The Silk Road: cultural interactions and perceptions (L4)
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| CLAR4042 | Classics and Archaeology | 4 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- CLAR4042
- School
- Classics and Archaeology
- Level
- 4
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This discipline-bridging module will involve colleagues from across the three University of Nottingham campuses, in the UK, China and Malaysia. The Silk Road will be presented as a range of archaeological, historical, geographical, political and scientific themes connecting cultures across Europe and Asia from the ancient world to the modern era. Broad cultural themes will be balanced with the presentation of specific case studies, such as the Roman, Byzantine and (medieval) Islamic Silk Roads and their links with e.g. the Tang and Ming dynasties along the networks which made up the terrestrial and maritime silk and spice routes. The module will consider trade and exchange of a wide range of materials across central and eastern Asia, as well as the movement of people, ideas and belief systems. Scientific analysis of materials will also be considered to understand the development of new technologies and products along the Silk Roads. Nineteenth-century and more recent perceptions of the Silk Road will be considered in understanding the changing relationship between East and West. This cross-disciplinary approach will focus on a range of geographical areas including Europe, central Asia, the Middle East and China, across a broad sweep of history. Movement of peoples, cultures and things will therefore be considered from a wide range of viewpoints producing mutually enriching studies set in global contexts.
Target Students
This module is available to students on the Dual UoN-UCU MA in Interpretation of Heritage: Culture, History, and LiteratureThis module is co-taught with level 3 modules across all three UoN campuses (CLAR3085 UNUK AUT2) (INTS2037 UNNC AUC1) (PHIR3035 UNMC AUM1)
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Lectures are live-streamed to students to enable cross-campus participation.
Assessment
- 100% Coursework 1: 4,000 word essay
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
The Silk Road is an excellent example of a series of linked communities across a wide geographical space. The connections between them changed at different times. This discipline-bridging module aims to develop an appreciation of how the different disciplines that focus on the Silk Road overlap and inter-relate with each other. Thus scientific and non-scientific disciplines will be combined. An example is the combination of the contributions from history, archaeology, geography and archaeological science. The second aim is to illuminate and inform the ways in which the movement of peoples and things along the Silk Road occurred over time and helped to define it. Interpretation of the evidence is frequently not particularly straightforward. A third aim is to make students ask questions about the evidence that they are presented with from a range of different disciplines and to critically assess it. A fourth aim is by the end of the module students will have developed a knowledge of discipline-bridging methodologies gained from a number of case studies that students rarely encounter in other modules across a very broad swathe of time up to the present day Belt and Road Initiative.Learning Outcomes
A student who completes this module successfully should be able to answer questions related to a series of ways of approaching the Silk Road. The student will develop an understanding of historical, archaeological, scientific, geographical and contemporary perceptions of the Silk Road. The module will challenge intellectual understanding of individual site studies as against connected communities and the ways in which different types of data can be used to support the interpretations. The student will develop a clear understanding for why discipline-bridging is used and the types of results that can be expected. The student will also appreciate why specific techniques are used to investigate the evidence.
Students should be able to think in a cross-disciplinary way, bringing together contrasting data sources to interpret the origins and movement of people and things. They will also become aware of how such a Route was and is perceived, underlining cultural differences and similarities. They will be able to answer research questions in the investigation of similarly connected communities in other geographical areas and during different time periods.
Students will develop further the bibliographic and writing skills at an advanced level.
Students will learn to discuss and debate interpretations and defend their ideas orally in a large group situation. They will develop problem solving abilities and their critical assessment of the various approaches to answering the same question. They will also learn about a range of techniques involved in discipline-bridging in the study of the Silk Road.