13993

Knowledge and Its Resources: Concepts, Methods, Historiographies

Cale Johnson, Dagmar Schäfer, Etienne Benson

Information for students

If it is not possible to enrol for this course via Campus Management, please enrol via the form "Modul-, Lehrveranstaltungs- und Prüfungsanmeldung" when you decided to take the course. Please submit this document to the Studienbüro within the same time frame you would have to enrol in your courses in Campus Management, namely within the first two or three weeks of the course. The workload of the course equals 330 hours: attendance 30 hours, preparation and wrap-up 180 hours, Hausarbeit (5000 words) 120 hours. For questions regarding credits you will have to approach your BA- or MA advisor of your study program." close

Additional information / Pre-requisites

The course is part of the International Max-Planck-Research School (IMPRS) curriculum and invites Master’s students from all three Berlin universities. It will be taught in English. If you are not enrolled in the MA Program “Science, Technology and Medicine in the Ancient World, please apply with a short motivational email to Megan Briers mrbriers@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de by October 4, 2024. close

Comments

The thriving field of history of knowledge has developed multiple strands across many historical disciplines in recent decades, but has yet to be underpinned by a rigorous methodological training. The Seminar’s program addresses this critical gap. Through the notion of “resources,” it offers a framework to bring the divergent historiographies of knowledge into structured dialogue, thus opening up new avenues of understanding and research. At the intersection of media studies, STS, history of science and technology, regional studies and art history, and history of the humanities, this course addresses the core concepts, methodologies, and historiographies necessary to disentangle the complex relationships between knowledge and its resources in a long-term and global perspective. Key to the agenda is a “historical-political epistemology.” This approach highlights the ways in which all kinds of knowledge are shaped historically and views critically their material and environmental effects to understand how political systems, technological infrastructures, and social interaction shape the resource economics of knowledge cultures close