Discussion Topic
This week we’re moving toward a little art history. The cultural and commercial exchanges we explored in chapter 7 produced a wealth of art and artifacts, so now we’re going to look at some of that art and those artifacts.
Your first job this week is to choose a piece of art or an artifact from the world of the Silk Roads, Sea Roads, or Sand Roads. To find this art or artifact, you’ll need to visit a museum website. I recommend the web link: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection because its Medieval art, Islamic art, and Asian art collections are all promising places to start, and it’s easy to filter by time period and region there. Web Link 2: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries?_gl=1 *zeroes*_up *MQ..*_ga*MzQzNzA4NTQ1LjE3MTE2MzMxNzY.*_ga_JHR77E3EZ1*MTcxMTYzMzE2OS4xLjEuMTcxMTYzMzQ3Mi4wLjAuMA..*_ga_08TLB9R8X1*MTcxMTYzMzIwNC4xLjEuMTcxMTYzMzQ3Mi4wLjAuMA…might be even more fabulous (and likely has more from the Sand and Sea Roads), though I find it a little less easily searchable; there’s also, of course, the Web Link 3:https://silkroadvirtualmuseum.com/
and many, many more museums throughout America and the world.
Once you’ve chosen your piece of art, your assignment will include several parts:
Post or attach a picture of your art or artifact.
Give us the link to your art or artifact.
Write three paragraphs (each roughly 6-8 sentences) about your art or artifact.
Your first paragraph should describe the art or artifact you’ve chosen. When and where is it from? Who made it and why? If you don’t know the specific artist (and you likely won’t), what type of person made it? What materials were used and why? What was it used for and how? Who would have wanted it? Paint us a picture of the life of this piece.
Your second paragraph should contextualize the art or artifact you’ve chosen. How does this piece fit into the bigger picture of what we learned in our readings and videos this week?
Your third paragraph should personalize the assignment. Why did you choose this specific piece? What grabbed your attention when you were scrolling? Why did you choose something from this particular region or in this particular style? Art speaks to us all differently, so tell us why and how your choice spoke to you. Week 5
Embrace the goodness, no matter how small it may seem. Hold on to what you believe, even if it is a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, even if it is a long way from here. Hold on to life, even when it is easier letting go. Hold on to my hand, even when I have gone away from you.
~Pueblo Blessing
Readings
Please read the following chapter(s) in your course textbook and view any other listed resources:
Chapter 7, Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources
These optional PowerPoint slides are a handy way to see the main points as you read.
Videos
Video Link 1: http://digital.films.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/p_Search.aspx?titleID=16812&sugg=1&rd=a
This program featuring Michael Wood takes viewers to the India of the early centuries AD, a time that saw Indian civilization grow into a major participant in the first global economy as trade enriched it through contact and exchange. The rediscovered site of Rome’s most significant trading port in India and a trip to Madurai, the ancient capital of South India, offer insights into the spice trade, while a journey to Merv, in the desert of Turkmenistan, helps illustrate how North India was opened up to the world by merchant caravans using the Silk Road between China and the West. Distributed by PBS Distribution. A part of the series The Story of India, with Michael Wood.
Virtual Field Trip (Optional)
Do you have time for a quick tour of the Borobudur Temple complex in Java? It is a UNESCO historical site. This virtual field trip is optional. Feel free to browse as your time permits.
Video Link 2: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/592
Chapter Overview
Chapter 7 Overview
A cross-cultural look at East Africa and Southeast Asia can help us see the cultural influences that worked upon East Africa and Southeast Asia. We can compare the ways in which that cultural influence manifested itself and review cultural influences in East Africa and Southeast Asia. A good place to start is with an image of the Borobudur temple complex (Java). What can we understand about the culture of the Sailendra kingdom by looking at an image of Borobudur? Other Indian-influenced structures can be found in Southeast Asia. Think about similarities to the architecture of India and of elements likely to be indigenous to the region in which a building was located.
It is much more difficult to find images of Swahili architecture before Vasco da Gama and his successors influenced the region. You might search for images of the Gede ruins near the port city of Malindi, Kenya. Points of Islamic influence include arches, courtyards, special women’s quarters, mihrabs, and elements of orientation. As you look at the physical remains of these two cultures, it may lead you to an appreciation of the impact of foreign elements on language, religion, and culture more generally.
Our study of world transport among the third-wave civilizations can help us appreciate the great difficulty and risks of long-distance trade, the technologies available that eased transport, and how much infrastructure was available to ease the problems of transport. A good place to start is with the notion of the Silk and Sand roads. What actual roads existed in the period 600 to 1450 C.E.? There was still the system of Roman roads; Andean roads had been established with protective walls and bridges, and many other communities provided some sort of paved roads and bridges. But for interstate commerce, what we are talking about is routes, unpaved and undeveloped, for which a traveler needed to hire a guide or follow the traces left by earlier travelers. Wheeled carts could not travel on most of these long-distance routes—pack animals or human bearers were necessary. You need to consider: How heavy a load can a horse carry? How heavy a load can a camel carry? How about a donkey? How about a human? On a good road, how heavily laden a cart can a horse pull (with the advantage of a horse collar, rather than a horse yoke)? How much can a ship carry? A common measure is that the reasonable load for one man to transport on foot is 50 pounds, but the same energy will move about 500 pounds on wheels on a road, 5,000 pounds on rails, and 50,000 pounds on water.
Our text only touches upon naval technologies. Are you a water person? You might want to think about regions mentioned in the text that relied on dugout canoes or rafts and the limitations of dugout canoes or rafts. Pause and ponder how dangerous various bodies of water are to sail on (the Indian Ocean is probably the safest, followed by the Mediterranean and then the Pacific; the Atlantic and North seas are pretty nasty), the advantages of sails over rowing, Arab contributions to maritime history (such as lateen sails), the complexity of shipbuilding (e.g., the difficulty of making a North Sea–style clinker-built ship compared to the mortise-and-tenon construction of the Mediterranean), the advantage of rudders compared to steering oars, the inventions that aided navigation (astrolabe, magnetic compass, etc.), and the importance of naval warfare in world history.
What were trade towns really like in this period? Try to imagine the urban environments created by premodern trade and how much those towns would have varied depending on region. Some points to consider include the lack of sanitation systems almost everywhere, the extreme poverty of some of the population, the ostentatious wealth of the elite, the presence or absence of building codes, the prevalence of disease, the degree of government control of traders, and differences between trading cities in different parts of the world.