Aims
and Outcomes
The
primary aim of this module is to evaluate the origins,
development and
consequences of diversity,
with specific historical reference to the communities that interacted
along the Silk Roads, and with particular attention to the use of
material culture as historical evidence. I hope that by the summer you
will routinely be applying a sophisticated understanding of diversity
issues to all situations, historical or otherwise, and that you will be
confident in deploying material culture in historical arguments.
The Silk Roads were the main artery
of global communication
and exchange for at least a millennium: wealthy Romans wore Chinese
silk and
Chinese Buddhists used glass vessels made on the eastern edges of the
Roman
Empire. To reach these destinations required journeys through
environments both
welcoming and hostile, and encounters with a bewildering variety of
peoples and
languages, cultures and religions, friends and foes. The empires at the
terminal points of these routes rarely communicated directly with each
other.
The Silk Roads consisted of many stages, each starting and finishing at
an
urban settlement wherein took place intensive interaction of all kinds,
whether
religious or commercial, military or personal. Such exchanges could
result in
the transmission – slowly and with many interruptions and modifications
– of not just trade consignments, but also, for example, ideas and
practices, religions and artistic motifs, from one end of Eurasia to
the other.
Most things (and people), however, travelled only part of the way, and these shorter
journeys were the everyday reality of those who lived and travelled
along the
Silk Roads.
The module will draw on textual,
archaeological and art
historical evidence to examine cultural diversity and change in
selected
societies that participated in interactions along the Central Asian
trade routes.
We will consider and evaluate not two but three broad approaches to
interpreting the Silk Roads: as essentially about interactions between
citied
societies and pastoral nomads; as the interactions between different
cultures;
and as varied manifestations of an overarching "Silk Road culture" in
which
shared understandings underpinned ostensibly cross-cultural interaction.
We
will consider the Silk Roads under
the four main headings
of social organisation, trade goods, religions and methods of coexistence, focusing
chiefly
on the period of most intensive and notable interactions from about 400
to 900,
with student presentations
on case studies tracing change in specific
cases.
Alongside study of concepts particular to this topic, such as the
transmission
of Buddhism and the role of certain trade goods, you will also be
introduced to
some of the methods and frameworks for analysis used in this field,
such as
interpreting evidence from material culture and an approach that looks
outwards
from Inner Asia. No prior knowledge is assumed.
More formally...
the Module Outline Form
says that
by the end of
this module you should have:
- Knowledge of how
to use written
and archaeological
materials to study a historical situation of immense diversity,
together with
understanding of concepts needed for its effective study.
- Knowledge of how
to use an
appropriate range of
evidence, concepts and approaches to analyse issues of cultural
interaction and
develop your own critical interpretations.
- Had opportunities
to
investigate in some
depth selected problems, including the appraisal of selected source
material
and the critical examination of current historiography.
You should also be able to:
- critique specified historical approaches;
- evaluate
the
relative significance of cultural and other types of interaction in the
structuring and development of selected societies, ideas and practices;
- construct and sustain your own critical arguments backed
with evidence and following appropriate technical conventions;
and should have developed:
- associated skills in research, critical reading and
reasoning, sustained discussion and appropriate presentation of the
results
- an appropriately sceptical approach to all sources of
information
- an ability to work with peers.