Universität Wien
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070043 UE Introductory Reading Course Contemporary History (2025S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

No class: 12 May and 26 May.

  • Monday 03.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 10.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 17.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 24.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 31.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 07.04. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 28.04. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 05.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 12.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 19.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 26.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 02.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 16.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 23.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1
  • Monday 30.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum 1, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1090 Wien, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The reading course focuses on a selection of key topics of contemporary history, including violence and wars, memory and reconciliation, postcolonial studies, environmental history, the Anthropocene, and other approaches to contemporary historical research that have gained importance in the 21st century. We will explore the idea of contemporary history in multiple academic contexts, think together of its meaning and relevance through two cases: the Yugoslav wars (and talk about transition and the current student protests in Serbia) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Invited speakers will will engage with us on these two critical topics.
Course participants will present on the assigned readings to foster conversation. The goal of the course is to critically reflect on the significance, but also the methods of contemporary history, while gaining in-depth knowledge of fundamental concepts that shape our understanding of this period. These key themes include: the distinction between totalitarianism and authoritarianism, the terminology used to narrate the history of the Cold War and its aftermath, decolonialism, types of violence, genocide, the role of gender in these analyses, and many more.

Assessment and permitted materials

Class participation (with an occasional quizz game): 40%; Presentation in class: 30%; Short written assignments: 30%

The language of the course is mainly English, but presentation and questions are accepted in German. All mandatory readings are in English, German language additional literature is in the Optional section of the detailed syllabus.

1 (excellent) 100 – 90 points
2 (good) 89 – 81 points
3 (satisfactory) 80 – 71 points
4 (sufficient) 70 - 61 points
5 (insufficient) 60 – 0 point

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Regular active participation; Active participation in the course discussions; Short class presentation; Short written works and their discussion. See above.

2 absences are permitted. For the two classes with the invited speakers, you will need to show written documentation of the reason of missing the class.

Examination topics

Dies ist eine prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung.

Reading list

If you take this course, you'll read texts such as:
Aleida Assmann, Is Time Out of Joint? On the Rise and Fall of the Modern Time Regime (Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 2013).
Theodor W. Adorno, "The Meaning of Working Through the Past," in. Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).
Jennifer Illuzzi, “The Genocide of the Romani People in Europe”, in. The Cambridge History of World Genocide. Volume 1: Genocide in the Ancient, Medieval and Premodern Worlds, ed. Ben Kiernan, T. M. Lemos, Tristan S. Taylor (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2023)
Kesić, Vesna (2002) ‘Muslim Women, Croatian Women, Serbian Women, Albanian Women’,
in D. I. Bjelić and O. Savić (eds.), Balkan as Metaphor: Between Globalization and
Fragmentation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 311–21.
Donald Bloxham, Martin Conway, Robert Gerwarth, A. Dirk Moses and Klaus Weinhauer, “Europe in the World: Systems and Cultures of Violence,” in Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe, ed. Donald Bloxham and Robert Gerwarth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 11-39.
Vladimir Petrović, “The ICTY Library: War Criminals as Authors, Their Works as Sources,” International Criminal Justice Review 28 (2018: 4): 333-348.
Dipesh Chakrabarty, “The Idea of Provincializing Europe,” in. idem., Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton, N. J and Oxford: Princeton UP, 2008), 3-23.
Lugones, Marìa (2010). "Toward a Decolonial Feminism". Hypatia. 25 (4): 742–759.

Towards the end of the semester, we will read a book co-authored by Ukrainian students and scholars of Ukrainian history, and invite authors of the book for a conversation:
Ostap Sereda, Balázs Trencsényi, Tetiana Zemliakova and Guillaume Lancereau, eds. Invisible University for Ukraine. Essays on Democracy at War (Itchaca: Cornell UP, 2024).

Association in the course directory

EAR: Zeitgeschichte.
MA Geschichte (Version 2019): PM1 Einführung in Themenfelder, Räume und Epochen, UE Lektürekurs (5 ECTS).
IDMA Zeitgeschichte und Medien (Version 2019): M2a Einführung in den Forschungsprozess und Methoden I, UE Schwerpunkteinführung Zeitgeschichte (5 ECTS).

Last modified: Mo 03.03.2025 05:45