HIST 157 - From Clay Tablet to the iPad: History of the Book in Intercultural Perspective

Institution:

Wesleyan University

Subject:

History

Description:

We are living through what some have dubbed "an information revolution"; technological advances have provided new ways in which we can communicate. Yet, the information revolution through electronic media has been seen as a threat to the book and newspaper/journal industry. Yet, as this course will show, the book, as we know it, is a historical artifact that changed over long centuries in format and content. Technological advancements and local contexts have influenced the way information was preserved and accessed, from stone to clay tablets, to papyrus, to parchment, to paper, to print and now to ebook. This course will look at the historical changes in the way knowledge was transmitted, and ask questions about how culture and technology influence each other. We will look at the book as an object and examine the influence of the material aspect of the book for the transmission and access to information. We will look at the historical process of invention of the author and examine the question of audiences and readers in a cross-cultural perspective by focusing on Christian and Jewish books and their readers.

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Seminar

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wesleyan.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 685-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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