Global Book Cultures and the Student Laboratory: Undergraduate Education at the UI Center for the Book

FAIN: AA-284529-22

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA 52242-1320)
Matthew P. Brown (Project Director: May 2021 to present)
Elizabeth E. Yale (Co Project Director: December 2021 to present)

A three-year project to develop an undergraduate laboratory space and related curriculum that would engage students in the study of global print and manuscript cultures.

We seek to establish a dedicated undergraduate laboratory space anchored in the world-leading University of Iowa Center for the Book. Further, we propose to develop an undergraduate curriculum that will flourish in the envisioned workspace. The heart of the curricular proposal is a new introductory course in global print cultures, paired with an existing course on global manuscript cultures. Our goals are threefold: 1) to create and sustain spaces where students learn how material texts from diverse cultural traditions were made; 2) by integrating hands-on making into students’ education, to deepen their understanding of key humanities themes, such as the interpretation of texts and how humans transform, reinterpret, and sustain artifacts and ideas over time and across cultures; & 3) to strengthen the humanities at Iowa by building collaborative connections between faculty, curators, book artists, engineers, scientists, and librarians teaching with material texts across the university.

Associated Products

The Book in Global History (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: The Book in Global History
Author: Elizabeth Yale
Author: Matthew P. Brown
Abstract: How did students in tenth-century China use clothing to smuggle answers into their civil service examinations? How did sixteenth-century indigenous Mesoamericans combat and work with Spanish colonizers with books and documents that incorporated both European and Aztec materials, languages, and cultural elements? How did nineteenth-century Africans refashion the Christian language of pilgrimage to define specific uses of the written word? These questions of power, resilience, and the book define this course’s inquiry into the history of writing, publishing, and reading across the globe. We’ll explore these questions via dynamic lectures, readings, and discussions; interactive sessions with rare books in University of Special Collections; and hands-on lab sections in which you will experiment with making books using historical methods, including papermaking, letterpress and woodblock printing, and book binding. Requirements include active participation, essays, short presentations, and a research-based final project. By the end of the semester, you will understand how people have shaped books and how books have shaped history around the globe. You will gain experience in historical writing and communication and in the interpretation of historical sources. You will also be prepared to take advantage of the unique resources the University of Iowa has to offer for the advanced study of the history of the book and book arts. No prerequisites. Meets General Education Distribution: Historical Perspectives.
Year: 2023
Audience: Undergraduate

Undergraduate Book Arts Lab Space (Equipment)
Name: Undergraduate Book Arts Lab Space
Description: Tools, supplies, and furniture for the undergraduate "Book Lab" space. As reported above, these included benches and stools; wet work and tool supplies; flat files and drying racks; specialized materials to match the historical contexts covered (an inscribed stele for rubbings; amate paper for painting; 16th c. map facsimiles of Mesoamerica).
Location: Iowa City, IA
Year: 2022

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