Supervisors	Dr. Marijke van Faassen, dr. Rik Hoekstra and dr. Marijn Koolen (Huygens Institute)
Date	April-May 2026 (5 meetings | Thursday afternoons 16, 23, 30 April, 7 and 21 May 2026)
Time	14:00-17:00
Location	Spinhuis Amsterdam
Credits	5 ECTS (3 is optional)
Registration	Before 15 March 2026, via: bureau@onderzoekschoolpolitiekegeschiedenis.nl

Long gone are the days when political history was only described from official state documents. In today’s historical practice, a great deal of attention is paid to multi-perspectivity, seeking opportunities to hear different voices. No one doubts the relevance of looking beyond the text and incorporating visual, auditory and material sources. In addition, new approaches and rapidly developing digital techniques shed fresh light on classical sources and open different possibilities for organizing, analysing and presenting sources on a larger scale. What does this mean for writing political history today?

In this course, students develop a broad view of the potential of resources to analyse the history of politics and the political. Students also learn to critically reflect on the limitations of various types of sources, archives, and datasets, and to recognize their ‘political’ nature.  What were the roles of e.g. the state and social movements in collecting and archiving materials? What blank spots does this leave in the archives and analyses? Although Dutch archives are the starting point of this course, the literature and methodological analogue and digital skills are universally applicable.

Participants in this course will:

• Gain insight into a range of sources relevant to study political history; 
• Reach a next level in source critique;
• Get acquainted with new technologies to access, comprehend, analyze and manage primary sources relevant to political historians;
• Obtain the skills to use various primary sources – both physical and digital – and apply methods in a sound way.

The course will be taught in Dutch or English (depending on the language skills of the participants).

Requirements: TBA (you may expect weekly preparations, active participation, written reflections and a presentation to be part of the assessment)