CORE Modules

CORE of the CORE This is the smallest course unit we propose. Planned for 2 ECTS credits, it requires from 50 to 60 hours of time for the ‘normal student’. It can be taught as an intensive unit over a very short period of time; it can be taken in ODLform; it can be incorporated as the introductory part of a larger module, the teaching units can be used separately. We consider it a European ‘Learners’ permit’, the minimum for understanding the European dimension of History for building cohesive citizenship.

2 ECTS credits = 50 to 60 hours of student time = 12-15 contact hours = 38 to 45 hours for individual and/or group study.

Learning outcomes expressed in Tuning competences:
Generic competences emphasised:
Critical and self-critical abilities.

Subject specific competences emphasised:
A critical awareness of the relationship between current events and processes and the past Awareness of and respect for points of view deriving from other national or cultural backgrounds.
Pre-requisites: normal school and high school study of history in country of origin.

The module is organised in 5 sub-“Units”, each with an Introductory contact hour and a discussion and evaluation contact hour. Furthermore, there is an overall introduction to the module and a final contact hour devoted to final assessment and evaluation.

Introduction and presentation of the CORE of the CORE module
The objective is to give an overview of what the module will included, what the learners can expect and what will be expected from the learners.

Unit 1, “Periodisation and Selection of Themes in National Histories”
The primary objective is to ensure that student is aware that many basic ideas and concepts received from previous history training in schools represents in fact a particular, usually nation-specific and culturally and politically determined view of history, its relevant problems and main events. To exemplify in a simple but striking way, the periodisation map and table available on www.clioh.net LINK will be used. In the individual or group study hours, the students may be asked to investigate the different criteria used for periodisation in their own and other selected countries and to discover when and on what basis the periodisation used in their own school books was consolidated. A second objective is to ensure that the student is aware that historians’ interest for certain themes and periods is connected with the concerns of their time. To exemplify the students are asked to read:
J-L Lamboley, Ancient Greece in French Historiography, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. 3, Nations and Nationalities (G. Halfdanarson, A. K. Isaacs eds.), pp. 119-132. Available in pdf> , in book and in video form.
or
C. Ampolo, Modern states and Ancient Greek History, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. 3, Nations and Nationalities (G. Halfdanarson, A. K. Isaacs eds.), pp. 101-118. Available in pdf, in book and in video form.
or
Maria José Hidalgo de la Vega, Ancient History in Spanish Historiography, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. 3, Nations and Nationalities (G. Halfdanarson, A. K. Isaacs eds.), pp. 133-146. Available in pdf, in book and in video form.

The second contact hour will consist of a discussion on the reading matter suitable to ensuring that the required work and learning has taken place.

Unit 2: “General Narratives in National History”
The primary objective is to alert students to the fact that their own ideas of the past are shaped by a certain selection of themes, events and processes which has been elaborated in the political and cultural context of the country where they live and have studied. This ‘selection’ constitutes what we call the ‘national narrative’ which may take several forms, but which normally consists of a fairly generally accepted overview of what is important from the national point of view from ancient times to the present. The further objective is ensure that students are aware of the very different ways that the ‘national narratives’ of other European countries select and evaluate events and processes that may be shared.
The introduction to this unit may be based on the on-line materials prepared by CLIOH for the University of Uppsala site, showing how the same events, personalities or processes receive very different treatment in standard textbooks used in the high schools of each country.
A task, to be carried out individually or in small groups, will be to check what is in the students’ own textbooks regarding the sample personages and events shown on the site. The students may also view the short video that recounts in synthetic form the Intensive Programme “Empires, states and regions in European perspective" (available from CLIOH/CLIOHnet).
They may be asked to read and comment M. Coffey, The Teaching of Irish History in the 1920s, in Clioh’s Workshop vol VI, Empires and States in European Perspective (S. G. Ellis ed.), pp. 111-122; and S.Ellis, The Empire Strikes Back: the Historiography of Britain and Ireland, ibid., pp. 95-110. Both available in book form, in pdf on and in video. A further useful reading in this context is G. Nemeth, The Origins of the Tale of the Blood-Drinking Hungarians, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. IX, Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective (C. Lévai, V. Vese eds.), pp. 91-110, available in book form and in pdf.

Unit 3: “European Universities: elaborating and transmitting views of the past and present”.
The primary objective is to show that the Universities and other higher education institutions in Europe (and not only there) are fundamental actors in moulding the worldview of citizens. The second objective is to make visible the fact that Universities in all European countries have a common history and common links, although they have also passed through very different experiences in the course of the centuries. Students who have completed this unit will also be better informed about how European universities are organised today and how their activities shape citizens’ attitudes towards their country and those of their neighbours, especially with regard to how History is studied, taught and learned.

The first part of the unit is based on presentation and discussion of the map and materials placed on the clioh.net site regarding the history and the history of history teaching in European Universities. The students are asked to find, using the material on the site, other Universities similar to their own as to time of foundation and size; they are asked to investigate, using web materials and starting from the materials on the site, to illustrate the differences in topics emphasised in History and related departments of a certain number of institutions.

The students are asked to read T. de Vries, The Dead End of a New Road: the Failure of a Cultural Welfare State policy in the Netherlands, 1945-46, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. IV, The Welfare State. Past, Present, Future (H. Jensen ed.), pp. 127-140. Available in book form and in pdf.

The discussion will deal with the differences and analogies in the choice of subjects in History Departments around Europe, the explanations for this diversity, the significance of cultural policies in education.

Unit 4: “Europe: Concepts and Historical Realities”
The primary objective is to ensure that students are aware that what Europe is and how it defined has been the object of discussion in the cultural and political milieu for centuries. They will discover that Europe as a category is mobile and alive, not defined once and for all. The idea of ‘Europe’ has not developed in a linear way.
The second objective is to ensure that students possess basic knowledge about today’s European Union and its member and candidate states.
Students may be asked to choose one or several texts from those presented on the clioh.net site, to contextualise and comment them, in written or oral form.
They may also be directed to the materials now available on the europa.eu.int server and asked to carry out specific tasks (e.g. prepare themselves to show that they understand the many phases and events in the construction of the European Union; that they have a general knowledge of the history of three member or candidate countries not studied in their schools).
The students may be asked to read R. Averkorn, The Process of Nationbuilding in Medieval Germany. A Brief Overview, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. III, Nations and Nationalities (G. Halfdanarson, A.K. Isaacs eds.), pp. 177-198 (Available in pdf, in book and in video form); M. Broers, The Napoleonic Empire, 1799-1814, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. VI, Empires and states in European Perspective (S.G. Ellis ed.), pp. 71-82; J.-A. Pop, Nations and Denominations in Transylvania (13th-16th century), in Clioh’s Workshop vol. IX, Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective (C. Lévai, V. Vese eds.) pp. 111-124; or other readings among the many offered in Clioh’s Workshop on more recent periods. (All available in book form or pdf from the clioh.net site).

Unit 5: “Language and Nationalities”
The objective is to ensure that students are aware of the complex ways in which national languages are formed and modified, and how political and cultural contexts affect the linguistic environment. A secondary objective is that of showing how linguistic questions are intertwined with national and ethnic identities, and how they affect citizenship in a variety of countries.
Students may be asked to read M. Grudule, German Parsons and the Latvian Peasant Enlightenment between the 18th and the 19th centuries, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. VIII, Religion and Political Change in Europe. Past and Present (A, Cimdina ed.), pp.119-130; G. Halfdanarson, J. Kangilaski, The Integration of the Russian Minority in Estonia, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. VII, Racial Discrimination and Ethnicity, pp. 225-XX, R. Lokk, The Russian Minority in Post-Communist Estonia. A Comparison with Czech-Südeten German Relations after World War I, in Clioh’s Workshop vol. IX, Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective, pp. 217-239; or one of the many chapters available on clioh.net regarding Hungary, Romania and/the countries of ex-Yugoslavia.
The discussion may centre on the constitutional issues regarding minorities, in this case examining and commenting the passages from the Estonian and Romanian constitutions contained in the chapters by Kangilaski and Vese cited above.

Final session:
The objective is to consider what has been learned and how it changes the historical picture gained in previous training. The discussion may be prepared by asking students to present a brief oral report on the change in perspective acquired through the work related to one of the five units. The secondary objective is to evaluate the efficacy of the materials and the method and to check whether the ECTS values are reasonable in practice.