History unfolds across time, but time itself has a history. This course explores how people have understood, measured, and lived with time, and how those understandings have shaped social life. We will approach the history of time through three interpretive arcs drawing on the history of science, intellectual and cultural history, and social history. First, we examine efforts to quantify and measure time, from ancient sundials to modern atomic clocks. Second, we consider the multiple "temporalities" through which societies have viewed and experienced time, shaped in part by technological change. Finally, we explore how time has structured human life, including topics such as artificial lighting and the history of night, the invention of interest on debt, high-speed communication, and the concept of the Anthropocene. Through discussion of secondary texts and primary sources, supplemented with lectures, this course will explore the history of time and its role in the human experience from antiquity to present. |