Undergraduate Course: The Power in Small Things, 1700-1900 (HIAR10204)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course considers how global dynamics of power are mediated through small things and questions the extent to which they informed and responded to socio-cultural, political and historical shifts in the late seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Object-based sessions and a curatorial exhibition project will further students¿ understanding of the key themes. |
| Course description |
Although often overlooked, small things are everywhere in history, from small tokens or trinkets, to coins, or portrait miniatures. How do we define small things in material and visual culture? This course considers the power and agency of small things which have travelled globally across the transatlantic world in the late seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It will use the permanent collection of the National Museum of Scotland as its core inspiration with gallery visits and object-focused sessions. Each week adopts different art historiographical methodologies, from anthropology, to queer history, to military history, and post-colonialism. It considers a range of objects, from glass beads which were used as exchanges of currency for human life in the transatlantic slave trade, to snuffboxes, to political tokens, such as Wedgwood's infamous abolition medallion. Object-based sessions and a curatorial exhibition project will further students¿ understanding of the key themes of this course, enabling students to consider how best historians today can re-think and re-tell the stories of these small things through curatorial interventions and public engagement projects. A curatorial exhibition project will further students¿ understanding of the key themes.
The course is taught through weekly 2- hour seminars. Seminars comprise of various teaching activities, including lectures, class discussions and group tasks. Seminar discussions typically include the close analysis of objects and essential readings. Seminars will often look to works in local collections, and a group visit for an object handling session outside the allocated seminar slot will be arranged.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have completed at least 3 History of Art courses at grade B or above, and we will only consider University/College level courses. **Please note that 3rd year History of Art courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces. These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
External Visit Hours 2,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
171 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course has 2 assessment components:
1. Essay (2000 words)- weeks 8-10 (50%)
2. Curatorial exhibition portfolio (2000 words)- December exam diet (50%)
Component 2 will consist of a 1000-word rationale of the exhibition, including title, list of 8-10 chosen objects, information on design, target audience and curatorial flow. In addition, students will write 4 x 250-word catalogue entry for three of their chosen small things.
Both components relate to all course Learning Outcomes. |
| Feedback |
Formative Feedback:
Students can submit a 250-word essay plan for formative feedback in Week 5, and all students will be able to have a one-to-one session of formative feedback with the Course Organiser about their 250-word essay plan.
Students will receive ongoing formative feedback during seminars from peers and the Course Organiser in the form of class discussions and the opportunity to ask questions, as well as verbal feedback from the course organiser for any group tasks or presentations. During class in Week 6, students will each have 2-min to give a ¿flash¿ presentation stating the key theme/chosen objects for their curatorial exhibition portfolio. Verbal formative feedback from Course Organiser will be provided immediately.
Summative feedback:
Full written feedback and grades on Assessment 1 (essay 50%) will be provided by the Course Organiser via Turnitin. The summative feedback for component 1 will be useful for component 2.
Full individual written feedback and grades on Assessment 2 (curatorial exhibition portfolio 50%) will be provided by Course Organiser via Turnitin. Feedback will be provided as per University regulations. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | 3 hour online exam | 3:15 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of 18th- and 19th-century visual, cultural and material histories and curatorial practices, in Scotland, the UK and further afield.
- Analyse objects visually and textually and outline key contexts and ideas associated with transatlantic trade, slavery, institutions, museology/collecting.
- Analyse key art historiographical methodologies, relevant texts and theoretical approaches, from anthropology, to queer history, to military history, and post-colonialism.
- Evidence developed skills of analysis, communication, and organisation, verbally and in writing.
- Communicate ideas about key themes to a non-academic audience through a curatorial exhibition project.
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Reading List
Burton , Jessie. The Miniaturist, (London: Picador, 2014)
de Waal, Edmund. The Hare with Amber Eyes, (London: Penguin, 2010)
McCaffrey-Howarth, Caroline. Revolutionary Histories in Small Things: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette on Printed Ceramics, c. 1793¿1796, Small Things in the Eighteenth Century: The Political and Personal Value of the Miniature, pp.257-274
Sinanan, Kerry. Slavery in Glass, Tropes of 'Race', In Sparkling Company, 2020, (ed. Christopher Maxwell), Corning Museum of Glass, pp.69-89.
Yonan, Michael. 'Toward a Fusion of Art History and Material Culture Studies', West 86th, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall-Winter 2011), The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Bard Graduate Center, pp. 232-248.
Wigston Smith, Chloe and Fowkes Tobin, Beth. Introduction, Small Things in the Eighteenth Century: The Political and Personal Value of the Miniature, Cambridge University Press, 2022, pp.1-21. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Enquiry:
Working with a range of textual, visual and material sources related to the key themes strengthens and broadens research and enquiry skills.
Analytical and critical thinking skills develop through verbal and written discussions of artworks and texts, and ability to write both for and beyond an academic audience.
Outlook and engagement
Students will draw on their learning to engage with broader projects and critiques of museums and their histories. They will seek to become effective and influential contributors to the wider research community.
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy:
Independent seminar preparation and independent researching encourage intellectual autonomy.
Group work and in-class discussions develop confidence in asserting original ideas to key texts and approaches, and open-mindedness to alternative interpretations.
Aspiration and Personal Development:
Seminars and summative assessments create independent opportunities to self-reflect, develop and improve and gain useful skills for professional and personal development. |
| Keywords | European art,material culture,collecting,postcolonialism,transatlantic trade |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth
Tel:
Email: cmccaffr@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Nathan Ross-Hammond
Tel: (0131 6)51 5880
Email: nrossha@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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