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 Mol, new LUCDH director: 'We want to be a point of contact' -
Ammodo Science Award to bring cultural heritage to life through play -
State Secretary Gräper visits to discuss cultural heritage and opening up collections -
Minecraft in Morocco: virtual building blocks bring the past to life -
DEN Award for Streaming the Past project: 'A truly innovative way to engage with new audiences' -
Digital Winter School: Time to brush up on those digital skills! -
Vidi grants for 12 researchers from Leiden University -
Streaming the Sagas: a live role play in the North-European Age of Heroes -
A new Digital Lab@Veth! -
Leiden students give commentary on games live on Twitch -
NWA subsidy for four Leiden science communication projects -
Introducing: Angus Mol
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
- 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. & 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. (Eds.) (2017), The Interactive Past: Archaeology, Heritage, and Video Games. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- 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., 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.
- 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. (2015), VALUE: Videogames and Archaeology at Leiden University. Digital Heritage 2015: 3D in knowledge production, Aarhus. 21 May 2015 - 22 May 2015. [conference poster].
- Ariese C.E., Boom K.H.J., Mol A.A.A. & Politopoulos A., VALUE | Facebook. [blog entry].
- 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].
- 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].
- 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. & 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].
- 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. (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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mol A.A.A., Manning R. & Zande D. van de (Eds.) (2010), The Archaeology of Culture Contact: Graduate School workshop. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
- 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. (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. (2009), The Archaeology of Culture Contact. Leiden: Unknown yet.
- 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 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. (2008), Functie bij : Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology. [other].
- 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