History

This course offers a study of the origin and characteristics of cultural studies. Topics include: the Birmingham School and the beginning of cultural studies; the cultural criticism of the Frankfurt School; influences of semiotics and structuralism on cultural analysis; poststructuralist perspective; the culture wars and the perspective of cultural studies.

According to a dominant historiography, philosophy is a Western endeavor. Its roots are to be found in Europe, more precisely in Ancient Greece, and its most significant developments are due to Western thinkers. In recent years, however, this narrative has been challenged by scholars and criticized from various sides. The narrative, it is argued, has itself a history: it was born at the end of the eighteenth century and came together with a marginalization of non-Western contributions to the origins and developments of the discipline. The process of appropriation of philosophy by Western historians, it is further argued, was not independent of racist prejudices and theories. This seminar is devoted to the recent literature on these topics. It aims to see how issues about race and racism have shaped current historiography of philosophy and explores alternative narratives that have been suggested to change this historiography.

This course examines political, social, and cultural developments in Ireland during the early modern period within a narrative and thematic framework, starting with Tudor political reform and continuing through to the Act of Union in 1800. Principal topics of the class include the impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; the wars and rebellions of the 16th century and the demise of Gaelic Ireland; colonization and "civilization" of Ireland by the English and the Scots; Confederate Ireland and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; the Cromwellian and Restoration land settlements; the War of the Three Kings; the Protestant Ascendancy and the Penal Era; the impact of the American and French revolutions; the rebellion of the United Irishmen; the formation of "Irish" and "British" national identities; Irish migration to continental Europe; and Ireland and Empire.

In this course, students discuss different theoretical and methodological approaches to environmental history as well as concrete case studies from the Middle Ages to recent times that exemplify the broad range of human-nature relations in the past, as well as the different ways to study these.

The course conveys broad factual knowledge on the military forces and infrastructure of some of the ancient world's largest, most powerful, and long-lived empires, those of Rome and Persia. Students acquire the skills to use all evidence at our disposal (material as well as written) for the topics under discussion. They gain deeper understanding how topography and geography influenced military strategy. The course provides students with the skills to assess the effectiveness of relevant military installations. Students learn to adopt a more nuanced approach to history and are encouraged to question Eurocentric worldviews.

This course examines French and Francophone cultural productions since the end of the Second World War, a traumatic event that transformed and deeply marked France’s society. It focuses on the evolutions of French national identity and diverse representations of it in a context of decolonization, European dynamics, and globalization. The concept of national identity is challenged by multicultural and immigrant populations that shift our understanding of “French” towards a transnational perspective. The critical urgency of this issue of definition is underlined by increasing political tensions in France that are also accentuated by the growing demands for new public commemorations that seek to acknowledge silenced, wounded memories and that, in doing so, may further divide society. The course examines how dissent about French identity revives democracy while paradoxically undoing national borders. It progresses chronologically, starting with post-War liberations from the margins: women (feminism), colonials (decolonization), youth, and other social identities (May 1968). It then analyzes how these forms of gender, ethnic, and social otherness persist or were dealt with in the 70s and 80s. The course also takes a close look at the geographical and spatial fractures that weigh upon French society. Finally, it addresses today’s issues concerning the education system, in particular the teaching of history, the unprecedented economic crisis, old age, climate change, Islam, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, the attacks in Paris in 2015, and the refugee crisis.