Seminar on Paleography and Archival Studies

Posted on January 28, 2013 by briansandberg

Seminar on Paleography and Archival Studies

bia-announcement

For the third consecutive year, the Medici Archive Project will be offering a two-week
intensive seminar on archival research especially intended for advanced
graduate students in Renaissance and early modern studies. This seminar will be
team-taught by current MAP staff. Course participants will have the opportunity
to work directly with original documents and will visit a number of Florentine
archives.

The seminar aims to teach scholars to navigate Italian archives (with particular
emphasis on Florentine collections), to examine in depth various document
typologies, to read the documents, to identify paleographic conventions, and to
apply this research to their scholarly pursuits. Class-size is restricted to twelve,
so that each participant will receive personal guidance.

The seminar will run from Monday, June 10 to Saturday, June 22, 2013.
The tuition for this course is US $ 700, payable by PayPal upon acceptance.
For further information, or to apply, contact Dr. Elena Brizio ebrizio@medici.org .
To apply, please send a CV and a brief statement explaining how this course will
benefit your current research project by May 1, 2013.

Posted in Archival Research, Conferences, Digital Humanities, Early Modern Europe, Graduate Work in History, Grants and Fellowships, Italian History, Mediterranean World, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History, Study Abroad | Leave a comment

Space and Piety in the Mediterranean

Posted on January 28, 2013 by briansandberg

CFP: CONFRATERNITIES, GUILDS/FUTUWWA, AND BROTHERHOODS/TARIQAHS:

SPACE AND PIETY IN THE IRANO-MEDITERRANEAN FRONTIER ZONE

Colin Mitchell and Megan Armstrong are seeking papers for a special interdisciplinary mini-conference on popular religious communities of the post-medieval Irano-Mediterranean frontier. It will take place at the annual meeting of the SCSC, this year to be held in Puerto Rico.

The early modern era (1400-1650) was undoubtedly a period of contact and acculturation. In recent years, there has been increasing interest by scholars in identifying and discussing how expanding cultures and polities – be they based in Istanbul, Venice, Seville, or Isfahan – understood their counterparts across what was once described in the late 1990s by Aziz al-Azmeh as “the Irano-Mediterranean Frontier”. Al-Azmeh’s designation of such was neither fanciful nor facile. He argued, quite convincingly, that the seemingly disparate medieval worlds of Islam and Christendom inherited a vision of society, politics and religion that had been forged in the post-Hellenistic crucible which had so profoundly shaped the worlds of both Mediterranean and Iranian civilization during late Antiquity. To be sure, the religious landscape of the Irano-Mediterranean frontier zone underwent profound changes from the 8-10th centuries as both Christianity and Islam engaged this legacy on a number of levels – theological, legal, societal, philosophical, scientific – to produce new cosmographies and socio-cultural systems which accommodated their respective surrounding contexts.

On this front, the theme of this proposal is to invite papers that focus on namely those “lay” communities who advocated a unique religious identity that did not necessarily prescribe to the ecclesiastical and discursive norm that had emerged by the late medieval period. Such Muslim, Jewish and Christian popular “associations of piety” – e.g. confraternities, guilds, brotherhoods – are now increasingly of interest to modern scholars and their quest to query the dominant narrative defined by the hybrid “establishment” of church/mosque and state.

The theme of these proposed panels is designed fundamentally to bring together those scholars of the early modern Mediterranean and Middle East who are interested in how such constituencies, communities, and organizations shaped and influenced socio-religious categories of orthopraxy, orthodoxy, and heterodoxy. For instance, how does current scholarly research on European confraternities (often seen in the context of guilds, purgatorial societies, meistersingers, troupes performing mystery/miracles plays) share the same body of concerns, questions, and debates currently informing the academic study of pre-modern Sufi tariqahs (brotherhoods), futuwwa (urban pietistic associations), and other popular heterodox Muslim communities.  The question emerges: to what extent can we identify and discuss the post-medieval Irano-Mediterranean frontier zone as a space wherein such pietistic collectives and associations were moving alongside, or independent of, established ecclesiastical and juridical spheres in their respective quotes to locate a “genuine” religious identity? On a more philosophical level: can we look to such communities as vehicles of transmission for innovative cosmologies and metaphysical systems which swept across the post-medieval worlds of Europe and the Middle East in the 15-17th centuries?

Possible panel topics:

Cities/civic governance and pietistic associations

Literature/drama/aesthetics and pietistic associations

Religious texts/exegesis and pietistic associations

Pietistic associations and relationship with the state

Resistance and pietistic associations

Theology/theosophy and pietistic associations

Social history and pietistic associations

Socio-ethnic history and pietistic associations

Philosophy and pietistic associations

Conversion and pietistic associations

Submission

Scholars interested in participating in this event should send an abstract and brief biography to either Colin Mitchell (c.mitchell@Dal.Ca) or Megan Armstrong (marmstr@mcmaster.ca)  no later than March 10, 2013. Complete panels as well as individual submissions are welcome.

Conference Registration

Once accepted, all participants will be expected to register with the SCSC for its main conference. There is no separate registration for the mini conference. Hotel information and all other details on the SCSC conference can be found on its website: www.sixteenthcentury.org. You will also find attached here the CFP for the event.

Please do not hesitate to ask us should you have any questions about the event.

Colin Mitchell and Megan Armstrong

Posted in Conferences, Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, European Wars of Religion, Globalization, Reformation History, Renaissance Art and History | 1 Comment

College Students’ Desired Fields of Study

Posted on January 28, 2013 by briansandberg

Each fall, as a new class of freshmen head off to colleges and universities, incoming students are surveyed to find out information on their backgrounds and aims. Educational research organizations conduct these surveys and attempt to maintain the same questions over decades so that comparative data can be traced over time and analyzed.  The results of these studies are often very revealing.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on this year’s survey results. An interactive feature allows viewers to examine the responses to individual questions.

One of the interesting questions asks incoming students to indicate their intended field of study. These are defined in broad groupings rather than by individual departments or disciplines: Arts and Humanities, Business, Education, Engineering, Health Professions, Mathematics or Computer Science, Physical and Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Other and Undecided.

freshmen-fieldsofstudy

The results for the question on intended fields of study are on the Chronicle of Higher Education.

This way of organizing disciplines is highly problematic. Many of the Humanities are closely allied with Social Sciences, rather than Arts. History, Anthropology, and Sociology are sometimes considered Humanities and other times considered Social Sciences. Physical and Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Humanities would all typically be grouped together in a College of Liberal Arts. Computer Science is sometimes included within a College of Liberal Arts, but sometimes located elsewhere. At universities, Arts would typically be placed within a College of Fine Arts or Performing Arts. Students who enter colleges and universities as undecided majors are often effectively placed in the College of Liberal Arts with a designation of Liberal Arts-Undecided.

Despite these problems with the study, the results are intriguing. Some fields show remarkable stability over the past three to four decades: Arts and Humanities have been the choice of about 12-13 percent of incoming freshmen since the early 1970s. Health Professions have remained steady at approximately 14% of incoming students over the past four decades. Mathematics and Computer Sciences have been the choice of a mere 2-4 percent of freshmen most years. Social Studies have been level at approximately 12-14 percent of freshmen. Engineering students have hovered around 10 percent ever since the late 1970s. The Other and Undecided students have been in the range of 12-14.5 percent most years.

Physical and Life Sciences have varied widely from as low as 6 percent to as high as 15 percent. Education has also varied, falling off from approximately 11 percent in 2000 to 5.7 percent in 2012.

Other fields have clearly lost significance. Business declined from a highpoint as the choice of 25.7 percent of freshmen in 1987 to 14.4 percent in 2012.

Higher education administrators should investigate whether or not funding priorities and department budgets match students’ choices of field of study. I suspect not.

Posted in Education Policy, Humanities Education, Undergraduate Work in History | Leave a comment

Obama’s Strategic Vision

Posted on January 28, 2013 by briansandberg

U.S. President Obama has articulated a strategic vision that focuses on war’s terrible costs, but argues that engaging in warfare is sometimes necessary, according to Bob Woodward. The President seems to share this view of strategy with Chuck Hagel, nominee for Secretary of Defense. Veteran reporter Bob Woodward reports on the the similarities in Obama’s and Hagel’s views of strategy in the Washington Post.

Woodward’s observations are interesting, but seem to refer more to the political level of military decision-making than the sphere of strategy.

Many historians examine military institutions and their prosecution of warfare using the concept of distinct political, strategic, operational, and tactical levels of organization and activity. On this approach, see the classic study: Allan R. Millett and Williamson Murray, eds., Military Effectiveness, 3 vols. (Cambridge, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1988).

Journalists often seem to confuse decision-making over whether or not to commence military action, ultimately a political act, with strategic thinking. Similarly, the Surge, a political decision to send reinforcements to Iraq, is frequently described as a strategy.

The lack of clarity in reporting on war and society issues in the American media unfortunately tends to produce uncritical and ineffective discussions of military priorities and policies.

 

 

Posted in History of Violence, Political Culture, Strategy and International Politics, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

French and Malian Forces take Gao

Posted on January 28, 2013 by briansandberg

French and Malian military forces have retaken the city of Gao.

armeefrancaiseagao

Le Monde reports that on the French government’s statements on the taking of Gao.

The combined French and Malian government forces are now reportedly advancing into Timbuktu, which has been held by Islamist militants for months. BBC and Le Monde report on the advance toward Timbuktu and the seizure of the city’s airport.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Timbuktu has indicated that militants have destroyed a library that housed historic manuscripts in the city. Timbuktu has been an important center of learning and Islamic legal thought, as well as a major trading center on the Trans-Saharan caravan routes, since the 12th century. The Islamic militant groups that seized control of Timbuktu last year have reportedly destroyed Sufi tombs and other historic sites in the city over several months. The loss of the Timbuktu’s important manuscript collections and religious sites is tragic for the citizens of Mali and for the historians of Africa, Islam, legal history, and comparative religion. The Guardian and the Washington Post report on this story.

The military situation on the ground is clearly fluid at this point.  The BBC provides this map illustrating strategic sites that have been involve in the fighting:

mali-conflict

Posted in Civil Conflict, Early Modern World, French History, History of the Book, History of Violence, Religious Violence, Strategy and International Politics, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

First-Person War on Film

Posted on January 27, 2013 by briansandberg

Warfare is now filmed by participants and observers with an intimacy and immediacy never before possible.

lookingbehindsightlines

Soldiers, journalists, and civilians in the Iraq War, Afghan War, Syrian Civil War, and other current conflicts are able to use micro digital cameras mounted on their helmets, smart phones, and rooftops to observe violence. Video clips can then be quickly uploaded to YouTube and other media distribution and exchange websites, where a video has the potential to go viral.

The perspectives offered by first-hand participant-observers can be fascinating, but risk offering completely decontextualized episodes of violence that offer the thrill of first-person shooter video games, but little of the “reality” of warfare.

The Washington Post reports on first-person video shot by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Students in HIST 390 History and Film: War on Film will be interested in this piece.

Posted in Civil Conflict, Historical Film, History of Violence, Strategy and International Politics, War in Film, War, Culture, and Society | Leave a comment

French Art History in Chicago

Posted on January 27, 2013 by briansandberg

Chicago has become a real center for French art history.

Chicago-based art historians have made a mark with their research on French art and culture. Rebecca Zorach, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Chicago, has become one of the leading art historians of the French Renaissance in the United States, on the strength of her Blood, Milk, Ink, Gold: Abundance and Excess in the French Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005).

zorach-bloodmilk

Bernadotte Fort, Professor of French and Affiliate Professor of Art History at Northwestern University, considers early modern French theory and criticism of art. Nina Dubin, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently published a book on Futures & Ruins: Eighteenth-Century Paris and the Art of Hubert Robert. Hannah Higgins, Professor of Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the author of several books on the Fluxus movement.

Other faculty in art history, history, anthropology, and related fields at Northern Illinois University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and other nearby colleges and universities support the growing focus on French art history in Chicago by presenting their work periodically at the Newberry Library, AIC, and other institutions in Chicago.

The French collections of the Art Institute of Chicago in medieval art, Renaissance arms and armor, Renaissance prints, eighteenth-century paintings, Modernist paintings, and Impressionist paintings are truly impressive.

A new traveling exhibition on “Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity“—currently at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris—is coming soon to the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). The AIC periodically organizes blockbuster shows on French and Francophone artists such as its 1993 “Magritte” and 1995 “Claude Monet: 1840-1926” exhibitions.  Recent AIC exhibitions on French art history include: “Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France“; an exhibition on the art of Bonnard, Vuillard, and Roussel; “Entre Nous: The Art of Claude Cahun“; and a 2010 exhibit featuring the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Untitled-1

The AIC publishes catalogs for many of its exhibitions, including the volume edited by Martha Wolff on Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Art in Renaissance France (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011).

Other Chicago museums, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and the Newberry Library, have produced temporary exhibits on French art history. The MCA frequently features artists and art collections with French connections, such as a recent exhibit, “Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Bivouac.” The Newberry Library has showcased its stellar collections of French books, prints, and maps in numerous exhibits. The Field Museum is bringing the new Lascaux exhibition of replicas of cave paintings to Chicago this year.

Lascaux-exhibition

Less well known are the many connections between the Chicago and French contemporary art worlds. Chicago art museums are intimately linked with major French museums through traveling art exhibitions, research exchanges, scholarly conferences, and institutional connections.

The Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, Douglas Druick, was named Officier in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012.  The French Embassy in Washington reports on the award.

Sylvain Bellenger, an experienced French museum curator and director, was recently appointed as Searle Chair and Curator of the Department of Medieval through Modern European Painting and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Art Daily reports on the hire.

The Art Institute of Chicago has produced a new French-language audio guide to its collections for French and Francophone visitors. A recent teacher workshop at the Art Institute discussed the new guide.

Posted in Art History, Contemporary Art, European History, French History, Humanities Education, Museums and Historical Memory, Renaissance Art and History, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Poop Patrol in Paris

Posted on January 26, 2013 by briansandberg

Having recently returned from a research trip to Paris, I couldn’t resist sharing this post on the poop patrol in Paris!

OK, so poop patrol is my own term, but the patrolling does really exist.

dogpatrol

NPR‘s Eleanor Beardsley reports on the Parisian officials who enforce the laws requiring dog owners to clean up their dogs’ waste.

This story really hits home for me in a new way, since the dog was along for the research stay in France this time (for the first time).

My own experience of living in France during research stays periodically over the past two decades suggests that Parisians are indeed getting much better about cleaning up after their dogs.  That said, your shoes can still have unpleasant encounters on the streets of Paris. So, watch your step!

 

Posted in European History, European Union, French History, Paris History, Study Abroad | Leave a comment

Multicultural European History

Posted on January 26, 2013 by briansandberg

Europe has a long history of immigration and cultural mixing that has often been obscured by nationalist historical writing from the nineteenth century to today.  Although historical definitions of Europe have often cast “Europeans” as white, this racial description has never reflected the entire population of the cultural area of Europe.

A fascinating NPR story about an Afro-European boy who wanted to become a Hitler Youth in 1940s Germany reveals how complicated the multicultural history of Europe can be when seriously contemplated.

Over the past generation, historians of ancient, medieval, and early modern Europe have been expanding our awareness of the long-term history of multiracial and multicultural populations in European societies.

earle-blackafricans

One important example of this sort of historical work is: T. F. Earle and K. J. P. Lowe, eds., Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Atlantic World histories have produced a vast body of work on multicultural relationships across the Atlantic in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, but have often failed to consider multicultural relationships within Europe.

Work on the Mediterreanean World has arguably been more effective in generating new research on inter-religious and multicultural connections in the medieval and early modern periods within Europe, as well as other regions of the Mediterranean.

Posted in Early Modern Europe, Early Modern World, European History, Globalization, Mediterranean World | Leave a comment

US Women in Combat

Posted on January 24, 2013 by briansandberg

The Department of Defense has announced that it will lift the ban on women serving in combat positions in the United States military.

womenincombat-iraq2004

The move in some ways confirms the already-existing situation in the Iraq War and Afghan War over the past decade, but it also removes constraints and greatly expands the potential for female soldiers to serve in combat roles worldwide. The decision means that women will now be eligible for promotion to be officers in combat units.

The Washington Post reports on this story.

 

Posted in Gender and Warfare, History of Violence, Strategy and International Politics, War, Culture, and Society, Women and Gender History | Leave a comment