Postgraduate Course: Global Premodern Cities (HIAR11138)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines premodern cities as global hubs of cultural transmission, connectivity and exchange, in the period c.400-1800. By examining a broad range of global premodern cities, students will consider how the concept of the 'city' is conceived by art historians today. Local contexts as well as broader transcontinental encounters will be examined as we consider how art, material culture and ideas shaped past population centres. Seminars are team-taught by premodern specialists from across the History of Art department. |
| Course description |
Focused on the idea of 'Global Premodern Cities', this course addresses some of the key theoretical and methodological issues active in Global Premodern Art Histories. This course advances chronologically to examine cultural mobility, cross-regional transmission, connectivity and colonial expansion through specific premodern cities. By examining local contexts as well as transcontinental encounters among cultures, religions and societies, this course considers how people, materials and objects moved through the world in the premodern past. It will examine a broad range of different global premodern cities, such as Rome, Kyoto or Istanbul. In doing so, it explores patterns and practices such as globalism, commerce, pilgrimage, artistic exchanges and the continual re-contextualisation of material culture. We will focus on how transnational contact and exchange shaped cities. Networks between cities and the world beyond will be examined alongside internal transference within a city, e.g. interface of ancient, medieval, renaissance and early modern infrastructures; engagement amongst urban communities, with topography, environment and the material past. Students will be encouraged to question the classificatory concept of the 'city', through consideration of, for example, the premodern wilderness as a 'city' of hermits (in the eleventh-century writings of Peter Damian), or communal burial places in the British Isles as 'cities of the dead'. We will study premodern cities in their cultural specificity as living and evolving sites of cultural connectivity while also attending to how changing ideas of cities shaped cultural production.
The course is taught across ten weekly two-hour seminars, comprising various teaching activities, including lectures, class discussions and group tasks. Discussions typically include close analysis of objects, consideration of methodological approaches and critical reading of essential texts. Where possible, students will study works in local collections, including the University's Heritage Collections. Some sessions may be delivered off-site, in nearby museums and archives.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | This Course does not require any additional costs to be met by the Student.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
External Visit Hours 2,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 2 assessment components.
1) Essay plan and bibliography, 500 words, 15%, submitted Weeks 5-6, relating to all Learning Outcomes.
2) Essay, 4000 words, 85%, submitted Weeks 10-11, relating to all Learning Outcomes
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| Feedback |
Formative Feedback
Students will deliver a formative presentation to the class in Week 3 on their chosen essay topic. Formative feedback on this presentation will be provided verbally by the Course Organiser in one-to-one meetings. This feedback will be directly relevant to the Summative Assessments.
Summative Feedback
Written feedback on students' essay plans will be provided by the Course Organiser, in addition to the opportunity for a further one-to-one meetings, on request. In addition to this written feedback, students will also engage in peer-to-peer review feedback in class. In Week 6 or Week 7 they will bring their essay plans to class and will feedback orally to each other. These discussions will be facilitated by the Course Organiser.
Written feedback on students' essays will be provided by the Course Organiser, in addition to the opportunity for a further one-to-one meetings, on request.
Summative feedback will be provided according to University regulations. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Assess decisive moments in the history of artistic and transcultural exchange in global premodern cities before 1800.
- Reflect critically on the factors that led to cross-cultural encounters and the effects of those encounters.
- Undertake independent research to assemble a range of primary and secondary information sources to support art historical analysis.
- Deploy core research skills, such as visual, material and textual analysis, to evaluate art historical questions and issues and convey this in a clear and engaging way through written communication in summative assessments.
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Reading List
Berend, Nora. "Interconnection and Separation: Medieval Perspectives on the Modern Problem of the 'Global Middle Ages.'" Medieval Encounters 29, nos 2-3 (2023): 285-314.
Findlen, Paula, ed. Early Modern Things Objects and their Histories, 1500-1800. Routledge, 2021.
Flood, Finbarr Barry and Beate Fricke. Tales Things Tell: Material Histories of Early Globalisms. Princeton University Press, 2024.
Joyeux-Prunel, Béatrice. "The Not-So-Global Field of Global Art History." Art History 47, no. 5 (November 2024): 1005-1009.
Savoy, Daniel. The Globalization of Renaissance Art: A Critical Review. Brill, 2017. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Personal/intellectual autonomy: Students will be able to think creatively and with curiosity to develop an independent research essay inspired by the broad chronological and geographical spread covered in this course. Students will take responsibility for their intellectual development to fulfil their potential.
Communication: Students will develop effective, interactive oral communication including listening to peers and learning how to articulate complex ideas in seminar discussions. Students will also gain the ability to produce clear, structured written work that speaks to contemporary art historical debates and enables them to become more skilled communicators.
Research and Enquiry: Working with a range of interdisciplinary textual, visual and material sources, including art history, history, language studies, archaeological and anthropology, related to the key themes of this course, students will strengthen and broaden their research and enquiry skills. Students will develop analytical, reflective and critical thinking skills through verbal and written discussions of artworks and texts.
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| Keywords | premodern material culture,global art history,colonialism,global cities |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jess Bailey
Tel:
Email: Jess.Bailey@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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