Undergraduate Course: A History of Asia in the Early Modern World Through Objects (HIST10442)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
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 | The course is a global history course that takes Asia as its focus while emphasizing its connections with other parts of the world. The roughly three-hundred-and-fifty-year period that is covered is significant because in this time we see the dominance of Asian countries in global trade as well as their eventual demise beginning in the 19th century. |
| Course description |
The course is organized both chronologically and thematically. We will begin with a look at how Asian societies were interacting with each other prior to the arrival of Europeans. We will then move to discuss European desires to reach Asia and Vasco da Gama¿s discovery of a maritime route to Asia. From there we will spend several weeks looking at specific encounters between Asian societies and people from other parts of the world. The subsequent classes will focus on the movement of goods and people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the European expansion into and dominance of Asian trade. We will conclude with a discussion of two key events that foreshadowed the fall and decline of the Mughal and Qing empires.
The course will also introduce students to the use of material and visual sources for historical inquiry (In addition to studying primary textual sources, such as letters, treaties, merchant logs). We will visit the National Museum of Scotland together and take a closer look at some of the objects in their collection that pertain to our course. In pairs students will choose an object from the museum (or elsewhere) that deals with one of the themes from the course and present it to the class. At the end of the semester we will combine all the presentations to create an exhibit which displays the history of Asian connections in the world in the early modern period.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 504030). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the CAHSS Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, a command of the history of Asia's connections with other parts of the world in the early modern period;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Janet Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World-System, 1250-1350
C.A. Bayly, 'Archaic' and 'Modern' Globalization in the Eurasian and African Arena, c. 1750-1850
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Connected Histories: Notes towards a Reconfiguration of Early Modern Eurasia
Richard Grassby, Material Culture and Cultural History
Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello, eds. Writing Material Culture History
Timothy Brook, Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World
David Kang, East Asia before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute
Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China
Annemarie Schimmel, The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture
Marcia Yonemoto, Mapping Early Modern Japan: Space, Place, and Culture in the Tokugawa Period, 1603 - 1868.
Tara Alberts and D.R. M. Irving, eds. Intercultural Exchange in Southeast Asia: History and Society in the Early Modern World.
Ryan Crewe, Connecting the Indies: The Hispano-Asian Pacific World in Early Modern Global History |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Meha Priyadarshini
Tel:
Email: Meha.Priyadarshini@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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