Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Middle Eastern Studies (research), the MA Asian Studies (research) or the MA History (research). Please, contact Dr. G.R. van den Berg or Dr. M.F. Favereau, if you are interested in taking this course, but NOT a student of one of the above-mentioned Research Masters.
Description
In the thirteenth century, the Mongols created a vast empire that covered large parts of Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Their swift conquests shook the Old World to its very foundations and changed its outlook entirely. In many contemporary sources the Mongols are depicted as ruthless barbarians. At the same time, however, the Mongols heralded a new era of globalization by creating unprecedented opportunities for cultural transmission and exchange. Hence by stimulating the circulation of people, commodities, knowledge and ideas, they made a significant contribution to almost all the medieval civilizations surrounding the arid zones of Central Eurasia.
In this course, we will look at the immediate and long-term impact of the Mongols and their descendants (e.g. the Timurids and Mughals) on the course of Eurasian history. How we should evaluate their political and cultural legacy in the light of both contemporary sources and the more recent historiography? How the various settled societies of Eurasia resisted and/or accommodated this sudden outburst of both relentless violence and refreshing creativity? Finally, how the Mongols themselves fashioned their legacy and to what extent they were able to construct their own image and memory in e.g. art, literature and history-writing? All these questions will be discussed with experts from various disciplinary and area backgrounds and as such the course aims to provide a truly comparative and connective Eurasian perspective.
Course objectives
This course aims to provide a comparative and connective Eurasian perspective of the history of Asia, the Middle East and Europe, taking the Mongol Empire as a premodern example of globalization.
Timetable
See timetables
Mode of instruction
Research seminar.
Assessment method
AQCI & participation (20%)
Paper (8000 words) (60%)
Presentations (20%)
Blackboard
Yes.
Reading list
Thomas Allsen, Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001.
Christopher Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road – A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2009.
Morris Rossabi, The Mongols. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012.
Further readings will be announced via Blackboard.
Registration
Through uSis.
Contact information
With the tutors Dr. M.F.Favereau or Dr. G.R. van den Berg