A Comparative History of Modern Culture

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic skills in English or French as well as in Spanish.

Teaching Methods

Theoretical-practical classes with lectures, presentations of student work, study sources, discussions and comments. Case by case participation of invited experts to develop issues and ongoing research.

Learning Outcomes

The purpose of this class is to provide students with multiple perspectives of the cultural history of Portugal, Europe and Portuguese America from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. It will tackle the big questions of modern history from the point of view of the history of knowledge as well as the social history of cultural practices, students will learn to understand the historical origins of contemporary cultures and to appreciate the variations of the values and of human cultures both past and present. Students will also learn to work with the various concepts and methods of the new cultural history, so that they can manage and organize an independent project, with autonomy and critical sense.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Writings & Culture: production, circulation of documents and multiple readings in modern times.
2. Cultural dynamics: focusing on areas, social workers, languages, symbols and cultural practices.
3. Cultural currents - Humanism, Baroque, Enlightenment: focusing on the study of the construction of knowledge in interaction processes - mediation, junctions and movements between Portugal, Europe and Portuguese America.

Head Lecturer(s)

Isabel Maria Henriques Ferreira da Mota Mónica de Oliveira

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Report of a seminar or field trip: 30.0%
Research work: 30.0%
Synthesis work: 40.0%

Bibliography

ARAÚJO, A. C. (2003). A Cultura das Luzes em Portugal. Temas e Problemas, Lisboa: Livros Horizonte
BLEICHMAR, D. (2009). Paula de Vos, K. Huffine, K. Sheehan (edit.), Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500-1800, Stanford-California: Stanford University Press
Curto, D. R. (2007). Cultura Escrita (séculos XV a XVIII), Lisboa, Imprensa de Ciências Sociais
KANTOR, I (2004). Esquecidos e Renascidos. Historiografia Acadêmica Luso-Americana (1724-1759), São Paulo-Salvador: Hucitec e Centro de Estudos Baianos/UFBA
MOTA, I. F. (2003). A Academia Real da História. Os intelectuais, o poder cultural e o poder monárquico no séc. XVIII, Coimbra: Minerva
FURTADO, J. F. (2012). Oráculos da Geografia Iluminista: Dom Luís da Cunha e Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d' Anville na construção da cartografia do Brasil, Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG,
BURKE, P. (2004). What is Cultural History? Cambridge: Polity Press.