Prospectus

nl en

Honours Theory Seminar: Materials we live by

Course
2024-2025

Admission requirements

Participation in the Honours College Track Archaeology.

Description

Archaeologists are adept at recognising the importance of materials in the past. Entire epochs are named after them: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age.
But something changes, supposedly when ‘history’ begins. There is no Concrete Age that follows the Iron Age, despite that the Roman Empire could not have been built without concrete. And it’s worse for modern history: as Vaclav Smil put so well, “Even a diligent reader of economic news may go for days without seeing any reference to materials that form the physical foundation of modern civilisation.”
To an archaeologist, this is awkward. We may have stopped using materials to define epochs and their respective civilizations, but civilizations did not stop using materials. If anything, our materials use has increased dramatically, both in variety and quantities.
Nowadays, we are in a profoundly paradoxical relationship with materials. Never before have we been so deeply entangled with materials and yet so disengaged from them, at the same time. This is worrisome. Our current extreme entanglement with materials is something we must take into account when dealing with climate change. Realizing how caught up we are with materials helps us to better understand who we are and what we have in common with all other humans, and other living beings on planet earth.

The above text is part of a book proposal I send to my literary agent, back in 2022. It landed me a book deal with Penguin Press to write a popular science book and some of the preliminary drafts for this book will form the backbone of this course (making you the very first readers!).

During this honours class we’ll dive into material histories, exploring how they’ve shaped humanity through the ages, and how they are causing terrible environmental damage at the same time. The lectures during this honours course cover three main themes that will slowly come together: archaeology, material science, and sustainability.

Course objectives

  • Knowledge of and insight into history of some fundamental materials;

  • Insights into how materials make history

  • Understanding of archaeology as a discipline of things;

  • Knowledge of theoretical frameworks that are part of the so-called Material turn;

  • Ability to work together/in a group on research project;

  • Ability to do a small research project and report on it, either in an academic fashion or for journalistic purposes;

  • Ability to present findings in a way that is engaging;

  • Linking knowledge gained form archaeology to today’s social challenges.

Timetable

Course schedule details can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button.

Mode of instruction

Through lectures, and these readings, you’ll become familiar with the ‘material turn’ in the humanities. Of course, you’ll also do some research yourself. After you’ve grown familiar with the theoretical perspective and a particular material it’s time to dive into a research project of your own. Some of the topics that I aim to explore together with you are below, although you are free to suggest an alternative:

  • How does the Roman attitude towards concrete develop from the first century BCE, when it was foremost used in seaside villas and fishponds, to the end of the first century CE, when huge building projects like the Pantheon, Colloseum, and several artificial harbours were built with concrete?

  • How has our perception of plastic developed over the course of the 20th century? We’ll trace this through the metaphoric use of plastic in popular culture (songs and literature, for instance).

  • Why is it that bricks are used all over the world? What makes them so popular? And what’s the environmental impact of all this brick-production?

  • Where did all the white oaks go? A popular wood to build with, both Europe and the Americas have been largely stripped of white oaks in the 15th and 16th century. What happened?

  • How would Rembrandt’s self-portrait have looked without mirrors? Let’s explore how glass made us reflect on ourselves.

  • How did glass helped us to understand the Greenhouse effect? A biography of two 19th century climate-scientist, before there was climate science, and the (wrong!) metaphor of the earth as a greenhouse.

Assessment method

Final grade for the class is a weighted average, combined with discussion and participation in class (used to round off grade)

  • Research project (25%)

  • Presentation (25%)

  • Co-authored report on research (50%)

  • Discussion and participation in class (rounds off grade);

Reading list

t.b.c.

Registration

See 'Contact'.

General information about registration can be found on the Honours College: Archaeology & Society page

Contact

For more information about this course and registration, please contact Dr. M.H.G. (Maikel) Kuijpers

Remarks

As an introduction to this course you can read the following essays on The Correspondent:

Constructing a cleaner world