Below you can find recommendations for courses or groups of courses that follow a specific theme within the track, and recommendations for students considering to take these courses.
I. Economic history
This course is attractive to students of the economics track, sociology track, political theory/ international relations track, and the law track. In this course they will familiarize themselves with specific historical methods to study economic reality and they will be enabled to study particular economic topics (for example industrialization or the great depression of the 1930s) in their historical context. In 100-level and 200-level courses like Middle Ages, Early Modern History, Modern History and the Global Cold War or Transatlantic Cold War it is quite possible to focus on economic history, which thus can serve as a preparation for the above-mentioned course on economic history.
II. Political history and international history.
The interest in international affairs and politics is so widespread at University College Utrecht and there are so many different courses on these themes, from law, sociology, and international relations to economics, that this part of the history track is obviously attractive to many Humanities and (Social) Science students who are interested in political history. Students in the Humanities might focus on the cultural themes dealt with in these courses, such as art, film, literature and propaganda during the Cold War and in the history of the Great Powers generally.
III. History of ideas/cultural history
This part of the History track is particularly inviting for students from the Humanities and (Social) Sciences who plan to study the history of their discipline using historical methods and dealing with the types of questions that historians deem relevant. Humanities students can focus on arts, literature, philosophy, religion, or the performing arts. (Social) Science students can focus on the history of psychology, sociology, physics or biology. In this way students will become more conscious of the different approaches in the different disciplines.
IV. The twentieth century
The twentieth century is of special interest to many students at University College Utrecht who need or prefer specific courses in modern history as an essential background to study their own disciplines.
V. Premodern History
Premodern history is a crucial ingredient for the diversity of perspectives that a Liberal Arts and Sciences institution like University College Utrecht seeks to encourage. Hardly any discipline at the college looks at reality from a pre-dominantly temporal perspective; most courses are on the modern world. The above-mentioned courses, however, deal partly or entirely with the world before the Industrial Revolution and before the French Revolution. They offer students an opportunity to delve into very different societies from our own, that at the same time may show some surprising continuities. Since more than half of the world population now lives in urban areas (as reported already in 2005 by the United Nations), courses on the pre-industrial era offer a unique perspective on reality.
