20 December 2021

In the coming semester, LUC is offering four exciting courses designed to help you draw connections between academic concepts and the lived experiences of people beyond our college community—while also reflecting on your beliefs, values, and social responsibilities.

Postcolonial World

Across world regions, increasing attention is being paid to our histories of colonialism and slavery. Conventional representations of historical figures such as Napoleon are contested in light of events such as the Haitian Revolution; statues of slave owners and colonialists are reframed or removed, while museums are shedding light on European entanglements in these histories through various new exhibitions. In Postcolonial World we seek to make sense of these colonial and imperial pasts, what they imply and how they may implicate us today. We study processes of colonisation and how they shaped interactions, mentalities, and ideas in the European metropoles and in the areas that came to be defined as colonies. We further examine how historical, political, and cultural dynamics shaped experiences of colonialism, as well as how legacies of empire are inscribed and represented in public spaces today. To learn more, check out the course outline. Questions? Email Dr. Ingrid Samset at i.samset@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

Searching for Sustainable Livelihoods: A fieldcourse on fieldwork in The Netherlands

Want to learn how to do fieldwork? We will start from scratch: What is the field and who is the fieldworker? How do you enter, set yourself up and engage with it ethically? What innovative techniques can you use to interact with and access other peoples’ worlds? Let’s go through the steps together, first during Block 4 in The Hague as we try to map out sustainable livelihoods in our city and then on a two-week field adventure to explore sustainable educational tourism and how to set ourselves up in the field.  
To learn more, check out the course outline.  Questions? Email Dr. Caroline Archambault at c.archambault@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

The Ecology Project

This course offers an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of “place-based education”—a form of pedagogy that uses the local community and environment as a starting point for learning across the curriculum. In the first half of the semester, we will mix our own classroom-based learning with weekly excursions to (green) spaces in The Hague. In the second half, teams of students will design and deliver education modules for specific groups, ranging from children to adults. At least two of these groups will work with teenagers who are studying with LUC alumni who participated in earlier versions of this course, and who are now working as secondary-school teachers. To learn more, check out the course outline.  Questions? Email Dr. Ann Marie Wilson at a.m.wilson@luc.leidenuniv.nl. 

SPOC: Development Project Management

Are you ready to try your hand in actually doing development? Not yet. But this course will get you there. Teams of students work to address a development challenge assigned to them by a real client (NGOs/CBO’s, multi-laterals, private firms, government agencies). We guide you through a typical development project cycle, and by the end you pitch your concepts to your clients in hopes that they will actually take them up. To learn more, check out the course outline. Questions? Email Dr. David Ehrhardt at d.w.l.ehrhardt@luc.leidenuniv.nl and Dr. Caroline Archambault at c.archambault@luc.leidenuniv.nl.