6 ECTS credits
170 h study time
Offer 2 with catalog number 4023487ENW for working students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.
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. As this involves reaching before and beyond written records,
deep history is an interdisciplinary endeavour: it combines insights from biology,
anthropology, archaeology, and history. The course begins with the evolution of hominids
and discusses the development of culture, social institutions, ideas and economics until
today. Because of this ambitious scope, deep history requires a deliberate use of models to
interpret historical developments. By critically contrasting different models, students are
trained in debating the empirical and critical merits of opposing historical worldviews. The
deep history course invites reflection on issues of time and scale, on disciplinary boundaries
in (social) sciences and humanities, as well as on the relation between the deep history of
time and traditional, cultural myths of human creation and destruction.
-
- 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.
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 50% of the final mark.
SELF Paper determines 50% of the final mark.
Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Within the SELF Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Evaluation will be 50% based on an oral exam, and 50% based on a written essay.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of History: default (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Teaching in Arts and Humanities: History (only offered in Dutch)