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Dr. Fred Spier
Fred Spier is Senior Lecturer in Big History at the University of Amsterdam. He has organized and taught the annual 'Big History Course' at the University of Amsterdam since 1994, the annual 'Big History University Lecture Series' at the Eindhoven University of Technology since 2003, and the 'Big Questions in History Course' at Amsterdam University College since 2009.
University Education
Spier first obtained a M.Sc. in biochemistry at the University of Leiden with research experience in plant genetic engineering and the synthesis of oligonucleotides. He subsequently obtained an M.A. in cultural anthropology at the Free University Amsterdam (cum laude) and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and social history (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. As part of these studies, Spier executed a ten-year research project on religion, politics and ecology in Andean Peru, which led to the publication of two books: Religious Regimes in Peru and San Nicolás de Zurite (see below).
Current Activities
Developing a paradigm that helps to explain all of history. In his article How Big History Works: Energy flows and the rise and demise of complexity (2005), downloadable below, the first outline of this theory was proposed. An improved and more elaborate version of this argument is presented in his book Big History and the Future of Humanity, Wiley-Blackwell (2010). The paperback version was released in January 2011. A translation in Spanish was published in 2011; a translation into Chinese by Truth & Wisdom Press is planned for August 2012; and also the contract for a translation into Arabic has been signed. Spier is now working on a manuscript explaining how social and technical developments have conditioned the writing of history, tentatively titled: The Size of History: Reaching Out and Looking Back.
In addition to promoting big history in many different arenas, Spier currently serves as the first Vice President of the International Big History Association (IBHA) and as Program Chair of the first IBHA conference 2012, to be held in Allendale / Grand Rapids, MI.
Books
Spier, Fred (2011). El lugar del hombre en el cosmos: La Gran Historia y el futuro de la humanidad. Barcelona, Spain, Editorial Critica.
Grinin, Leonid E., Carneiro, Robert L., Korotayev, Andrey V. & Spier, Fred (eds.) (2011). Evolution: Cosmic, Biological,and Social. Volgograd, ‘Uchitel' Publishing House.
Spier, Fred. (2010). Big History and the Future of Humanity. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell.
Blank, Paul W. and Spier, Fred. (eds.) (2002). Defining the Pacific: Opportunities and constraints. London, Ashgate.
Spier, Fred. (1996). The Structure of Big History: From the Big Bang until Today. 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. (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
Memberships
2010 - : Vice President of the International Big History Association
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, Villanova, Pa.
1996 - 1999 : Member of the Executive Council of the World History Association.
Article 'How Big History Works' (pdf file, 277 KB)
Praise for "Religious Regimes in Peru"
Praise for "The Structure of Big History"
Praise for "Defining the Pacific"
San Nicolas de Zurite (bookaspdf file, 7.4 MB)
Article: "The Small History of the Amsterdam Big History course"
Article: "Big History: The Emergence of an Interdisciplinary Science?"
Praise for "Big History and the Future of Humanity"
Big History and the Future of Humanity
Big History and the Future of Humanity (paperback)
El lugar del hombre en el cosmos: La Gran Historia y el futuro de la humanidad
Podcast Interview Big History and the Future of Humanity
Fred Spier's publications, conferences attended and public lectures
Video of big history lecture at Villanova University, Sept 15, 2011