Inter-Regional Interaction in Antiquity

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

85 hours

Enrolment in 101AA Ph.D.- Arts or MR-ARTSTHS Master of Arts.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Archaeological analyses of inter-regional interaction have largely focused on the political economy of relations between highly developed states or empires on the one hand, and less developed states or chiefdoms on the other. These analyses draw their theoretical grounding from the European colonial encounters with Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the Age of Discovery. As a result, these models and their archaeological applications emphasize hierarchical relationships of inequality. However, in earlier stages of the development of social complexity, interaction between polities often called ”chiefdoms” or “incipient complex societies” would have been non-hierarchical in character. This seminar will examine and compare the political and economic aspects of both hierarchical and non-hierarchical models of culture contact such as world systems, colonialism, acculturation, hybridity, interaction spheres, and trade diasporas. The archaeological correlates of these models will be examined using case studies drawn from the Near East and other areas.

To provide advanced intensive instruction in a topic or area of scholarship in the humanities, social sciences or creative arts. A student who completes this subject should have:
• enhanced knowledge of the topic or area of scholarship taught in the module,
• an ability to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module, and
• enhanced engagement with leading-edge research in Arts today.

Written work of 2,000 words, due after the end of the teaching period (80%)

Written work of 500 words, due during the teaching period (20%)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

The subjects will contribute, through teaching and discussion with academic staff and peers, to developing the skills and capacities identified in the University-defined Graduate Attributes for the PhD, in particular:
• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge,
• an advanced ability to evaluate and synthesise research-based and scholarly literature,
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field.