The Medieval Studies Book Club, a gathering of mostly graduate students from several departments, aims to offer books and develop discussions that bring us together across the various subfields of Medieval Studies in an effort to identify how the (often unfamiliar) perspectives, questions, and methodologies of our colleagues from diverse disciplines can expand and inspire our own thinking and research. To do this, we will be soliciting input across all fields, where we will actively develop cross-discipline connections that bring our community closer together and inspire all of our work with new perspectives and approaches.
Please note that, per book club tradition, requesting a copy of the book constitutes a commitment to participate in the group discussion. Please make sure you can attend the session before requesting a book.
If you would like to participate in the sessions, please send us a note with your name and the mailing address to which you would like your copy of the book to be shipped.
Organizers: Radka Pallova (Graduate Student, History) and Mo van de Wege (Graduate Student, History)
To receive meeting invitations, contact Program Manager Anna D’Elia to be added to our listserv.
Previous list of titles:
AY 2024-25
September 16, 2024: Michael Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa.
October 23, 2024: Susan Kilby, Peasant Perspectives on the Medieval Landscape: A Study of Three Communities.
November 12, 2024: Nur Masalha, Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History.
December 9, 2024: Rory Naismith, Making Money in the Early Middle Ages.
AY 2023-24
October 9, 2023: Ruth Mazo Karras, Thou Art the Man: The Masculinity of David in the Christian and Jewish Middle Ages.
November 14, 2023: Samuel Ottewill-Soulsby, The Emperor and the Elephant.
December 14, 2023: Chris Whickham, The Donkey and the Boat: Reinterpreting the Mediterranean Economy, 950 – 1180.
February 15, 2024: Xin Wen, The King’s Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road.
March 19, 2024: Kristina Richardson, Roma in the Medieval Islamic World: Literacy, Culture, and Migration.
April 24, 2024: 3 Articles. Geraldine Heng, “The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages I: Race Studies, Modernity, and the Middle Ages;” Geraldine Heng, “The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages II: Locations of Medieval Race;” William C. Jordan and Helmut Reimitz, “Anti-Race? The Danger of Binaries” in Thomas Hahn, ed., A Cultural History of Race in the Middle Ages, vol. 2. Co-hosted with the Race Before Modernity Book Club.
AY 2022-23
October 6, 2022: Rachel Koopman, Wonderful to Relate: Miracle Stories and Miracle Collecting in High Medieval England
November 7, 2022: Eleanor Janega, The Middle Ages: A Graphic History
December 8, 2022: Claire Weeda, Ethnicity in Medieval Europe, 950 – 1250: Medicine, Power and Religion. Co-hosted with the Race Before Modernity Book Club.
February 13, 2023: Roland Betancourt, Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages.
March 22, 2023: Olivia Constable, Housing the Stranger in the Mediterranean World.
April 20, 2023: Christian Heck and Rémy Cordonnier, The Grand Medieval Bestiary: Animals in Illuminated Manuscripts.
