Books for Spring 2011

Here are the books I am assigning for Spring 2011. I STRONGLY recommend you look for used copies online, which will be much cheaper than KU Bookstore prices.

• Thomas More, Utopia (Turner Translation) ISBN: 9780140449105
• Macculloch, The Reformation, A History ISBN: 9780143035381
• Fagan, The Little Ice Age ISBN: 9780465022724
• J. Elliott, The Old World and the New ISBN: 9780521427098
• Watt ed., The Long Reformation ISBN: 9780618435777
• Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms ISBN: 9780801843877

How Language Affects Thought

The Elliot book is largely about the mental impact of the New World on the Old. This article from the NYT goes into the many ways of how our language constructs the way we think and categorize knowledge.

Orientalism in Modern Cinema

Orientalism is term scholars use to describe the romanticization of the Near and Far East, usually by projecting the desires generated by our disillusionment with the modern Western world onto an exotic, foreign tableau. In this sense, the Orient is viewed as the antithesis of the West, either as a purer, more spiritual, timeless place waiting for Westerners to come and discover themselves, or as a confusing, untamed, and irrational place where Western norms break down. Much like the dichotomy of the Noble Savage/Cannibal in the Western imagination of the New World, both rely on stereotypes and placing the foreign into Western mental categories.

Orientalism arguably goes back to the ancient Greeks, who emphasized the foreignness of their Persian adversaries. Modern orientalism is a product of the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and went hand-in-hand with imperialism. It continues to inform many of our views of the East. It is important to understand it as a cultural process because it so often limits our ability to understand Asia on its own terms. While these misunderstandings aren't always harmful, it is important to realize that they are there, and that just as we approach the foreign with our own mental toolbox, the foreign also approaches us with theirs'.

This article from NPR describes orientalism using examples from modern cinema, including the new film Eat, Pray, Love.

Maps as a Cultural Artifact

This article from BBC Magazine fits nicely into our discussion of the Elliot volume.

Spring '10 Final Exam

Directions: Answer 2 of the following questions in essay form using the same style guidelines as for the research paper. An adequate answer will be 4 pages minimum. Your grade will be based on how well your response uses evidence from the assigned readings. Exams will be due between noon and 1pm on Friday of Finals Week at a location TBA (our classroom might be occupied). I will only accept hardcopies. No email attachments please.

1) What was the impact of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations on social disciplining and state-building? What was its relationship with popular culture? The witch craze?

2) Discuss the mental impact of the discovery of the Americas on European society. How did their cultural background influence their perception of the New World?

3) The sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were dominated by conflict that can be characterized as religious but also had political, social, and economic factors at play. Discuss the Wars of Religion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the non-religious factors that were contributing factors.

Discussion Questions for Social Disciplining

1) What does Reinhard mean by "confessionalization"?

2) What is the relationship between religious reform and the development of the modern Western state?

3) What is "social disciplining"?

4) Are there any ways in which social disciplining is still prevalent in modern society?

Vampires in Renaissance Venice

The belief in vampires was not limited to Transylvania, Romania, and the extremes of Eastern Europe. They survived longer there because the social and cultural trends that dismissed these beliefs as superstitions - the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution - were not as prominent there as they were further west. For this reason, folk beliefs that were commonplace in pre-modern Europe persisted longer in Eastern Europe, and became a form of exotic entertainment for Western audiences.

It is not unusual for archaeologists to find evidence of vampire beliefs in burial rituals throughout Europe. Vampires were not as clearly defined (or sexy) as they are in modern popular culture rather, they were part of a larger system of belief in the ability of certain dead to harm the living. This was not unusual in a world where the boundary between this life and the next was conceived as thin and easily crossed, and where the dead in the form of saints and ancestors could also protect the living.

This article from National Geographic is about a burial from the sixteenth century that was uncovered in Venice. It is evidence of the persistence of these types of beliefs in a time and place where we might not expect them, as well as the fluidity of definitions of witchcraft and the undead.

Spring '10 MIDTERM Instructions

Answer two of the three following questions in essay form. Your responses should be 3-5 pages each and you should adhere to the same formatting guidelines that I have listed for your research papers. The questions are purposely open-ended to give you the flexibility to demonstrate what you have learned so far. You will be graded on how well your responses use evidence from the course readings and discussions.

You are strongly encouraged to discuss these questions among yourselves on this board. I will monitor the discussions and participate in them from time to time.

A) The Protestant Reformation was as much a cultural revolution as it was a movement in religious doctrine. Discuss the culture of the Latin Church in the late Middle Ages and give reasons why it was spiritually unsatisfying for so many. Discuss Christian Humanism and how it reflects changing cultural ideals in Western Europe. What does the "sincerity threshold" refer to and how did it relate to the appeal of Catholic or Protestant doctrine in various parts of Europe?

B) Although Protestant reformers claimed to base their views on the eternal word of the Gospel, the Protestant movement went through many evolutions in the sixteenth century, often in response to contemporary events and developments. How did events like the Peasant's War and the Anabaptist movement change Protestant views of state authority? How did religious war contribute to the development of new models of state authority such as constitutionalism and absolutism?

C) The Catholic Reformation has often been labeled as a "counter-reformation" in the sense that it was a direct response to the Protestant movement. However many historians argue that the Catholic Reformation was its own movement that would have occurred in some form or another without Protestantism. Discuss movements to reform the Church in the sixteenth century including Christian Humanism and the Society of Jesus. Why did it take so long for the Council of Trent to take place? How did the Council of Trent reaffirm Catholic culture? How did it change the Catholic Church?

Syllabus for Spring 2010

The syllabus for Spring 2010 is now posted online. CLICK HERE.