The Potential of the Past: Premodern traditions

Course goals

• Knowledge about the ways people used (and abused) the ancient and medieval past for specific purposes;
• Historical knowledge about the classical tradition in Europe;
• Skills in theoretical and methodological analysis of historical debates about premodern history (RMA level);
• Skills in critical reflection and interpretation of premodern sources (RMA level);
• Research skills: the ability to formulate a research question and find, analyse and evaluate relevant historical evidence.

Content

This core seminar provides a theoretical and practical introduction to Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Insular Studies by showing how traditions are continuously reinvented before being transmitted to a next generation. During the whole of world history, perceptions of the past have played a pivotal role in the identity and self-understanding of virtually all human societies. In this course we examine the significance of the past in the past, as well as the various layers of scholarship that stand between ourselves and our understanding of our pre-modern heritage. We deal both with scholarly traditions and understandings of the past as well as popular and political forms of ‘social memory’.

The Potential of the Past focuses on (but is not restricted to) European uses of the past from Ancient times to the present. We begin with the basics by first looking at the history and significance of the Humanities as an academic discipline, and then at theories and models for understanding the ways that people engage with the past: Social and Cultural Memory, Lieux de Mémoire, Imagined Community, and Invented Tradition. In the third part of the course we will explore a variety of pertinent case studies, including the reuse of Roman buildings in the Middle Ages; Orientalist approaches to the Ancient Near East in modern historiography; the Medievalism of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the impact of tourism (to get some impression of the range of subjects that may be discussed, you can also have a look at the images on the title page, above.)

Class format
During this course, you will discuss specific case studies and learn to formulate a scholarly opinion on current questions. These discussion will start from the assigned scholarly literature and the source material. You will read literature associated with the respective case studies, so that you are able to participate in the discussion. You will moreover write a short position paper on a source of you choosing, in which you combine it with the literature provided and the themes addressed. Furthermore, you will - in a small group - prepare a poster presentation about a communal topic, as long as that topic is appropriate for this course. On this presentation, we will provide additional information in the course manual.

In the seminars, we will explore the course theme diachronically and thematically. During classes students will give presentations and discuss literature. You are expected to study the assigned literature and to form opinions, or formulate questions, about these readings. On the basis of this, you should do your best to engage actively in group discussions in an informed and respectful manner.


Students from: OCLM, OKUM, NLCM, OMUM, GSTM, MAPS, RLSM, HIST, OLIM may only enroll with consent from the Programme coordinator.

Additional information

Students from: OCLM, OKUM, NLCM, OMUM, GSTM, MAPS, RLSM, HIST, OLIM may only enroll with consent from the Programme coordinator.