RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY II
(CLA 5902)
Professor:
Office:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Classes:
Office Hours:
Jitse H.F. Dijkstra
DMS, room 10110
562-5800 (ext. 1325)
jdijkstr@uottawa.ca
Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. – 14:20 p.m. (DMS 10109)
Wednesday, 14:30-15:30 p.m.
or by appointment
Aims of the course
This course is a sequel to ‘Research and Methodology I’ given in the first semester. The
latter course provided a historical background of the Late Antique period, supported by
introductory classes on basic methodologies used to study this period. In this course the
acquired knowledge will be deepened with detailed discussions of several larger themes
of study. Presentations by scholars will give the students an idea of the variety of research
that is conducted and the problems at stake. A further aim of this course is to prepare the
students for the writing of their MA-thesis through the presentation of a chapter in a
seminar.
Text Book
Mitchell, S. 2007. A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641. The
Transformation of the Ancient World [Blackwell History of the Ancient World]. Oxford,
Blackwell Publishing.
Evaluation
Oral presentation and outline MA Research Paper:
Mid-term test:
Seminar presentation:
Paper:
10 %
30 %
20 %
40 %
Classes
This course consists of two parts. In the first half (until the mid-term test) the emphasis
will be on acquiring a profound theoretical knowledge of important themes in the study
of Late Antiquity. Whereas Methodology I stressed political and military history, the
focus will now be on religious and social history. In addition, the themes will be
illustrated by reading key texts in their original languages (Greek and Latin). Students
will be required to prepare either a text (preparation of texts in Greek and Latin means
knowing to translate them in good English or French and being able to explain them
adequately!) or a piece of secondary literature (an article or book chapter), or both. If
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these are not given at the start of the course, they will be announced well in advance so
that the students have enough time to prepare them.
Class attendance
Needless to say, attendance in this class is absolutely required. This means not only that
students are expected to be physically (and mentally!) present in class but also that they
have thoroughly prepared the required reading for it. It should also be noted that the
primary required for the specialized topic class should be prepared as thoroughly as
classes in the first half of the course.
Oral presentation
After four weeks of theoretical classes, the students have to present the primary and
secondary literature they have collected for the topic of their MA-thesis in an oral
presentation of no longer than 8 min. The source material should be presented in the form
of a hand-out, which is given to both the professor and a referee (to be announced) the
class before the presentation. Secondly, the students need to present a logical question
emanating from their material and give clear directions as to the ways in which they are
going to answer this question (= a first draft of outline of MA-thesis; 1-2 pp.). The
presentations are followed by a short discussion started up by the referee.
Outline MA-thesis
With the feedback of their fellow students and the professor, they can then modify the
ideas they have on their topic and make it into an outline of the MA-thesis (ca. 2 pp.),
which has to be handed in the week after the reading week. The outline should contain
more detailed information about one specific chapter of the Research Paper, which they
will then turn into the final paper of this course. The presentation of the first draft of the
outline, the amount of literature collected, the participation in class and during the
presentation, the clarity of the outline and arguments will be factors in coming to the first
mark, which is, essentially, a progress report.
Mid-term test
Directly after the reading week the assigned parts of Mitchell’s book, articles and other
book chapters as well as the primary texts discussed in the first series of classes with
accompanying class notes will all be tested.
Specialized topic on Late Antique Alexandria
After the mid-term test a specialized topic class will be devoted to the texts that tell us
about the so-called ‘destruction’ of the Serapeum in 391/2 and the murder of Hypatia in
415. This class serves both to stimulate the research done by the students on their topics
and illustrate the various methodologies and strategies scholars use and the problems they
encounter in their research. The homework for this class will be significantly less than in
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the first half of the course, which gives students extra time to work on their papers.
Students should use this time to start writing their papers.
Assignment
With a detailed knowledge of the sources on the Serapeum incident and murder of
Hypatia in mind, students have to watch the movie Agora and write down, in a take-home
assignment of 1-2 pp., what their opinion is of the movie, both its positive and negative
points. The assignment must be handed in a week later. Students will not receive a mark,
but the assignment is a part of the course, and therefore students who will not receive a
pass cannot complete this course.
Writing period
After the presentation on Alexandria, there are no classes for three weeks. This time the
students must use to finish a preliminary version of their paper. There is room for
personal feedback from the professor upon appointment or through e-mail before and in
the writing period.
Seminars
In the last class the students have to present preliminary versions of their papers. This
means that the student has to pretend that he/she is already handing in the final version of
the paper. After a summary of the project by the presenters not exceeding 15 min.,
referees will be appointed (to be announced) who have to ask at least one question. The
referees should briefly state in their comments what they find attractive/not so attractive
about the papers, leading to one or more questions (in total not exceeding 5 min.). After
these 20 min. there is ample room for a group discussion, in which both the professor and
supervisor of the student in question will participate.
The papers need to be circulated before class. The student must hand in the preliminary
version of his/her paper to the professor and the referee at least one week before the
presentation (one could think of sending the paper to the others by e-mail). The professor
will mark the presentation on how it summarises the main line of thought in the paper
(the student has to concentrate on: 1. the main question of the paper; 2. the evidence
collected, eventual problems with collecting and the limitations to the evidence; 3. the
results of the research/answer to the main question), originality and familiarity with the
subject, and the way the questions from the audience are answered. In addition, the
quality of the remarks by the referee will be taken into account for his/her mark.
Final Paper
After the seminar, the student has two weeks to adjust the paper, and in support of that
he/she will receive the comments by the referee and the professor. This final paper
consists of 15 to 18 pp.’s with line spacing 1.5, which conforms to the regulations of the
MA-thesis. The paper will be marked on the basis of clarity of style, the adduced material
and the argumentation.
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Schedule
Wednesday January 9:
- course outline; What is expected of my Research Paper? Where to start?
Explanation
of
style
sheet
of
Phoenix
(also
online
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~phoenix/style.sheet, with referencing in Phoenix
49.1 (1995) 1-2)
- The religious transformation of Late Antiquity
Required reading: Mitchell, Ch. 7 (pp. 225-51 = 27 pp.)
Further reading: P. Garnsey, C. Humfress, The Evolution of the Late Antique
World (Cambridge, 2001) Ch. 7 (‘Religion’)
Wednesday, January 16:
- The religious transformation of Late Antiquity (2)
Required reading: Mitchell, Ch. 8 (pp. 256-95 = 40 pp.) and selected texts
- The religious transformation of Late Antiquity (3): Church history
Wednesday, January 23:
- the many conversions of Constantine
Required reading: Selected texts from Panegyrici Latini, Lactantius, Eusebius
- Barbarians and Empire
Required reading: Mitchell Ch. 6 (pp. 191-221 = 31 pp.)
Wednesday, January 30:
- The ‘Fall’ of Rome in 476: a Turning Point?
Required reading: Mitchell Ch. 3 (pp. 89-96), 4 (pp. 101-17) (= 25 pp.); G.W.
Bowersock, ‘The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome’, Bulletin of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49.8 (1996) 29-4; P.J. Heather, The Fall
of the Roman Empire (Basingstoke and Oxford, 2005) 431-59 (Ch. 10)
Further reading: B. Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization
(Oxford, 2005)
- The Legal Codes and the effect of Laws on Late Antique Society: The Fate of the
Temples
Required reading: Selected texts from Codex Theodosianus (esp. 16.10)
Wednesday, February 6:
- Oral Presentations
- Late Antique archaeology: the birth of a (sub)discipline
Required reading: L. Lavan, ‘Late Antique Archaeology: An Introduction’, in L.
Lavan, W. Bowden (eds), Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology
(Leiden, 2003) viii-xvi
Further reading:
L. Lavan (ed.), Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism (Portsmouth, 2001)
L. Lavan, W. Bowden (eds), Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology
(Leiden, 2003)
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W. Bowden, L. Lavan, C. Machado (eds), Recent Research on the Late Antique
Countryside (Leiden, 2004)
L. Lavan, M. Mulryan (eds), The Archaeology of Late Antique ‘Paganism’
(Leiden, 2011)
Wednesday, February 13:
- the present state of Late Antique studies; concluding discussion
Required reading: Mitchell Ch. 1 (pp. 1-12 = 12 pp.); Averil Cameron, ‘The
“Long” Late Antiquity: A Late Twentieth-Century Model’, in T.P. Wiseman
(ed.), Classics in Progress: Essays on Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford, 2002)
165-91; J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, ‘Late Antiquity and the Concept of Decline’,
Nottingham Medieval Studies 45 (2001) 1-11
- preparation for mid-term
Wednesday, February 20: READING WEEK, no classes!
Wednesday, February 27: MID TERM!
Hand in outline of MA Research Paper
Wednesday, March 6:
- Riot in Alexandria
Required reading: selected texts about Serapeum incident (391-2 CE) and death of
the philosopher Hypatia (415 CE)
- Riot in Alexandria (2)
Take home assignment: watch and write review of the movie Agora (1-2 pp.)
Wednesday, March 13: no class: time to write papers
Hand in assignment Agora
Wednesday, March 20: no class: time to write papers
Wednesday, March 27: no class: time to write papers
Wednesday, April 3: seminars
April 17: Submission of final paper (= Chapter of Thesis)
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