MO4968
Curiosity, Empire and Science in Eighteenth-Century Europe
2017-2018
60
30
SCQF level 10
Full Year
Academic year(s): 2017-2018
SCOTCAT credits : 60
ECTS credits : 30
Level : SCQF level 10
Semester: Full Year
Availability restrictions: Available only to students in the second year of the Honours programme.
Planned timetable:
The world was shrinking in the eighteenth century. Overseas travel increased exponentially and societies and cultures were transformed on a global scale. This course examines how overseas exploration affected science and society in eighteenth-century Europe, focusing primarily on France and its empire. The history of collecting is central: travel and trade meant that an unprecedented quantity of outlandish objects and new information circulated the globe. This course uses textual, visual and material sources to examine the histories of French exploration and empire-building, popular curiosity and collecting, and the making of the modern museum. We will link these themes to broader narratives concerning the significant cultural, social and scientific changes that took place more generally in Enlightenment Europe: education and religion; economic and industrial development, empire and the making of modern science, to name just a few.
Weekly contact: 1 x 3-hour seminar, plus 1 office hour.
Scheduled learning hours: 66
Guided independent study hours: 534
As used by St Andrews: 2 x 3-hour Written Examinations = 60%, Coursework = 40%
As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 60%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 40%
Re-assessment: New Coursework: 1 x source exercise (2,000 - 2,500 words) and 1 x 4,000- to 5,000-word essay = 100%