Universität Wien

070132 PS BA-Proseminar - History of Things (2023W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 05.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 14.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 2 Porzellangasse 4, EG04
  • Thursday 14.12. 11:30 - 18:15 Seminarraum 3 Porzellangasse 4, EG05
  • Friday 15.12. 11:30 - 18:15 Seminarraum 7 Hauptgebäude, Tiefparterre Stiege 9 Hof 5
  • Thursday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß
  • Thursday 25.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum WISO 1 (ZG1O2.28) Hauptgebäude, Stiege 6 Zwischengeschoß

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

History has been mostly written with humans, their choices and their institutions at the center of its focus. This course asks the students to make things the protagonist of the historical narrative.
Based on the work of archeologists such Ian Hodder and sociologists such as Arjun Appadurai, this course provides students with the tools to analyze relationships between human and things and also between things and other things. It also aims at making students familiar with things as a peculiar source next to traditional written sources.
It is divided into two parts: an introduction conducted by the course convener that will present the major concepts of the course with a few example, and a second part when the students themselves will select objects and present about their history. The presentations will be the starting point for the pro-seminar work that will be ended in at the end of the course.
The introduction will discuss:
1. The importance of a history of things;
2. The historiography on the biography of objects;
3. Different possibilities to define things: as prime objects, copies, diagrams, etc;
4. Relationships between humans and things and between things and things, with a particular attention dedicated to the concept of operational chain as a major model for conceptualizing the relationships of things with other things;
5. How things have acquired new functions when travelling from one society to the other;
6. The notion of entanglement and the broad systematic networks formed by things and people.
7. How the history of things can be useful in economic history.
8. Things as a source for culture.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment will be based on the presentation and final PS-work

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

1. Attendance (max. 2 absences)
2. Class participation
3. Students will present a report in class (in English) and discuss it with the teacher and the other students.
4. The report will form the basis for the PS-work of approximately 20 pages (in English or German)
Grading scale:
1 (very good) 100-90%;
2 (good) 89-80%;
3 (satisfactory) 79-70%;
4 (sufficient) 69-60%;
5 (not sufficient) 59-0%.

Examination topics

Students will be asked to write an essay (in English or German) about the history of a thing of their choice (the same as that they presented about).

Reading list

Ian Hodder, Entangled: an Archeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things, Oxford: Wiley –Blackwell, 2012.
Other readings will be recommended during the course.

Association in the course directory

BA Geschichte (V2019): PM6 (5 ECTS)
BEd UF Geschichte: UF GP 04 (5 ECTS) - im Falle von Wahlregel alt (=1. Leistungserbringung in den Modulen GP03/04 vor 30.9.22): Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte

Last modified: Mo 04.12.2023 14:05