Learning outcomes: after completing the course, students will have attained the following learning outcomes:
- knowledge of a relevant historical case study pertaining to the specialised topic;
- knowledge and understanding of the historical context of the specialised topic;
- knowledge of the theoretical discourse around the course topic;
- knowledge of methods relevant to the study of the course topic;
- knowledge of the latest scholarship: current historiographical issues;
- enhanced skills to conduct independent research on a historical topic on the basis of a research question formulated on their own and using historical sources;
- skills in the application of theories to historical material;
- skills in data analysis and use of requisite tools in a historical context;
- a skills set enabling them to think, act and communicate at an academic level and in line with academic standards of conduct ('academic integrity').
Learning objectives and skills: after completing the course, students will be able to:
- find and assess relevant scholarly articles and historical sources;
- independently define their own research topic that fits within the course topic;
- independently formulate a clear research question;
- conduct research based on primary and other sources and anchored in the historiography;
- independently plan and conduct research;
- critically analyse primary sources and literature in relation to the research question;
- draw scientifically valid conclusions and formulate well-founded viewpoints on the basis of secondary and primary literature;
- present the results of this research in writing at an academic level;
- assess research results in the light of the latest scholarship;
- give and receive feedback (peer review) on parts of research papers.
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This is the fourth course of Specialisation 4: The Great Challenges: Crises, Inequality and Sustainability (English track History).
In 2010 Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake from which it has yet to recover. Poverty alone cannot be the explanation for the slow process of rebuilding, as is demonstrated by the impact of the Japanese tsunami of 2011 : here, despite Japan’s wealth, recovery was also slow. In our increasingly complex world, facing growing ecological challenges such examples trigger an important question: why are some societies more vulnerable to shocks and hazards (floods, famines, earthquakes, wars etc.) than others? The way in which society is organized is at least as important as wealth. But what features of society determine whether communities collapse under the strain of natural disasters or other forms of crises, or whether they manage to survive, recover and possibly flourish?
A historical perspective can help us answer such questions. Our ancestors also had to cope with shocks. Just as in the present, some past societies proved much more resilient and were able to recover quickly, while others turned out to be very vulnerable. The potato blight of the 1840s gave rise to a truly disastrous famine in Ireland, while in Flanders and the Netherlands, where the potato crop failed just as badly, the consequences were not nearly as dramatic. Understanding what caused the difference may shed light on present-day vulnerability.
In the first three weeks of this course you become acquainted with the long-term history of shocks and hazards and with theoretical concepts to analyse the ability of societies to bounce back – the resilience of societies. Subsequently, you select a historical case-study. You are free to choose both a type of case and an approach: a natural or a man-made shock, a twentieth-century crisis or one in the more distant past, a focus on prevention, recovery, or collapse. You analyse your case individually, using primary and secondary sources. You report the results of your analysis in a research paper of 6,000 words which will be presented as a poster at the final conference of the thematic package.
LAS and TCS students who follow this course as part of the core curriculum of their major, need to complete a compulsory preparation course/assignment. See for more information: https://tcs.sites.uu.nl/
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