Course finder

Semester 1

No such thing as a free gift: a long history of donation (HIST10436)

Subject

History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

In most societies, gift-giving acts as a critical form of social currency. Gifts mark special occasions such as birthdays; they cement diplomatic relationships; they act as bribes and charitable offerings. Gifts and gift-exchange can therefore tell historians much about the social, political, and moral norms of past societies. This course examines the fascinating histories of gift-giving in a cross-period and trans-regional context.

Course Description

The basic principle that a gift is never given without the expectation of something in return was first determined by the sociologist and anthropologist Marcel Mauss in 1925. Since the publication of his Essai sur le don - 'Essay on the Gift' - historians have used this basic principle to understand gift-giving in a wide range of contexts and past societies. After becoming familiar with the principle of reciprocity and the history of its development, we then move on to examine the varied phenomena that historians have used this principle to explore (including: charity and philanthropy; gender; colonialism; diplomacy; bribery; corruption). A visit to the National Museum of Scotland at the end of the course will help us to think about why people donate to museums and how the display of gifts shapes our experience as consumers of history. Students are by no means expected to have prior knowledge of all of the periods we study, and an annotated bibliography and independent essay will allow students to focus on a particular gift or instance of exchange in a context that they find most interesting.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course