Technology from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Course Description
This course will survey the history of technology from antiquity to the Middle Ages with a particular focus on the ways in which common people experienced technologies in their daily lives. During the course, we will explore how technology enabled important social changes in Europe, Asia, and North America, while at the same time turning our attention to how social needs shaped the nature and direction of technological change. The first portion of the course will focus on prehistoric and ancient technologies, especially those related to daily life and work. As we approach the Middle Ages, we will pay particular attention to the history, impact, and nature of such technologies that enabled work, transportation, communication, warfare, and architecture. The main thrust of the course (and the class discussions) will not be on how things work but the wider context of technology—questions such as: How has technology evolved? Why has it changed? With what consequences? What meanings do we ascribe to technology? Instead of focusing on technology as a disembodied force in society, we will try to situate the development of technologies within questions about the history of the pre-modern world (e.g., Was there an “industrial revolution” in the Middle Ages? What was the relationship between religion and science and technology? How did knowledge circulate? What was the relationship between gender and technology?, etc.). In sum, our goal will be to understand the critical relationship between society and technology from prehistory to the Middle Ages
Course Description
This course will survey the history of technology from antiquity to the Middle Ages with a particular focus on the ways in which common people experienced technologies in their daily lives. During the course, we will explore how technology enabled important social changes in Europe, Asia, and North America, while at the same time turning our attention to how social needs shaped the nature and direction of technological change. The first portion of the course will focus on prehistoric and ancient technologies, especially those related to daily life and work. As we approach the Middle Ages, we will pay particular attention to the history, impact, and nature of such technologies that enabled work, transportation, communication, warfare, and architecture. The main thrust of the course (and the class discussions) will not be on how things work but the wider context of technology—questions such as: How has technology evolved? Why has it changed? With what consequences? What meanings do we ascribe to technology? Instead of focusing on technology as a disembodied force in society, we will try to situate the development of technologies within questions about the history of the pre-modern world (e.g., Was there an “industrial revolution” in the Middle Ages? What was the relationship between religion and science and technology? How did knowledge circulate? What was the relationship between gender and technology?, etc.). In sum, our goal will be to understand the critical relationship between society and technology from prehistory to the Middle Ages