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Dr. Fred Spier
Fred Spier is Senior Lecturer in Big History. Since1994, he has organized the annual big history course at the University of Amsterdam, while since 2003 he has also taught the annual big history university lecture series at the Eindhoven University of Technology. First trained as a biochemist with research experience in plant genetic engineering and the synthesis of oligonucleotides, Spier subsequently became a cultural anthropologist and social historian. In this quality he performed a ten year study on religion, politics and ecology in Peru, which led to the publication of two books.
Current research
Developing an overarching explanatory paradigm for Big History. In his article How Big History Works: Energy flows and the rise and demise of complexity (published in 2005 by the journal Social Evolution & History), the outline of an historical theory of everything is proposed, which should help to explain history at all levels as well as guide further research. An elaborated version of this argument will be presented in his upcoming book Big History and the Future of Humanity, to be published in 2010 by Wiley-Blackwell.
Books
Spier, Fred (1994). Religious Regimes in Peru: Religion and state development in a long-term perspective and the effects in the Andean village of Zurite. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
Spier, Fred (1995). San Nicolás de Zurite: Religion and daily life of a Peruvian Andean village in a changing world. Amsterdam: VU University Press.
Spier, Fred (1996). The Structure of Big History: From the Big Bang until today. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Blank, Paul W. and Spier, Fred (2002). Defining the Pacific: Opportunities and constraints. London: Ashgate.
Memberships
2006 - : Member of the Big History Section of the Russian Academy of the Humanities
2001 - : Member of the editorial board of the journal Social Evolution & History
1998 : Chairing the World History Association Committee for Scholarship Reform, together with
Dr. Maghan Keita, Villanova University, Philadelphia, Pa.
1996 - 1999 : Member of the Executive Council of the World History Association
Education
1992: Ph.D. in Social History and Cultural Anthropology, University of Amsterdam (with honors)
1987: M.A.in Cultural Anthropology, FreeUniversityAmsterdam (with honors)
1978: M.Sc. in Biochemistry, Leiden University
Article 'How Big History Works' (pdf file)
Praise for "Religious Regimes in Peru"
Praise for "The Structure of Big History"
Praise for "Defining the Pacific"
San Nicolas de Zurite (downloadable book as pdf file)
The Small History of the Amsterdam Big History course |
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