https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/L_GABAGES228In the course of their study of Themes in Political History, students will:develop a familiarity with major topics in modern political history,develop their ability to identify and evaluate contemporary cultural and/or media mobilisations of topics in political history,acquire knowledge from and critically assess academic literature,be able to build their own research topic on a theme in political history,be able to formulate arguments in written form,be able to effectively communicate their ideas in oral form.This course offers students an introduction to ‘big’ themes in modern political history that might include violence, (in)equality, freedom, citizenship, regime change, ideologies or social movements. The course explores the themes through historical case studies from Europe, Asia and Oceania to underline the global and transnational connections as well as specificities of political histories. Each topic is examined at three levels: first, historical actors’ understandings of the politics of their own actions; second, how scholars have explained ‘the political’ in these histories; and third, how the past is mobilised in the present for contemporary political purposes. We therefore examine primary sources, historiography and contemporary representations and debates around each major theme. The course encourages students to critically evaluate the political as a category of historical action, as well as an approach to the past, and a way of understanding its relevance to the present.2 sessions per week. Students must be prepared to actively discuss the work they prepared for class.Class participation (10%), topic portfolio (50%), final essay (40%).A selection of book chapters, articles, and primary sources will be made available via the VU Library and/or in Canvas.BA2 students History and International Studies and Geschiedenis. The course is also open as an elective course for VU-students and Exchange Students.