El saber no ocupa lugar

Hace un par de años me aficioné a estudiar por internet. No recuerdo quién puso un enlace a Coursera en facebook y me metí a curiosear. Acabé apuntándome a un curso llamado Introduction to Genetics and Evolution, que acabó siendo demasiado avanzado para alguien que, como yo, había aparcado las ciencias en 4º de ESO.  Pero me gustó la experiencia y decidí buscar cursos más adecuados para mí. Así hice unos cuantos cursitos de universidades americanas: History of Rock I y II (muy entretenido, y me vino bien para conocer a los clásicos), Science, Technology and Society in China I (mortalmente aburrido) y Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets (absolutamente fascinante, muy bien preparado y con una profesora que desprendía entusiasmo por los cuatro costados. Ya escribí el año pasado sobre un par de actividades que hicimos en clase: Write like an Akkadian y My archaeological adventure.

Desde octubre de 2013 estoy liada con un curso de la plataforma EdX llamado, simplemente, China. Lo imparten varios profesores de la universidad de Harvard y cubre toda la historia de China, desde el Neolítico y las dinastías Shang y Zhou hasta la actualidad. En total hay 10 temas y ahora mismo vamos por el 6. El curso termina en febrero de 2015. Este es el temario:
1. The Political and Intellectual Foundations of China (introducción al contexto histórico, geográfico y etnográfico; mitos fundacionales; legitimación del poder; Confucio; los Reinos Combatientes).
2. The Creation and End of a Centralized Empire (dinastía Qin; dinastía Han; budismo).
3. Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture (dinastía Tang; poesía; caligrafía; literatura).
4. A New National Culture (dinastía Song; Neo-Confucianismo; Exámenes imperiales).
5. From Global Empire to Global Economy (dinastía Yuan; dinastía Ming; los viajes del almirante Zheng).
6. The Manchus and the Qing (dinastía Qing; Los mandarines).
7. Invasions, Rebellions and the End of Imperial China
8. Creating "China": The Republican Origins of Modern China
9. Communist Liberations
10. Greater China: The People's Republic and Taiwan from 1978-Present.

Las clases consisten en vídeos del profesor explicando el temario (en inglés, se pueden poner subtítulos en inglés) y a veces también hay vídeos de los alumnos de Harvard debatiendo en clase preguntas que aparecen en el curso online. Después de cada vídeo hay preguntas tipo test (verdadero o falso, elige la respuesta correcta), comentarios de texto y preguntas para debatir en el foro. ¡Todo cuenta para la nota! Cada tema se considera un curso independiente y si obtienes más del 75% de los puntos te dan un certificado como este:

¿Que si sirve para algo? Pues no lo sé, pero da el pego :D

Al final de cada submódulo los profesores graban una especie de tutoría en la que responden las dudas que han ido surgiendo, comentan lo que la gente ha escrito en el foro, etc. Hay más interacción que en otros cursos que he hecho.

En el primer tema los profesores ya se encargan de cautivar a sus futuros alumnos con esta canción para recordar el orden de las principales dinastías:

¿A que son un primor?

Aunque vayamos ya por el tema 6, los temas anteriores siguen abiertos y no se cerrarán hasta que el curso termine completamente en febrero. ¿Alguien se apunta? :)

My Archaeological Adventure!

Hoy cambiamos de idioma! Os voy a contar mi excursión en busca de una muralla de hace más de 2000 años, tal y como la conté para los deberes de Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets. El enunciado del ejercicio decía así:

Get on out there and participate in something related to archaeology near you. There are many options: go to a museum, visit an archaeological site or monument, attend a lecture, convene an archaeological discussion group (including ones that revolve around Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets!). Then report on what you have done, including:

1.    What did you do? Describe what you saw, heard, talked about, learned, etc.

2.    Why did you choose this activity?

3.    Did you enjoy it?

4.    Would you do it again? Will you?Why or why not?

5.    If possible, upload a picture of your experience.

Y esta es mi respuesta:

At first I intended to visit the local museum as I haven’t been there in a few years and I didn’t know about any archaeological site in the area. But a quick search on google revealed that 3 years ago archaeologists had found a cluster of tombs spanning 6 dynasties. (At this point I think I have to mention that I am located in Suzhou, China). I told my boyfriend and he was totally excited and started researching in Chinese websites. Finally we decided to go and see the remainings of an earth wall that was the border separating two territories in the Wu State (11 B.C. - 5 B.C.). For more info on the State of Wu please check http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_(state). Chinese archaeologists are not sure yet wheter the Wu capital was located in present day Suzhou, Wuxi or Changzhou.

Taking a map we found on the internet as a reference and with the help of Google Earth we located the area where the wall was supposed to be and drove there (about 30 km west of Suzhou). It is an area currently used as farming land. It was very sunny and like 35°C!

After stopping at a wrong place (which seemed to be in the right place according to the map and looked like an earth wall but turned out to be the side of a pond -_-") we arrived at one of the places where the wall should be. We walked over to the mounds where the trees are and we guessed maybe that was the wall, but weren't really sure. I was starting to believe we were in the wrong place, or that the wall had been completely destroyed.

We didn't want to give up just yet so we headed north to look for other parts of the wall. We arrived at a small village, parked and crossed through the village following a path (thanks, Google maps!). And there, in the middle of the fields, there was something! A small makeshift building looking like a temporary warehouse or something like that. We walked up to the front door but it was locked! So we peered through the window and this is what we saw:

There was the earthen wall! (well, or a small portion of it). There were pictures and texts hanging from the walls but too far to read, I assume they were explanations about the site. Just on that moment a local granny passed by on her way from the fields to the village and we asked her about the place. She confirmed it was an archaeological site but that it just opened for scheduled visits for scholars and government members. She also told us that the archaeologists had been digging around in more places nearby but didn't find anything (I guess she meant no artifacts were found).

We walked aroud the building and noticed that there were remainings of the wall outside:

So, I didn't really see much, and didn't learn much on the spot as there was no information I could read, but I did an extensive research when I arrived home!

I chose to go exploring and not to the museum because it was way more exciting! Even though I didn’t see much but I felt like a real archaeologist surveying the land! I will definitely do it again, next weekend we will go and see if we can find the tombs that I mentioned in the first parafraph (and with find I mean if they have not been buried again and a building built above them!). A friend has also told me about an abandoned Buddhist temple on top on a mountain close to where we saw the earth wall. Adventure, here I come!!

Write like an Akkadian!

Mis deberes de la clase de Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets: escribir con el silabario cuneiforme.