6 ECTS credits
170 u studietijd
Aanbieding 2 met studiegidsnummer 4023487ENW voor werkstudenten in het 1e semester met een verdiepend master niveau.
This course offers an exploration in ‘deep history’. Deep history (sometimes also ‘big history’) aims to bring an empirically grounded narrative on the entirety of the human past, bridging ‘history’ with ‘prehistory’. This involves working with long-term chronologies, global scales of analysis and interdisciplinary methods, combining insights from biology, anthropology, archaeology, and history. Because of this ambitious scope, this course will zoom in on the research field of environmental history in which explorations in deep history foster new insights and lively debates, inspired by the current crisis of climate change. Throughout the classes, we will debate the empirical and critical merits of opposing worldviews. The deep history course invites reflection on issues of time and chronology, geographical scale, disciplinary boundaries in sciences and humanities, as well as on the fluid relations between what scholars consider as the ‘human’ and the ‘natural’ world.
This course consists of six thematically organized interactive classes in which we discuss reading materials prepared at home. All students enrolled in the course are expected to do the preparatory reading, and to submit a ‘discussion note’ (max. ½ A4) prior to the start of the class through Canvas. All reading materials are available for download on Canvas.
- Students are able to recognize the challenges posed by pursuing historical investigation beyond
the scope of traditional historical inquiry.
- Students can distinguish different models and worldviews for interpreting the ‘deep history’ of humankind.
- Students are able to differentiate between different ways of accounting for long-term change and stability in conflicting schools of deep history writing, and they can analyse narratives of deep history in terms of their theoretical and methodological assumptions.
- Students can reflect critically on issues of time and scale, as well as on the disciplinary boundaries that restrict scientific inquiry into long-term processes of change.
- Students can critically evaluate myths of narratives of human creation and destruction.
- Students can engage in empirically grounded ‘deep history’ writing in a compelling way.
De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
ZELF Paper bepaalt 100% van het eindcijfer
Binnen de categorie ZELF Paper dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:
The evaluation for this course is based on participation in class and a weekly assignment (50%) and on a final paper assignment (50%). Since there is no exam, it is essential that you actively participate in the discussions during class. An exception is made for working students, see separate communication on Canvas.
Deze aanbieding maakt deel uit van de volgende studieplannen:
Master in de geschiedenis: Standaard traject
Educatieve master in de cultuurwetenschappen: geschiedenis (120 ECTS, Etterbeek)