Angus Mol
Associate professor
- Name
- Dr. A.A.A. Mol
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 8828
- a.a.a.mol@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0001-5448-3712
Angus Mol is a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.
More information about Angus Mol
News
Angus combines the study of history using a digital approach with the study of how today’s digital cultures are entwined with history. In particular, he looks at how contemporary play functions as a mirror of the past as well as how games can be used to democratize access to the past. He has authored several papers on the topic and crowd-funded , an Open Access edited volume with chapters from scholars and professionals from the creative industry.
Since his BA and MA in Archaeology, Angus has also had a keen interest in projects that combine social theory, material culture, and digital tools. For instance, he uses network analyses and agent-based models to explore and explain how things and people are entangled over time. The focal point lies on gift-giving across cultural and social boundaries, owing to his PhD and Postdoc research on networks in the culturally diverse, indigenous and colonial Caribbean.
For Mol, the value of digital approaches resides in their use as theory and as tool, and his classes focus on understanding concepts as well as practice. Students will be taught a variety of tools, including network analysis, GIS, information visualization, databases, 3D visualization, and media production, in connection with case-studies or key issues from the breadth of the human and social sciences. Angus is a firm believer in the potential of the past as well as digital technology to positively impact science and society. As a result, knowledge dissemination, public outreach, and current issues feature heavily in all his courses.
Angus is co-founder of VALUE, a foundation that develops and supports initiatives at the interface of academia and video games. Recently, he has worked as the Digital Strategy Coordinator for the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development. Before that, he was an NWO-Rubicon, Postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University’s Department of Anthropology. He also undertook post-doctoral research at Leiden University and was a visiting researcher at Konstanz University as part of the NEXUS1492 project.
For more information on Angus his research, teaching, and outreach, see his personal website.
Associate professor
- Faculty of Humanities
- Centre for the Arts in Society
- CAS Stafbureau
- Mol A.A.A., Politopoulos A. & Lammes S. (2023), On being stuck in Sid Meier’s Civilization: the promise of freedom in historical games. DiGRA 2023 19 June 2023 - 23 June 2023.
- Politopoulos A., Mol A.A.A. & Lammes S. (2023), Finding the fun: towards a playful archaeology, Archaeological Dialogues 30(1): 1-15.
- Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A. (2021), Persia’s victory: the mechanics of orientalism in "Sid Meier’s Civilization", Near Eastern Archaeology 84(1): 44-51.
- Politopoulos A. & Mol A.A.A. (2021), Video games as concepts and experiences of the ast. In: Champion E.M. (Ed.), Virtual Heritage: A Guide. London: Ubiquity Press. 81-92.
- Mickleburgh H.L., Hoogland M.L.P., Laffoon J.E., Weston D.A., Valcárcel Rojas R., Duijvenbode A. van & Mol A.A.A. (2020), Defining non-normative practices in a diverse funerary record: insights from the Caribbean. In: Betsinger T.K., Scott A.B. & Tsaliki A. (Eds.), The odd, the unusual, and the strange: bioarchaeological explorations of Atypical Burials: University of Florida Press. 114-132.
- Boom K.H.J., Ariese C.E., Hout B. van den, Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A. (2020), Teaching through play: using video games as a platform to teach about the past. In: Hageneuer S. (Ed.), Communicating the Past in the Digital Age. Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Methods in Teaching and Learning in Archaeology (12th-13th October 2018). London: Ubiquity Press. 27-44.
- Lammes S., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A. (6 October 2019), Een computer- of een bordspel spelen voor de wetenschap: alle Leidenaars kunnen meedoen. Interviewed by Wekker Tessa de for Leidsch Dagblad, Regio: 4-5. [interview].
- Politopoulos A., Mol A.A.A., Boom K.H.J. & Ariese C.E. (2019), "History is our playground": action and authenticity in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Advances in Archaeological Practice 7(3): 317-323.
- Amati V., Mol A.A.A., Shafie T., Hofman C.L. & Brandes U. (2019), A Framework for Reconstructing Archaeological Networks Using Exponential Random Graph Models, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory : .
- Politopoulos A., Ariese C., Boom K.H.J. & Mol A.A.A. (2019), Romans and Rollercoasters: Scholarship in the Digital Playground, Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology 2(1): 163–175.
- Mickleburgh H.L., Laffoon J.E., Pagán-Jiménez J.R., Mol A.A.A., Walters S., Beier Z.J.M. & Hofman C.L. (2018), Precolonial/early colonial human burials from the site of White Marl, Jamaica: New findings from recent rescue excavations, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology : 1-7.
- Mol A.A.A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Politopoulos A. & Vandemeulebroucke V. (4 May 2017), Clubje 'Wij zijn dol op academisch gamen'. Interviewed by Kloosterman A. for Leids Universitair Weekblad Mare, Studentenleven: 12. [interview].
- Mol A.A.A., Politopoulos A. & Ariese C.E. (2017), “From the Stone Age to the Information Age”: History and Heritage in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, Advances in Archaeological Practice 5(2): 214-219.
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Copplestone T., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A. 30 August 2017 - 3 September 2017. Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. European Association of Archaeologists. Maastricht. [conference attendance].
- Mol A.A.A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J. & Politopoulos A. (Eds.) (2017), The Interactive Past: Archaeology, Heritage, and Video Games. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Mol A.A.A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J. & Politopoulos A. 15 June 2017 - 16 June 2017. Centre for Digital Heritage 2017: Heritage Under Threat. Centre for Digital Heritage. Leiden. [conference attendance].
- Politopoulos A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Copplestone T. & Mol A.A.A. 30 August 2017 - 3 September 2017. Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. European Association of Archaeologists. Maastricht. [conference attendance].
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Politopoulos A. & Mol A.A.A. (2016), Conference: Interactive Pasts - Exploring the intersections of archaeology and video games. [other].
- Mol A.A.A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J. & Politopoulos Aris (2016), Video Games in Archaeology: Enjoyable but Trivial?, SAA Archaeological Record 16(5): 11-15.
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A. (2015), VALUE: Videogames and Archaeology at Leiden University. Digital Heritage 2015: 3D in knowledge production, Aarhus. 21 May 2015 - 22 May 2015. [conference poster].
- Politopoulos A., Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J. & Mol A.A.A. (30 April 2015), VALUE: Videogames and Archaeology at Leiden UnivErsity. [blog entry].
- Mol A.A.A., Hoogland M.L.P. & Hofman C.L. (2015), Remotely Local: Ego-networks of Late Pre-colonial (AD 1000–1450) Saba, North-eastern Caribbean, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22(1): 275-305.
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A., VALUE | Facebook. [blog entry].
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A., VALUE (@value_project) | Twitter. [blog entry].
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A., VALUE | Videogames and Archaeology in Leiden UnivErsity. [web article].
- Hofman Corinne, Mol Angus, Hoogland Menno & Valcarcel Rojas Roberto (2014), Stage of encounters: migration, mobility and interaction in the pre-colonial and early colonial Caribbean, World Archaeology 46(4): 590-609.
- Mol A.A.A. & Keehnen F.W.M. (2014), Networking the Encounter: Caribbean Entanglements across the Historical Divide. [other].
- Mol A.A.A. & Keehnen F.W.M. (2014), Tying up Columbus: A historical and material culture study of the networks that resulted from the first European voyages into the Caribbean (AD 1492-1504). [other].
- Mol A.A.A. (2014), Play-Things and the Origins of Online Networks: Virtual material culture in multiplayer games, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 29(1): 144-166.
- Mol A.A.A. & Mans J.L.J.A. (2013), Old-boy networks in the indigenous Caribbean. In: Knappett C. (Ed.), Regional network analysis in archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 307-332.
- Mol A.A.A. (2013), Studying Pre-Columbian Interaction Networks: Mobility and Exchange. In: Keegan W.F., Hofman C.L. & Rodríguez Ramos R. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology. New York: Oxford University Press. 329-346.
- Hofman C.L., Mol A.A.A., Rodríguez Ramos R. & Knippenberg S. (2011), Networks set in stone. 24th Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology.
- Sevenster P., Jagich Adam & Mol A.A.A. (2010), Functie bij : Leiden University. [other].
- Mol A.A.A. (2010), Something for Nothing: Exploring Strong Reciprocity and a Pan-Caribbean theory of exchange, Journal of Caribbean Archaeology spec.is.#3: .
- Mol A.A.A., Manning R. & Zande D. van de (Eds.) (2010), The Archaeology of Culture Contact: Graduate School workshop. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Mol A.A.A. (3 December 2009), Duistere Shamanen: De verschijningsvormen en de sociale rol van shamanistisch geweld in laagland Zuid-Amerika. Guest Lecture. Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (28 February 2009), Regalando La Cara de la Vida: Las caritas en concha como objetos de valor social en el Caribe Prehispánico. Guest Lecture. Universidad Simón Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (20 January 2009), Colliding Social Universes: A View on Exchange in the Caribbean through Spanish/Taíno Interactions. Guest Lecture. Institua Venezolana para Investigaciones Cientificas. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (19 January 2009), Guaízas: the Face of Exchange. Guest Lecture. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. [lecture].
- Hofman C.L., Bright A.J. & Mol A.A.A. (2009), Mobility and Exchange. level 500 course of second semester. Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (2009), Something for Nothing: Some preliminary thoughts on Strong Reciprocity and a Pan-Caribbean theory of exchange.
- Mol A.A.A. (2009), The Archaeology of Culture Contact. Leiden: Unknown yet.
- Mol A.A.A. (2009), The Dark Side of the Behique/Boyé: The evidence for sorcery in the Antilles, The Proceedings of the XXIII Conference of the IACA. .
- Mol A.A.A. (2009), The Dark Side of the Behique/Boyé: The evidence for sorcery in the Antilles. 23rd Congress of the IACA. Antigua. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (2009), The Gift of the “Face of the Living”: Shell faces as social valuables in the Late Ceramic Age Caribbean, Journal de la Société des Américanistes : .
- Mol A.A.A. (24 November 2008), Colliding Social Universes: A View on Exchange in the Caribbean through Spanish/Taíno Interactions. The Archaeology of Culture Contact Symposium. Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. [lecture].
- Mans J.L.J.A. & Mol A.A.A. (20 November 2008), Caribische Archeologie. Guest Lecture at Wetenschapsdagen. Rijnland college, Tilburg, the Netherlands. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (2008), Functie bij : Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology. [other].
- Mol A.A.A. (2008), Guaizas: Meaningless Commodities, Inalienable Sacra or Many-faced Exchange Valuables?. First Meeting of the Jornadas Doctorales Europeas. Paris. [lecture].
- Mol A.A.A. (2008), Universos socio-cósmicos en colisión: descripciones etnohistóricas de situaciones de intercambio en la Antillas Mayores durante el período de protocontacto, El Caribe arqueologico : 13-23.
- Mol A.A.A. (2007), Costly Giving, Giving Guaízas: Towards an organic model of the exchange of social valuables in the Late Ceramic Age Caribbean. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- Voorzitter van de Raad van Bestuur