus on the nature of consumption in the renaissance and early modern world, and the extent to which it changed prior to industrialization and modernization. More importantly, we will explore the social, economic, political and cultural transformations that historians (and other social scientists) have identified at the heart of these changes; as well as the consequences brought about by historically changing relations between humans (consumers) and the material and natural world surrounding them.
The course is organised around discussion classes, which are primarily based on reading assignments of secondary literature prepared by the students. Each class session has a specific theme (e.g. the origins of modern consumer culture, the invention of shopping, the economics of early modern consumerism, economic immorality and luxury debates, consumption and globalisation, pre-industrial consumption in Asia,...), which will be introduced by the lecturer. The lecture part will be followed by a student presentation (not during all classes, depending on the number of students enrolled), and then followed up by class discussion.
All students will have to read scientific articles and/or book chapters for each class theme throughout the term. In preparation of each class, students will be offered a short number of discussion questions to prepare at home, as the basis for class discussion. The main arguments and composition of the reading materials have to be analysed and presented in front of class.
- Students can describe the historiography and debates surrounding the 'consumer revolution' of the early modern period.
- Students are able to analyse the main viewpoints taken by participants in this historiographical debate, their strengths and weaknesses.
- Students can clarify the main explanatory factors (social, economic, political, cultural, intellectual) that can account for changes in early modern consumption.
- Students can analyse the interaction between social, cultural and economic processes in determining historical change; the interplay between change and continuity in the early modern world.
- Students are able to understand, break down, present, and criticise a piece of historical research (monograph)
Students can participate in an academic discussion within a specialised field of historical study.
- Students know how to use arguments from social, economic, political, cultural, and intellectual history to debate on the weaknesses and strengths of scholarly arguments.
De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
Examen Mondeling bepaalt 60% van het eindcijfer
HOC Presentatie bepaalt 40% van het eindcijfer
Binnen de categorie Examen Mondeling dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:
Binnen de categorie HOC Presentatie dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:
Evaluation will be based on an oral examination at the end of the course (60%) and a student presentation summarising the main arguments of a scientific monograph within the field of early modern consumption (40%).
Dit studiedeel maakt geen deel uit van vastgelegde afstudeervereisten. Het is aldus een vrij keuzevak.