Admission requirements
Degree students (including Dutch BA graduates): BA degree (or equivalent) in Archaeology or a relevant discipline.
Description
Many social researchers argue for varying degrees of 'social complexity' among human societies. This then begs the question, what is social complexity and a complex society? How do scalar, social, economic, and political processes, connections, and divisions fit into social complexity?
This course is aimed at presenting and debating different aspects and perspectives of social complexity by comparing multiple approaches. We will take a historical and multi-disciplinary approach to examine the changing ways that social complexity is discussed and debated in the archaeological literature. We will compare these theoretical discussions with examples of how social complexity has been argued to manifest in the archaeological record and how it has been analysed.
Examples will be drawn from societies throughout the Americas; from the modern day to the Palaeo-indian period approximately 15,000 years or more in the past. Anyone interested in political archaeology, the rise of hierarchical social and political practices, and the origins, and maintenance, of the state, will be interested in this course.
Every class will contain a lecture and the discussion on the weekly assigned literature. The second part of the block will also contain short, scheduled presentations where students present findings from their final essay. For the essay, each student will explore one of the course topics, using the knowledge and skills acquired during the course, and drawing on the course’s assigned readings, although external citations will also be expected.
RMA students will lead the discussions and will be asked to situate the content of their essay into a broader sociocultural, methodological and theoretical context of study.
Course objectives
Ability to interconnect archaeological, anthropological, and sociological ideas on social complexity and its associated rise (or lack thereof) from, primarily, case studies from the Americas;
Improvement of ability to critically assess current research and theoretical literature on social complexity, especially for the Americas;
Ability to identify and understand the history of research into social complexity and identify biases that underlie many of these early (and contemporary) conclusions;
Improvement of critical reading of academic texts and distill main points for further discussions;
Improvement of ability to select a research topic, consult relevant literature, and create, present, and discuss research in front of peers;
Improvement of academic writing skills while working on one's final research paper. Students will be expected to connect relevant literature with information and literature provided during the course;
Skills to write a research paper drawing from diverse bibliographic sources. Students will link these sources to a contemporary theoretical and methodological approach that will focus on inter-regional comparisons;
Improvement of ability to lead class discussions after the presentation by stimulating an active exchange and discussion of ideas;
Contribute to discussions with critical and constructive ideas.
Timetable
Course schedule details can be found in the RMA and RMSc time schedule.
Mode of instruction
Seminar lectures, active discussions on the critical analysis of the literature, and presentations made by students.
Course load
The course load will be distributed as follows:
7x2 hours of lectures (1 ec);
Assignments based on 140 pages of literature study (1 ec);
Essay of 2,500 words (2 ec);
Discussion (1 ec).
Assessment method
Discussion: leader and contribution (25%);
Weekly assignments (25%);
Final essay (max. 2,500 words) (50%).
Every week, there will be deadlines for submitting discussion points on BlackBoard and for the presentations (the schedule of the presentations is to be arranged in due time).
Compensation is possible.
All assessment deadlines (exams, retakes, paper deadlines etc.) can be found in the RMA and RMSc examination schedule.
Reading list
The reading list includes various sources, monographs and articles, which will be closely related to the subsequent topics of the course and assigned in advance for every class. The students will have to identify by themselves (library/internet search) the literature necessary for the preparation of the presentations and for the final essay.
All information referred to the assignments and literature will be posted on BlackBoard in due time and thus the use of the BlackBoard is compulsory.
Registration
Registration for the course or the exam is not required.
Contact
For more information about this course, please contact dr. L.S. Borck.
Remarks
Compulsory attendance.