COURSES

Courses in the fields of medieval, Renaissance and early modern studies will be posted here as they become known. If you know of a course that ought to be listed here, please contact Alan Stewart at ags2105@columbia.edu.

 

 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MED-REN GRADUATE COURSES FALL 2011
List updated August 4, 2011

AHIS W4368 Gothic Sculpture (Stephen Murray)
AHIS G8342 Sebastiano Serlio: Theory of architecture between Italy and France (Francesco Benelli)
CLEN G6045 Medieval Romance (Susan Crane) R 11:00-12:50
CLEN W4122 The Renaissance in Europe (Kathy Eden) MW 10:35-11:50
CLEN W4721 Magic, Carnival. Sacrament and Other Theatrical Illusions: European Renaissance and Baroque Drama and Spectacle (Julie Peters) TR 10:35-11:50
ENGL W4091 Introduction to Old English (Patricia Dailey) MW 2:40-3:55pm
ENGL W4901 History of the English Language (David Yerkes) TR 6:10-7:25pm
ENGL G6200 Places of Writing, Places of Reading (Julie Crawford & Molly Murray) W 4:10-6:00pm
FREN G6001 History and Structure of the French Language (Sylvie Lefèvre)
HIST G8100 The Medieval Mediterranean (Adam Kosto) M 2:10-4
HIST G8165 History of Political Economy (Carl Wennerlind & Pierre Force) T 4:10-6
HIST G8913 Methods in History of Science (Pamela Smith & Marwa Elshakry) R 11-12:50
HSEA G6009 Colloquium on Early Modern Japan (Gregory Pflugfelder) R 4:10-6
HSEA G8879 Early Modern China (Dorothy Ko) T 4:10-6
ITAL G4050 The Medieval Lyric: From the Scuola Siciliana to Dante (Teodolinda Barolini) R 4:10-6:00
ITAL G4079 Boccaccio's Decameron (Teodolinda Barolini) T 4:10-6:00
ITAL G4097 The Italian Renaissance Romance Epic I (Jo Ann Cavallo) M 2:10-4:00
MDES W4223 Muslim Spain: Literature and Society (Alan Verskin)
MDES G4229 The Family in the Pre-Modern Islamic World (Alan Verskin)
RELI G8150 History of Christianity: Miracles and Law in Medieval Christianity (Robert Somerville) R 4:10-6
SPAN G6109 Romance in Medieval Spain (Patricia Grieve) W 1:10-4:00pm
SPAN G6343 Theories of the Arts in the Iberian Worlds (Alessandra Russo) Th 1:10-4:00pm

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

(AHIS W4368) Gothic Sculpture (Stephen Murray)
While we will consider all aspects of medieval sculptural production (including tombs, screen and shrines) the
course will focus upon French portal sculpture of the 12th and 13th centuries. Using the thousands of
high-resolution images now assembled in www.mappinggothicfrance.org we will look for the connective tissue that
links portals into a coherent narrative.

(AHIS G8342) Sebastiano Serlio: Theory of architecture between Italy and France (Francesco Benelli)
The seminar seeks to investigate Serlio's theoretical precepts based on the classical rules and the way they
impacted on the still strong gothic French architecture. Most of the sessions will take place in the Rare Book
Collection of Avery Library working directly on Serlio's first editions of his treatises and on his collection
of drawings. Knowledge of Italian and French is strongly recommended.

CLEN G6045 Medieval Romance (Susan Crane) R 11:00-12:50. 3pts. (Seminar).
From its appearance in the later twelfth century through the end of the Middle Ages, romance was the dominant
long narrative genre in western vernaculars. As such, it was an important imaginative space for developing and
reconsidering ideologies of identity, justice, conquest, sexuality, faith, history, and more. This course will
only begin to introduce the genre's capacious reach. We will place English romances in their Anglo-Norman and
continental French context, and we will focus on just a few of their many preoccupations. First unit: courtship,
homoeroticism, gender definition; second unit: chivalric identity, honor, performance of identity; third unit:
nation, race, and faith. Romances likely to be on the syllabus: Eneas, Tristan, Erec and Enide, Knight of the
Cart, Romance of the Rose, Romance of Horn, King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Floris and Blancheflor, Squire's Tale,
Morte Darthur. Course requirements: weekly posting on Courseworks; research paper with preliminary presentation
to the class.

CLEN W4122x The Renaissance in Europe (Kathy Eden) MW 10:35-11:50am. 3 pts. (Lecture).
Selected works of some of the principal prose writers of the European Renaissance, including Petrarch, Valla,
More, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Erasmus and Montaigne.

CLEN W4721x Magic, Carnival, Sacrament, and Other Theatrical Illusions:
European Renaissance and Baroque Drama and Spectacle (Julie Peters) TR 10:35-11:50am. 3 pts. (Lecture).
Spectacle, make-believe, and other forms of alternative reality in the European Renaissance. This course will
look at drama, theatre, and the cultures of spectacle in Renaissance and Neoclassical Europe (Italy, Germany,
Spain, England, and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), situating English Renaissance drama in
the wider European context. While looking at European drama's enactment of the tropes of altered reality
("life is a dream," "all the world's a stage," "acting is believing"), we will also attend to the ways in which
street performance, machinery, technologies of the human body, and the Renaissance sensorium generally (music,
light, movement) coalesce into the spectacular illusionism of Renaissance performance. We will explore theatre
as magical and spiritual practice; carnival, charivari, and everyday cross-dressing, beggary, prostitution, and
other street improvisations; court masque, imperial pageant, and public torture as disciplinary technique;
sacrament, conversion, and other forms of illusionism and self-transformation. Texts include films, visual
images, theatrical documents, festival books, commedia dell'arte scenarios, and plays by Shakespeare's greatest
near-contemporaries.

ENGL W4091 Introduction to Old English (Patricia Dailey) MW 2:40-3:55.
Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. 3 pts. (Lecture).
This class is an introduction to the language and literature of England from around the 8th to the 11th
centuries. Because this is predominantly a language class, we will spend much of our class time studying
grammar as we learn to translate literary and non-literary texts. While this course provides a general
historical framework for the period as it introduces you to the culture of Anglo-Saxon England, it will also
take a close look at how each work contextualizes (or recontextualizes) relationships between the human and
the divine, the natural and the super-natural, the individual and society. We will be using Hasenfratz and
Jambeck's Reading Old English as our language textbook, and supplementing it with Mitchell and Robinson's
An Introduction to Old English. Requirements: Students will be expected to do assignments for each meeting.
The course will involve a mid-term, a final exam, and a final presentation on a Riddle which will also be
turned in.

ENGL W4901 History of the English Language (David Yerkes) TR 6:10-7:25pm.
4 pts. (Lecture).
Officially this is a "lecture" course, so everyone is welcome to come -- freshmen through seniors, as well
as graduate students -- and there are no prerequisites whatsoever. But unlike many "lecture" courses, this
course will have constant class discussion, so ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY. Also, if you miss the first class,
you cannot get into the course. This course applies knowledge of the English language and its history to
issues of literature, law, and other things as well. There are no required books, but there will be plenty
of handouts -- all of them supplied gratis. There will be about half a dozen graded written assignments, most
of them only about two pages long, but at least one of them rather extensive; and there may be in-class exams.
Class participation is a BIG part of the grade.

FREN G6001 History and Structure of the Ferench Language (Sylvie Lefèvre)
Situates the French language within the Romance languages by tracing its archeology from
classical to popular Latin, then through Middle Ages. The basic notions of historical phonetics
and an introduction to Old French. Translate texts from the 11th to the 15th centuries, with
focus on those of 12th and 13th centuries.

HIST G8100 The Medieval Mediterranean (Adam Kosto) M 2:10-4
This colloquium examines the problem of the integrated study of Mediterranean societies and institutions
in the pre-modern period. Students will read synthetic works that attempt to encompass the entire region,
as well as local studies from a comparative perspective. The course is intended for graduate students in
medieval history and others preparing for original research or oral examinations fields on Mediterranean
subjects.

HIST G8165 History of Political Economy (Carl Wennerlind & Pierre Force) T 4:10-6
A study of the emergence of political economy in eighteenth-century Britain and France, with a focus on the
problematic relationship between economics and politics, and the gradual establishment of economics as a
separate field of knowledge. Authors include Hobbes, Locke, Mandeville, Montesquieu, Hume, Rousseau, Smith,
Say, and Ricardo.

HIST G8913 Methods in History of Science (Pamela Smith & Marwa Elshakry) R 11-12:50
This graduate colloquium will introduce students to methods in the history of science. It covers the history
of the history of science whil surveying current methodologies through key theoretical and critical works.
Beginning with the identity and invention of science, it then moves on to examine major twentieth century
methodological moments: from postivism and antipositivism, historical epistemology, actor-network theory and
the sociology of knowledge to new views on artisanal knowledge and disciplinary allegiances. This is followed
by a set of case studies--at both local and global levels--that examine such things as science as a particular
form of knowledge, the question of science and interest, intellectual property, and the moral economy of
science. No previous experience in the history of science or particular scientific knowledge is required.

HSEA G6009 Colloquium on Early Modern Japan (Gregory Pflugfelder) R 4:10-6
Reading and discussion of primary and secondary materials dealing with Japanese history from the 16th
through 19th centuries. Attention to both historical and historiographic issues, focusing on a different theme
or aspect of early modern history each time offered.

HSEA G8879 Early Modern China (Dorothy Ko) T 4:10-6
This graduate colloquium is an introduction to "early modern" Chinese culture and society (15th to 19th centuries)
in a global and comparative framework. As such, it provides a broad overview of some of the influential books
that have shaped the field in the recent two decades. The books and topics are selected in part because of their
relevance to studies of modern China and Europe. The course is designed for: (i) Ph.D. and M.A. students in
history, literature, art history, and religious studies who desire to conduct research in the Ming-Qing period,
(ii) those who major in modern China who are considering an oral exam field in the Ming-Qing period, and (iii)
those interested in comparative modernities in a regional or global frame. The goal of the colloquium is to
familiarize students with the key issues under debate in the fields of history (and, to a lesser extent, art
history)-an international endeavor that involves scholars in China, Taiwan, Japan, America, and Europe. The
readings may include key texts in Chinese; students who do not read Chinese can contribute all the same by taking
up alternative texts in English for the week. The term "early modern" in the title of the course is a
placeholder: its applicability to a period otherwise known as "late imperial" is the very issue under debate in
the field and in this class.

ITAL G4050 The Medieval Lyric: From the Scuola Siciliana to Dante (Teodolinda Barolini) R 4:10-6 PM
This course maps the origins of the Italian lyric, starting in Sicily and following its development in Tuscany,
in the poets of the dolce stil nuovo and ultimately, Dante. Lectures in English; text in Italian, although
comparative literature students who can follow with the help of translations are welcome.

ITAL G4079 Boccaccio's Decameron (Teodolinda Barolini) T 4:10-6PM
While focusing on the Decameron, this course follows the arc of Boccaccio's career from the Ninfale Fiesolano,
through the Decameron, and concluding with the Corbaccio, using the treatment of women as the connective thread.
The Decameron is read in the light of its cultural density and contextualized in terms of its antecedents, both
classical and vernacular, and of its intertexts, especially Dante's Commedia, with particular attention to
Boccaccio's masterful exploitation of narrative as a means for undercutting all absolute certainty. Lectures
in English; text in Italian, although comparative literature students who can follow with the help of translations
are welcome.

ITAL G4097 The Italian Renaissance Romance Epic I (Jo Ann Cavallo) M 2:10-4PM
An in-depth study of Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato, and Cinque canti, and Tasso's Rinaldo and Gerusalemme Liberata.
Topics include the role of allegory, the presence of history, the use of classical and vernacular intertexts, and
the influence of European intellectual currents.

MDES W4223 Muslim Spain: Literature and Society (Alan Verskin)
For almost eight centuries, Muslim Spain was distinguished by great cultural, religious and ethnic diversity.
Sometimes peaceful, sometimes volatile, it was in this region that some of Islam’s greatest intellectual and
cultural accomplishments were achieved. This course examines life in Muslim Spain through an examination of
the chronicles, poetry, literature, philosophy and legal works that were produced there. It will introduce
students to the great authors and political actors of this period. It will explore patterns of conflict,
coexistence, cooperation, conversion, conquest and crusade and their social and cultural impact on the area.
Students will have the opportunity to engage with some of the great texts of the era, as they would in a
philosophy or literature course and, at the same time, will be exposed to the political and social history
surrounding the evolution of this literature.

MDES G4229 The Family in the Pre-Modern Islamic World (Alan Verskin)
This course explores the religious ideals and practical realities of family life in the medieval Islamic world.
We begin by discussing some of the problems of both defining the term family and of using medieval historical
sources. We will investigate the diverse kinds of relationships which were thought to exist between husbands
and wives, siblings, in-laws, co-wives in polygamous marriages, people related through marriage and adoption,
and domestic slaves. We will discuss medieval attitudes towards marriage and divorce, sexuality and celibacy,
family planning and childhood. We will also examine the extent to which Muslim women participated in various
political, economic and social spheres. Part of the course will be devoted to helping students to read primary
sources in the original Arabic.

SPAN G6109 Romance in Medieval Spain (Patricia Grieve) W 1:10-4:00pm
Hispanomedieval romances, long fictions, represent an amalgamation of storytelling elements and
the reworking of myths, legends, and historical events, both western and non-western. In addition
to the love stories so often found in the genre, romance can include physical and spiritual quests,
and searches for knowledge about the world and our place in it. Romance is not neutral storytelling:
the tales typically reflect and explore social ideologies of their time. The course readings are
Iberian versions of Byzantine, Carolingian, and Troy romances, hagiographic, chivalric-hagiographic
romances, and sentimental romances. We will compare some of them to their eastern and western analogues
in order to ascertain Iberian innovations and to enable us to understand what changes from earlier
versions held clear significance for the Iberian storyteller.

SPAN G6343 Theories of the Arts in the Iberian Worlds (Alessandra Russo) Th 1:10-4:00pm
In recent decades scholars have focused their attention on a precise aspect of the Iberian expansion
between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries: the vast circulation of overseas objects as
"goods," with the consequent enrichment of the European collections, the birth of the Wonder Cabinets
etc. Beyond these physical movements of new items, from Peru, Brazil, India, New Spain, Sierra Leone, or
the Philippines, however, another parallel and equally significant process took place: the production
and circulation of texts documenting, describing and analyzing the diversity of these creations, the
qualitative exceptionality of their creators´ abilities, their mythologies, their material specificities,
and their possible aesthetic, theological, or political links as well as their key role in the Iberian
domination process itself. These two movements between texts and images are intimately intertwined: as
more items were being produced overseas, more texts were being devoted to their existence and production;
then as more texts were being written,published, and read, more objects were being desired, commissioned,
invented, and shipped. The seminar will explore the variety of these sources -variety of genres (chronicles,
histories, inventories, grammars, dictionaries, legal or inquisitorial processes), variety of authorships
(conquistadors, missionaries, ambassadors, travelers, visitadores, cronistas, naturalists, historians,
collectors, artists) etc.- in order to examine the relationship between textual and visual production in
Early Modernity. The study of this unexpected "literature of art" will be continuously accompanied with
the discussion of the actual artifacts commented in the sources. We will also consider if there are local
specificities in the production of such texts: for instance, is the impressive amount of sources exclusively
related to the "American" (New Spain, Brazil, Perú...) artistic processes understandable within a broader
Iberian perspective or is there something specific in the observation and examination of the "American" aesthetics?