Admission to the MA Middle Eastern Studies (research) or MA Asian Studies (research). Students of other MA programmes are kindly referred to the regular MA course.
The most unexpected innovations and fusions of world’s religions and material culture have taken place along the trade and communication networks known today as the Silk Roads. Term coined by the German geologist Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, the Silk Road has attracted much scholarly interest in recent years. The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the incredible cultural importance of Central Asia, defined as the five post-Soviet republics, including the region of Khorasan, present-day Afghanistan and Mongolia. The artistic vibrancy of the empires that stretched from China to Byzantium was reflected in their cultural production. Their artistic excellence combined with exquisite decorum was the product of continuous exchanges, mixing and melding of traditions.
Further, the course will offer a broader understanding of the concept of common heritage and multiple identities across Central Asia. Students will analyse cultural memory practices used by the contemporary Central Asian elites as a tool for boosting ethno-nationalism. Aside from the rehabilitation of powerful historical figures as national heroes, the value of cultural memory practices lies in the transmission of beliefs, values and collective acts of cultural remembering. How can these practices and local historical contingencies provide a better understanding of the search for national identities in modern Central Asia?
Students will be introduced to twelve topics related to the material culture along the Silk Roads. Artefacts across the vast Central Asian urban landscapes and steppes will be analysed as material carriers of cultural memory. Starting from the Achaemenid Dynasty (6th c. AD), through the early formative era of Islam up to modern times, the analysis will show the construction of a multi-faceted cultural oecumene. To what extent has Islamic practice been a cohesive or a divisive factor in shaping the relationships between sedentary and nomadic societies along the Silk Roads? Why has the revival of Islamic communities (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) become the centre of governmental cultural policies across modern Central Asia?
Upon successful completion of the course you will:
grasp the diversity of the Silk Roads cultural networks, their organization across natural and human-imposed boundaries, and their evolution under the influence of political, religious, economic and social changes;
gain insight into ideological practices creating national identities and transforming the cultural spaces along the Silk Roads in modern Central Asia;
be able to provide empirical analysis of tangible and intangible heritage along the Silk Roads;
evaluate the international discourses on transforming cultural spaces through modernization, tourism and globalization.
Classes every Monday from 15.00-17.00 hrs
First class: 12 September 2016
The timetable is available on the Asian Studies (research) & Middle Eastern Studies (research) website.
Please NOTE that there are EXTRA obligatory meetings for this course, related to guest lectures organized by LUCIS and Asian Modernities and Traditions. Exact overview (dates, venues, times) will be provided in the syllabus.
Mode of instruction
10ECTS = 280 hours
Regular seminars = 24 hours
(2 hours/week x 12 weeks)
Guest lectures = 16 hours
(8 guest lectures x2 hours each)
Compulsory reading assignments = 100 hours
6 tutorial sessions (1 hour each) = 6 hrs
Individual research case study = 40 hours
AQCI Writing assignment (1000 words) = 24 hours
Field trips = 10 hours
(2 trips x 4 hours each)
Term paper (case study, 3000 words) = 60 hours
Active participation in the class meetings and discussions: 20 %
Critical analysis of literature and source information, including an AQCI written assignment: Argument, Question, Connections and Implications (1000 words): 20 %
Oral presentation of a case study: 20 %
Term paper (case study, 3000 words): 40 %
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Term paper submission
Students can submit the term paper (case study) as a draft on Sunday, 8 January 2017. The instructor will provide comments by 15 January 2017.
The final submission should be on 23 January 2017. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Yes, Blackboard will be used for:
Uploading all course materials (syllabus, readings and assignments)
Uploading teaching materials (power point presentations)
Students will submit all assignments through Blackboard
Christopher Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: a history of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.
Sally Cummings, Understanding Central Asia. London: Routledge, 2012.
Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road. A new History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Additional literature will be provided via Blackboard and a reserve plank in the University Library.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
The course is offered as part of the Central Asia Initiative at Leiden University.