History

This course focuses on the surprisingly long history of facts and truths in the public sphere. Study how politicians and philosophers devised ways to counter populism without touching the vital democratic principles of freedom of speech or the right to vote.  In this course, conduct a research project that explores the intricate relationship between press (media) and politics through analyzing the power of rumor, researching how representative political systems in the past have tried to avert the dangers of fake news and information, and researching news media in all ages in digitized collections across the globe or in the physical archives in The Netherlands. The course answers questions such as what is public opinion? Where and when does it take shape? If freedom of speech is a necessary condition for representative democratic systems, does it automatically breed populism? Did people in the past assess the information that they had to base their political opinions on differently than we do today? The course has entry requirements. 

This course deals with reception and heritage, and the ways in which ideas of the historical past are constructed and changed to fit into new contexts. The focal point of the lectures and readings is the Nordic world, particularly the so-called Viking Age. The Viking Age is a pertinent case because of the multiple ramifications of that period across time and space. The course presents different theories and perspectives of relevance for reception and heritage (e.g., theories about memory, media, adaptation and heritage tourism; antiquarianism, medievalism, etc.). The course engages with (in principle) all kinds of reception, such as literary, religious, political and cultural, in Scandinavia, Europe and the wider world, and with textual, visual and material representations from the Middle Ages to our contemporary times. Among the topics to be discussed are, firstly, the stereotypes and images of the Viking Age and the appropriation of Norse stories and legends that circulate in popular culture and contemporary media; and secondly, the relevance and function of the Viking Age as a central component in the cultural memory of groups of people. It asks questions such as: When, and where, did the idea of the Viking Age and the Vikings take form? Why is there such a widespread interest in the Viking Age, for instance, in North America? For whom, when and in which contexts has the Viking Age functioned as an identity forming factor? How are medieval Icelandic sagas and Old Norse myths adapted in, for example, literature, film and music? Is Viking heritage tourism a national or an international phenomenon? To what extent is the Viking Age an integral phenomenon that connects cultures, and to what extent does its uses create boundaries?

This course explores the role of English as a global language and its impact on communication, culture, and identity, with a specific focus on plurilingualism. Students will critically examine the historical, social, and linguistic aspects of English as it has spread worldwide. The course will also address the challenges and opportunities plurilingual speakers encounter in using English as a tool for international communication. By the end of this course, students will understand the historical development and global role of English, including key theoretical frameworks such as World English's and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Develop intercultural communication skills and critically reflect on how English interacts with cultural identity, multilingualism, and power dynamics in diverse global contexts. Analyze the sociolinguistic, political, and educational implications of English’s global spread, and reflect on its impact on local languages, language policies, and future trends.

This course introduces the concept of the 'First' and 'Second' nuclear ages, in addition to questions about proliferation's impact on world security, crisis decision making, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, deterrence, arms control, civil-military nuclear links, the non-proliferation regime, nuclear safeguards, and 'new' nuclear threats (smuggling and terrorism). Recent and contemporary case studies such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea are considered.

This course introduces students to the history of gender and sexuality from the medieval period to the present. Students look at a variety of textual and visual sources, and consider global perspectives on gender and sexuality and how they intersect with structures of power and social hierarchies. Students explore themes such as gender fluidity, women's reproductive health, sexualities, family structures, women at work, women's rights and oppression, gender violence and feminism(s). The course offers an opportunity for global comparison between societies of the past and our modern world, helping students to understand how categories such as gender are not fixed but rather develop over time.

This course gives an overview of the early history of the Celtic-speaking peoples in Britain. After outlining what is known of Late Iron Age Britain, the course studies the wide-ranging changes caused by Roman Conquest, and examines what can be learned from various types of evidence about aspects of daily life, art and religion. When the Romans left it considers what was their enduring legacy, and what the newly independent Britain was once again like before the arrival of a new external threat with the coming of Germanic speakers, the ancestors of the English. These are the 'Dark Ages' in terms of scanty direct textual documentations, when traditions associated with the enigmatic but influential figure of Arthur developed. The course also examines the emergence of new kingdoms and sees how Christianity spread over the whole land. Finally it looks at the languages and written culture of late antique and early medieval Britain, starting with the earliest evidence of the British Celtic languages such as curse tablets and burial stones, but focusing on medieval Welsh literature, such as the heroic poems and the magical Mabinogion narratives, which are read in translation.

In 1394, John Rykener, having been detected in women’s clothing and calling themself 'Eleanor’, was arrested in London for ‘committing that detestable, unmentionable, and ignominious vice’ with John Britby. This case went unremarked for decades despite the printing of a calendar of these records, because the editor summarized it only as ‘Examination of two men charged with immorality’. This course takes this case as a starting point and asks: was Eleanor Rykener a trans woman? Was John Rykener a man in drag? Were they genderfluid? Are these terms applicable in the Middle Ages? Did this case even happen or was it all a political satire? Students read comparable cases from elsewhere, recent scholarship on the issue, other sources relating to queer identities in the Middle Ages, and historical fiction focusing on Rykener as a character.

In Autumn 1720 the South Sea Bubble burst. Generally regarded as one of the first great stock-market crashes, this was a seismic moment in the early history of global financial capitalism. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources including private correspondence, pamphlets, poems, prints and other printed ephemera, this course traces the fortunes of the South Sea Company, its slave trading activities, and its investors over the course of a dramatic year which featured economic chaos, speculative fever and fears about plague across Northern Europe. Students learn how and why investors chose to invest in the South Sea Company and the many other bubble companies that followed in its wake. It explores the cultural impact of the crash and the anxieties it generated in contemporary Britain and Ireland looking at the commentary of Jonathan Swift, George Berkeley, and William Hogarth amongst others. It also discusses the post-bubble blame-game, the role of xenophobia, the treatment of female investors and the political fallout of the crisis.

The Internet is everywhere. From the smartphones in our pockets to the supermarkets delivering our groceries, large parts of our lives are mediated by digital technology, through screens which connect us to computers in air-conditioned rooms thousands of miles away. But how did we get here? What really is this thing we call "the Internet"? Who made these systems, and how do they work? Beginning with the Cold War origins of today's globally-interconnected digital world, this course explores the social, political, and economic impacts of networked digital technology, its impact on history, and on how that history is written.

This course offers a critical study of the conditions of cultural production, its formalization as a changing ideological foundation, and the mechanisms of selection, transmission, and reception throughout various historical periods. It explores how classical ideas were preserved and transformed in medieval and Renaissance Europe. This course also discusses the role of gender, education, and politics in shaping culture, from cathedral schools and early universities to humanist learning. It examines how culture was produced and shared and how intellectuals connected knowledge, power, and creativity across the centuries. 

Pre-requisites: Culture in Its Historical Dimension