Arms and armour is not a serious academic subject???
Hi there,

I am an Australian currently in China trying to put together a research proposal for PhD work on Chinese military history. I am actually more interested in arms and armour study but it seems that this is not an area of serious academic study. I was wondering if anybody knew why most universities seem to ignore this area of history.

Do you know of any academics studying weaponry as an academic subject at a university in Australia (or anywhere)?

Thank you any help you can provide would be extremely appreciated.

Regards,

Douglas Eacersall....
EVERYTHING is an academic subject. That's why folks complain that graduate study is producing more and more about less and less. However, as far as I can tell the study of arms and armour is more typically a specialty within the fields of art history or archaeology. I forget where Toby Capwell earned his doctorate or in what discipline, but I do recall that his dissertation was focused specifically on English armour. So, it can be done. It's all about finding the right program and mentor. Of course, few people have had more influence on our study than Ewart Oakeshott, and he was not an academic in the formal sense of the term.
It's not impossible, but it's difficult. It's kind of a narrow field, I think. Furthermore, it seems to me that at the highest level, the study of armour requires international travel, and, optimally, being connected to a vast network of museum curators and even owners of private collections. There are two parts to the study of armour: the historical side, which is to say the reading of primary and secondary sources that assist in understanding it, and the side that involves having access, to some degree or another, to the collections of armour around the world. In this way it's not that different from the general topic of art history, but it is a much narrower focus.

I would say, to echo Mr. Flynt's words, that it is probably best approached as a specialty within the fields of history and/or art history, or perhaps archaeology.

As I have found personally, it also really helps to know a little bit of German, and to a lesser degree French.

One of the greatest contributors to the study and collection of armour though - Bashford Dean, curator of the Metropolitan's collection - started out in the field of biology and got into armour relatively late in the game. In his case, it helped that he was already established as an academic authority on something.
Randall Moffet, a member of this community is doing/has done a Phd to do with crossbows.

Tod
If you think arms and armor is a difficult subject to pursue academically, wait till you get a load of historical combat (as an academic subject). :)
You have no chance in Australia. The best opportunities are probably in the UK.
I believe Kansas State University has a program in hoplology. I'm not sure how close this is to your related field, but it is as close of a program I can think of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplology
I know of someone who did a thesis on the excellent (and now largely unseen) arms collection held by Melbourne Museum. Lucky sod.

I don't recall what the course was. Museum studies, possibly. Something like that is the best bet in this country.
Dan Howard wrote:
You have no chance in Australia. The best opportunities are probably in the UK.


I second this.
Alas, it is (from what I've heard much to the woe of the Classics and pre-Colonial History teachers) deemed "irrelevant" to the Australian curiculum. Ergo, 300 years of white settlement history or 60,000 of Aboriginal history. :\
I'm currently at UTAS and am doing Medieval history related subjects in the hopes of becoming an experimental-arcaeologist who re-enacts, who studies in hoplology, who moonlights as an edu-tainment kind of gig. Failing that, my current back up degree is an English Teacher. :D
Michael Edelson wrote:
If you think arms and armor is a difficult subject to pursue academically, wait till you get a load of historical combat (as an academic subject). :)


Yes, this was my original plan - historical combat. I thought the area of history would cover this, which it does, however finding an established academic to supervise this is very difficult and employment opportunities practically nil.

It is a pity and something I can't comprehend. Weapons and weapon systems have had profound effects on culture and social structures. I guess not everyone is as interested in this kind of thing as 'we' are. Still, there are people studying some extremely bizarre and narrow fields at universities. Isn't it time that hoplology (for want of a better word) was taken more seriously. Most history academics I have contacted do not even know what hoplology is.
Tim Harris wrote:
I know of someone who did a thesis on the excellent (and now largely unseen) arms collection held by Melbourne Museum. Lucky sod.

I don't recall what the course was. Museum studies, possibly. Something like that is the best bet in this country.


Do you know the title of the thesis?

Page 1 of 1

Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum




All contents © Copyright 2003-2006 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Full-featured Version of the forum