Landscape and Ecology in Historical Perspective

3 ECTS credits
75 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1020925BNW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

History, Archaeology, Arts, Philosophy and Ethics

Educational team

Ralf Vandam (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

20 contact hours Lecture
8 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals

Course Content

Landscapes have a complex history in which both natural and human processes play and played an important role. Traces from different times have been preserved in the current landscape, but often not everything of this development is still visible. In this course we learn how to 'read' historical landscapes. We look at the concept of the life trajectory or the cultural biography of the landscape as an approach to the creation of a spatial stratigraphy consisting of aspects of landscape that can be studied via an interdisciplinary heuristic and methodology.

In Lesson 1 we will tackle the question of what a landscape can mean and we will deal with the concept of landscape biography.

In Lessons 2 and 3 we discuss the sources we use to study a landscape. Lesson 2 deals with historical and cartographic sources and in Lesson 3 we look at the archaeological and geomorphological methods used in historical human-environmental and landscape studies.

In lesson 4 we will get started with GIS and web services to create and study maps.

In lesson 5 we consider historical human occupation and activities in the landscape.

In lesson 6-9 we will study specific landscapes with different cases. This includes: agricultural, forest, coastal, river and mountain landscapes. We then conclude this section with the heritage value of landscapes.

In lesson 10, the students present their village case study.

To support the classes, we organize a fieldtrip to the Liereman in the Kempen. The exact date will be communicated during the academic year.

The course includes an average of 20 hours of interactive HOC and is completed with a WORK activity. The WORK activity includes the fieldtrip.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Powerpoint presentations

Additional info

It is possible that the fieldtrip will generate an extra cost (e.g. transportation)

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

The students understand the concepts of landscape biography and landscape stratigraphy.
The students know the most important sources for the study of the historical landscape.
The students can design a landscape biography by themselves and use the necessary sources and methods.
The students understand the societal problems around landscapes and landscape heritage
The students are able to deal critically with problems of heritage landscapes and with the historical backgrounds of ecological problems.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Note: Written exam determines 60% of the final mark.
and supplementary questions for deeper insights based on the classes
and a critical synthesis of one of the two chapters studied.

Additional info regarding evaluation

100% Written examination (material studied in the classes and textbook; + fieldtrip)

In case of absence on the fieldtrip an alternative task will be given.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context