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Students familiarise themselves with the historiography of cultural history (the study of cultural history) and analyse famous works of cultural historians to assess changing concepts of culture and acquire knowledge of sources and methods for practicing cultural history.
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This is the first course of Specialisation 3:The Power of Culture (English track History).
Culture is essential for our understanding of the world. Culture is at the core of our treasured historical heritage, whether expressed in books, movies, paintings, or other works of art, or forms of tangible heritage such as monuments, buildings and city shapes. But culture also defines our identity. Our sense of shared values and common destiny is at stake when we debate and confront challenges such as immigration, European integration, and globalisation. We collectively construct differences between groups we see as ‘them’ and ‘us’ on the basis of religious practices, traditions and holidays, norms, values, and conceptions of appropriate gender relations. Some even hypothesis that this will inevitably lead to a ‘Clash of Civilizations’. At the same time, societies seek to create consensus and cohesion through shared cultural references. Cultural values are also at the basis of collective principles such as human rights and social solidarity. In this course we equip you with the tools to study the cultural dimension of our past, and the impact it has on contemporary society. Together we will examine a variety of approaches to cultural history, such as popular culture, material culture, history of science and ideas, and the history of the body. You will read classics from cultural history to learn how cultural historians have addressed urgent cultural issues in our society, and will apply these methods in assignments that let you select and study primary sources varying from fictional texts and life writing to photo’s, posters of YouTube clips.
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