https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/L_GABAGES321The aim of this course is to build up experience working with primary (archival) source material. The course will focus on the process of research based on original archival material, will allow students to practice drawing conclusions from primary material, and write an original research paper on this basis. The experience of doing "real" research will be enhanced by the connection of this class to ongoing global history research at the VU touching on issues like land use and land distribution, dispossession of peasant populations, environmental degradation and rural social movements.The first decades of the 21st century have seen a major escalation of "land grabbing": the forced transfer of land from peasant producers to commercial investors. Flashpoints of this process are large parts of sub-Sahara Africa, Indonesia and Brazil, where land-grabbing is accompanied by the dispossession of rural populations, deforestation and other forms of environmental degradation. Commercial land grabbing has deep historic roots that go back at least to the beginnings of European colonial expansion. The phenomenon has taken many different forms throughout the centuries. It has also always sparked resistance, both from local landholding elites and from rural populations. In this course, students will study primary (archival) source material to better understand the transformations of rural property structures, labour relations and human-nature interaction during major episodes of land grabbing.Seminar (2 hours per week) plus joint work in archives (2 hours per week).Mid-term paper (30%) and final written paper of approximately 6,000 words (70%)Selected articles (through Canvas)This course is intended for third year BA students in Geschiedenis and History and International Studies