This is a research class designed for third year students in history, literature and arts who wish to further develop their research skills. The history of emotions is a burgeoning research field in cultural history that is highly interdisciplinary in character. Both historical, literary, social, philosophical and medical scholars investigate the role of emotions and emotional behaviour in political, social and cultural processes. One of the many questions concerns the universality of human emotional experience across cultural, social and historical boundaries. Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1200-1800) offers interesting material to investigate such questions. In this course students will acquire knowledge of concepts and methods used by various scholarly disciplines that study emotional behaviour and experience. A central and recurring theme will be the (experienced) embodiment of emotions. Where did contemporary doctors and philosophers locate emotions in the body? What cultural rules reigned the bodily expression of emotions? When, where, for who and for what reason was weeping allowed? There are ample opportunities to develop individual research projects. We expect students to be able to gather and select relevant literature, summarise a scholarly debate and formulate a research question by themselves. Via tutorials and individual feedback you will be guided through your research project. This course is part of the minor 'European Urban and Cultural History'.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.