070081 SE Human Rights in Historical Perspective (2007W)

Language of discussion will be German and English according to students' needs
With Global History becoming an important part of University teaching and research more and more students address questions of Global History in their own research. The Research Seminar offers a forum for problems of Global History focussing on various topics, regions, horizons of time and space as well as the interaction and connection between them. Various topics will be combined by discussing theoretical, methodical, and practical particularities of a global history approach. In the Research Seminar we will develop research questions; students will be supported in conceptualizing their topic, in their search for sources and literature. In addition, specific projects provide the issue to tackle fundamental problems of global history - f.e. the choice of significant spaces and times, the relationship between local developments and those in wider spaces, the relationship of short-term events and "longue durée", concepts, definitions, and periodization beyond Eurocentrism etc.
Didaktics: To a considerable degree the Research Seminar will be determined by students' interests and needs; they are expected to be prepared work with primary sources, to question traditional ways of explanation, to change perspectives, and to link research questions across the borders of regions, nations and disciplines. Grading: original research and presentation, cooperation in planning, organisation, and discussion.
See also: http://www.univie.ac.at/igl.geschichte/kaller-dietrich/WS%2006-07/GradColl_06.htm