Admission requirements
Bachelor's degree in Archaeology or relevant discipline.
Description
Globalisation can be defined as “processes by which localities and people become increasingly interconnected and interdependent”. These processes do not result in homogenisation but in a world of disjunctive flows with problems and opportunities that manifest themselves in local forms, with contexts that are anything but local. Globalisation is nothing novel nor a phenomenon exclusively tied up with (European) expansion or modernity, when the world would also become literally global: Globalisation has its history.
'Globalising World History' is important because it invites us to study human societies as interconnected and influencing each other from their very beginnings. Historicising globalisation will therefore help better understand how and when our planet became systematically connected and how connectivity works as a (historical) process.
In this course, we will continue on from the two earlier courses offered on deep history, starting with Antiquity and the Middle Ages and move towards the period we call Modernity. The case material for this course is found in Afro-Eurasia on the one hand, from the Atlantic to the Yangtze, and parts of the American hemisphere, including discussion of the Mississippian world around the site of Cahokia (AD 800–1300); the deep changes that come to define Post-Classic Mesoamerica (AD 900–1521), and the iconic “Columbian Exchange” following the Spanish colonisation of the Americas, on the other hand.
In doing so, we will discuss historically recognised agentic leaders but also focus specifically on the idea of objects as history-makers. Objects generate practices and the distribution of objects through globalisation processes generates networks of practices. We will thus combine globalisation with a focus on objects and the possibilities for human action they provide, and investigate what world history looks like from that perspective.
Many of today’s problems are about globalisation in the sense that they are about making sense of the impact of the ever-widening networks we have become part of. This course will make the point that such processes are not unique to the modern world, arguing for a much deeper history that is revealed through archaeology in particular. This recognition will enable you to recognise globalising forces and become more capable of dealing with current societal problems and challenges: studying historical trajectories of globalisation will improve your understanding of the complexities of our 21st century world.
Course set-up
The course will consist of 7 meetings. These meetings are part lecture and part debate about compulsory literature. This literature must be studied in advance; the debate in class will be prepared by means of assignments on this literature.
Course objectives
Knowledge of and insight into the concept of globalisation;
Knowledge of and insight into the debate on historicising globalisation;
Understanding of the problems related to the notions of globalisation and historicising globalisation;
Understanding of the relation between the history of globalisation and the complexities of our 21st-century world;
Ability to summarise and reflect on specialist literature with regard to historical examples of globalisation;
Ability to report in written format;
Ability to conceive of and write a small essay on the subject.
Timetable
Course schedule details can be found in the MA and MSc time schedule.
Mode of instruction
7 interactive lectures and tutorial. Readings must be studied in advance; discussion in class will be prepared by means of assignments based on the weekly readings.
Course load
7 x 2 hours of lectures (1 ec);
280 pages of literature (2 ec);
Short written assignments (1 ec);
Final essay of 2,000 words (+/- 10%) (1 ec).
Assessment method
Short (weekly) written assignments (30%);
Final essay (70%);
Participation in discussion (0.5 bonus, used to round up final grade).
Prior to class students read the assigned literature and submit discussion points/make the assignment. These must be submitted 2 days before class. In order to pass the course, all written assignments should be handed in on time.
Compensation is possible according to the OER (Onderwijs- en Examenreglement / Course and Examination Regulations).
There is no retake for the written assignments, only for the final essay (with new topic) if the first attempt has been taken seriously.
If you fail the retake for the final essay, any passes for the short written assignments will no longer count (i.e., grades cannot be used the next year).
All exam dates (exams, retakes, paper deadlines etc.) can be found in the MA and MSc examination schedule.
Late submission will result in a lowering of the grade (0,5 point per day).
Reading list
McCorriston, J. & J. Field (2020), Anthropocene. A New Introduction to World Prehistory. Thames & Hudson, London.
Registration
Registration via uSis is mandatory.
The Administration Office will register all BA1 students for their tutorials (not lectures; register via uSis!).
BA2, BA3, MA/MSc and RMA/RMSc students are required to register for all lectures and tutorials well in time.
The Administration Office registers all students for their exams, students are not required to do this in uSis.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Study Abroad/Exchange website for information on how to apply.
All information (costs, registration, entry requirements, etc.) for those who are interested in taking this course as a Contractstudent is on the Contractonderwijs Archeologie webpage (in Dutch).
Contact
For more information about this course, please contact dr. A. (Alex) Geurds or prof. dr. M.J. (Miguel John) Versluys.
Remarks
Compulsory attendance.