Research Seminar Renaissance Studies II: Ink and Empire. Books, Knowledge, and Power (1300-1800)

Course goals

At the end of this course, you can:

• explain the role of the printed book between 1300 and 1800 in shaping knowledge, power and ideology in global and imperial contexts;
• apply theoretical approaches from book history and (post)colonial studies to develop and critically assess the political and cultural impact of print;
• describe and analyse early printed books as material objects and can relate this to the historical context they were produced in, circulated, and were received.

Content

How have books shaped the world? This seminar explores the history of the printed book as a material, cultural, and political instrument in the production and circulation of knowledge and power between roughly 1300 and 1800. It approaches book history from a global perspective, with a special focus on imperial and proto-imperial contexts in Asia and the Americas. Through discussion-based seminars and hands-on sessions with early modern books, we will consider books as carriers of ideology, tools of politics and religion, and as agents within networks of trade, learning, and cultural exchange. Our point of departure is that the printed book played a key role in shaping (unequal) power relations long before the height of nineteenth-century empire.

Core themes include the introduction and adaptation of print technologies in and beyond Europe, cartography and travel literature, the dynamics of multilingual print cultures, and the tension between local practices and imperial ambitions. You will work directly with early printed books, learning how to handle, describe, and analyze them as historical and material objects. By considering theoretical perspectives on print and empire, we will explore how books impacted different parts of the early modern globe.

Additional information

For students in the first year of the Renaissance track of the RMA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, this course is mandatory. Students from other AMRS tracks can choose this course in their second year. 

The entrance requirements for Exchange Students will be checked by the International Office and the Programme coordinator. Acceptance is not self-evident.

This course is a compulsory choice within the Research MA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies and is an elective for students in the following Research master programmes: Comparative Literary Studies; Art History; Nederlandse Literatuur en Cultuur; Musicology; Gender Studies; Media, Art And Performance Studies; Religious Studies; Philosophy; Modern and Contemporary History; Linguistics and the History and Philosophy of Science.