2023-2024 / HIST0086-1

Contemporary historiographical debates

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Master in history (120 ECTS)5 crédits 

Lecturer

Yann Berthelet, Ninon Dubourg, Eric Geerkens, Gaël Pirard, Elie Teicher, Viktoria Von Hoffmann, Guillaume Wymmersch

Coordinator

Eric Geerkens

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course is a sort of common denominator to the research seminars (I and II) for students studying for the master's degree in history with a research focus.

The purpose is to offer students a compact overview (obviously partial) of what is currently happening in research in history, in connection with the main components of the history courses taught at the University of Liège, structured first by period first, then by theme.

To enable all the students find information relating to their choice of period, the course will offer an overview every year for each of the major periods taught, with the addition of a cross-period theme, which can change every year.

In 2023-24, classes will be as follows:

Antiquity: Yann Berthelet

Middle Ages: Guillaume Wymmersch

Early modern period: Viktoria von Hoffmann

Contemporary period: Elie Teicher

Cross-cutting theme: Ninon Dubourg

Coordination: Eric Geerkens

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Students will be able to set up a literature watch in their respective areas which they can use to look for historiographical reviews in particular, where they exist.

They will once again be confronted with the culture of debate particular to their field.

They will be prepared to establish a state of the relevant scientific literature for the purpose of their final year dissertation.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

It is assumed that students have acquired the skills practised during the Practical Introduction to Historical Research and during the various practical classes (bibliographic research, reading scientific articles, identification of a problem).

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Following an introductory session, illustrated by the experiences of young researchers in their relations with historiography, the course will be divided according to period and theme. Prior to each session, students will be asked to carefully read the texts (a small number), which the contributors will comment on and discuss with them during the lesson.
For the four courses per period, students will be assigned a specific task per group:

  • A first group is in charge of the oral presentation of the text(s), using the updated reading guide of the IPRH course in a flexible way.
  • A second group is invited to discuss the article, which means reading it with the same guide, anticipating all the questions suggested by the reading of the article, listening carefully to the presentation of the first group and then asking the relevant questions left unanswered after the presentation. During the session, the accompanying teacher can intervene if necessary to stimulate discussion, complete the presentation or ask further questions.
  • A third group is responsible for proposing a reading note that summarises both the presentation and the debate; at this stage, the members of the third group are not required to analyse the text in depth; they are asked to report on the presentation and the debate that accompanied it. This reading note will be given to the teacher who proposed the reading(s), who will validate it or ask for corrections.
    A copy of this work will also be sent to the course coordinator.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Presentations of the contents of the texts prepared by the students and discussions.

Recommended or required readings

The reading material proposed by each contributor will be available on MyULiège at the beginning of the term.

Written work / report

Continuous assessment


Additional information:

The course is organized every other week to give students time to read the article(s) that will be discussed with the teacher in charge of a class session, following the organisation described above. This timetable can be modified if necessary.

At the end of the year, every student will be asked to provide a personal commentary during the lesson on one of the items they were given to read. This commentary should include complementary elements they have read but, above all, it must show the student's ability to form a personal point of view relating to the sources, methods or results presented.

This work will be assessed by the teacher who provided the file of reading material from which the commented article was taken.

This work must be handed in no later than the last day before the official start of the examination session.

The teacher's assessment is not followed by an oral defence of the work.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Contact with the various teachers taking the classes must pass via the coordinator, unless decided otherwise.
Professor Eric Geerkens Département des sciences historiques 1b, quai Roosevelt (bât A4, bureau I9) Tel.: +32-4-366 53 59 E-mail: e.geerkens@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs