The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| PHIR3035 | 3 | 20 | Autumn Malaysia |
- Code
- PHIR3035
- School
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn Malaysia
Summary
This discipline-bridging cross-campus module will involve colleagues from across the School of humanities. The Silk Road will be presented as a range of archaeological, historical and scientific themes. Broad cultural themes will be balanced with the presentation of specific case studies, such as the definitions of the silk roads, Byzantine, Islamic and later medieval Silk Roads, luxury production, trade and exchange from the Roman and later periods and Ming Dynasty links with the west, . Furthermore scientific techniques and their role in the interpretation of trade and exchange along the Silk Roads will be considered between for example China, central Asia, Scandinavia and the Middle East will be included
Target Students
PHIR and FASS students
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 12 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 12 weeks
Assessment
- 100% Coursework 1: 3500 words of 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 will 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. Such a combination will illuminate and inform the ways in which the movement of peoples and things along the Silk Road over time occurred and helped to define it. Interpretation of the evidence is frequently not particularly straightforward. This module is designed to make students ask questions about the evidence that they are presented with. By the end of the module knowledge of discipline-bridging methodologies will be gained on a temporal and geographical scale that students rarely encounter in other modules.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
A student who completes this programme 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 his/her 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.
Intellectual
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.
Practical and professional
Students will develop further the bibliographic and writing skills gained in the first year of their degrees
Transferable (Key) skills
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.
Knowledge and understanding
A student who completes this programme 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 his/her 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.
Intellectual
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.
Practical and professional
Students will develop further the bibliographic and writing skills gained in the first year of their degrees
Transferable (Key) skills
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.
Conveners
- Dr Benjamin Robin Barton