The graduate course to be opened in the Winter semester 2009 (February –June 2009) at the Institute of History:
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<br>Title: Visual Representations in Pre-modern Science: Diagrams, Maps, and Talismans
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<br>Instructor: Alexei Volkov (Lang Yuan)
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<br>Level: graduate course; undergraduate students willing to take this course are required to take an appointment with the instructor.
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<br>Number of credits: 3
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<br>Time: TBA
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<br>Place: General Education, room 201
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<br>Description: 
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<br>The course will focus on visual representations used in a variety of traditional (pre-modern) sciences. It will especially focus on three topics: (1) ancient and medieval Chinese and Greek geometrical diagrams; (2) Western, Chinese, and Vietnamese geographical maps from Antiquity to the 19th century; (3) talismans used in Daoist healing tradition in China and Vietnam. 
<br>The course is designed as a reading class: home reading of secondary and original works will be followed by class discussions. 
<br>The course will be concluded with an oral defense at which each student will have to present her or his term paper on a selected topic.
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<br>Evaluation scheme:
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<br>Class participation: 15%
<br>Assignments: 35%
<br>Term paper and oral defense: 50% 
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<br>Requirements: 
<br>The seminars will be conducted in English. Knowledge of elements of classical Chinese will be helpful. No other requirements. 
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<br>Selected literature on the topic:
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<br>Netz, Reviel. 1999. The shaping of deduction in Greek mathematics: A study in cognitive history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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<br>F. Bray, V. Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, G. M&eacute;taili&eacute; (eds.), Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China, Leiden: Brill, (Sinica Leidensia 79), 2007.
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