Art history

Material Culture in the Pre-Modern World

Module code: V4092
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

On this module, you’ll examine key developments in the art and visual and material culture of Europe and Asia before 1500. You’ll focus on material culture and objects, and the roles these play in society, culture, politics and power.

Objects are a powerful lens for examining unwritten histories. You’ll examine how objects were made, transported, used and destroyed. This will help you understand transnational histories, both on a macro and micro scale.

You’ll explore labour histories and trade by analysing how things are made through the study of raw materials and technologies. You’ll also explore the uses of material culture for power and self-advertisement, as well the role it plays in the materialisation of identity and in self-expression. How these objects were preserved, or destroyed, is also key to understanding the power they held.

You’ll develop skills in using a wide-range of materials and in understanding historical processes that have shaped contemporary Eurasia. The key works are addressed in a variety of social and cultural contexts, ranging from small villages to major world capitals, and through a range of theoretical lenses.

Topics include:

  • making and manufacture
  • trade and empire
  • art and power
  • gender and class
  • materiality.

Employability and career readiness are developed through:

  • presentations
  • writing and research skills
  • collaborative seminar discussions
  • continued engagement with material relevant to visual literacy
  • thinking about objects and decoding skills.

 

Module learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate knowledge of art and visual and material culture in Europe and Asia before 1500
  • Be able to situate these developments in a variety of social, cultural and theoretical contexts
  • Be able to carry out research, including location and use of primary and secondary sources
  • Be able to engage critically with existing scholarship and key thinkers
  • Be able to engage collegiately with student peers in seminar discussions
  • Be able to present persuasive arguments and analysis relevant to course material in writing, seminar discussion, and presentations