Spring 2008 Medieval Studies Courses
The following list is intended to be as inclusive as possible. An effort has been made to include all courses listed in the Medieval Studies program regulations as counting toward the graduate minor or undergraduate minor. Courses which might be of interest to medievalists but which do not count toward one of the minors are also included. Please consult the director of the minor program with questions about the relevance of specific courses.
This information is subject to change. Please consult the Registrar's online schedule or the websites of individual departments for up-to-date information on spring courses.
UNC students may also take courses at Duke University through inter-institutional registration. See the courses webpage of the Duke University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies for the most up-to-date information on medieval courses at Duke.
Art
ART 290 Islamic Art in the Age of the Caliphs (7-13th c.) Glaire Anderson
Beginning with the earliest Islamic monument, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the course introduces the art and architecture of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid dynasties. We will examine the major artistic monuments (primarily architecture, but also calligraphy, painting, ceramics, and other objects) produced around the Mediterranean, in Iraq, and in North Africa. The course uses a combination of lectures and group discussion to emphasize the socio-historical contexts within which the art and architecture of the Islamic lands developed. Required readings, a term research project, and short writing assignments (one based on direct analysis of an object in the Ackland Museum collection) provide an introduction to the major themes and regional variations characteristic of this period, and the opportunity to explore specific issues in greater depth than is possible in the general survey of Islamic art. The course fulfills the VP, BN and WB slots in the General Education curriculum.
ART 956
Graduate Seminar in Islamic Art (Orientalism and Art)
Glaire Anderson
This seminar focuses on the conventions and historiography of Orientalism, and the means by which ideology shapes representation. Adopting a flexible thematic framework, our discussions will begin with the critical and theoretical foundations (Said, Foucault) and explore the contours of Orientalism as it has developed as an art historical discourse informed by post-colonial studies and cultural criticism.
We will consider constructs of Otherness as revealed by moments of encounter between Europe and the "Orient" from Antiquity to the present: for example: pre-modern travel literature about the Islamic lands; European and American Orientalist painting and literature; recreations of Islamic architecture in the 19th West; as well as contemporary issues, such as the clash of civilizations, identity, multiculturalism, and hybridity, that shape the ways we see and interpret the world around us today.
Requirements include weekly reading and writing assignments and active participation in discussions. Students will be asked to introduce readings and to post discussion questions to the class Blackboard site. A final research paper will be presented in class before being submitted at the end of the term.
Classics
CLAS 418/418H:
Introduction to Byzantine civilization
Dr. Carolyn L. Connor
CLAS 245 / WMST 245
Women of Byzantium
Dr. Carolyn L. Connor
A study of women's roles and influence in the Late Ancient and Byzantine world of the 4th to the 14th century, based primarily on literature and art.
While the medieval culture of Byzantium was dominated by men in the realms of politics, administration and the military, women were active in important areas of culture and society. We will read and discuss a number of contemporary Byzantine texts written by or about women. These and other, secondary sources shed light on issues, such as the options open to Byzantine women, their rights under the law, female asceticism and piety, women's roles in religious life and communities, domestic life, and the gender roles assigned to ordinary women. Representations of women in art serve as testimony to their creative roles as donatrixes, patterns of life, styles of dress and adornment, and, of course, their actual appearance. Our study will enable us to know and "observe" these culturally remote but fascinating women who shared and contributed to one of the world's great civilizations.
Comparative Literature
CMPL 390
Don Quijote and the Birth of the Imagination
Marsha S. Collins
Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote of La Mancha (1605, 1615) is widely known as the first modern novel, and one could say that every novel written since Don Quijote establishes a creative dialogue with Cervantes' masterpiece. Don Quijote's influence in revolutionizing our concept of the imagination, and its role in life and literature, is perhaps just as important, but has received far less attention. In this course we will read and analyze Don Quijote, considering this work as a product of its time and culture, as the first modern novel, and as literature that has reshaped our notion of the human imagination. We will consider Don Quijote's engagement with literary genres current in the 16th century, Cervantes' experimentation with fictional form, the author's staging of debates about the imagination and imaginative literature, and the changing reception of Don Quijote in different times and countries, along with the changing critical conceptions of this work. We will also view and discuss illustrations of Cervantes' novel, and changing visual representations through the centuries. What is the legacy of Don Quijote for the modern novel and the modern concept of the imagination?
English
ENGL 120
British Literature: Chaucer to Pope
Joseph Wittig
A survey of British literature from the beginnings to the age of Pope and Sam Johnson. The focus will be on narrative and lyric poetry, but we will also read some drama and some prose. (Syllabus from Spring 2007 will be available at: http://www.unc.edu/~jwittig/120/en120.htm); "guest" login to this semester's version of the course should be available on Blackboard (English 120, Section 1).
Fills requirement for majors. Class attendance is expected. Teaching methods: Lecture and discussion. Requirements: Midterm and final exam. Two short (c. 5 page) interpretative papers.
Texts:
(required): The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol 1. Abrams (ed), 8th ed. (Norton, 2006)
(recommended): William Harmon, A Handbook to Literature. 10th ed. (Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2006)
ENGL 319
Readings in Old English Literature
Joseph Wittig
In this course we will read a selection of Old English and Middle English literature, with hard texts read in modern English translation but with regular exposure to samples in the original. We will look at some of the most famous texts from the medieval period (Beowulf, Gawain and the Green Knight, versions of King Arthur's story) and some of the best known medieval genres (for example, Old English battle poetry, elegies and riddles; Middle English fabliaux, romances, animal tales, lyrics, writings by and for women). We both read them as literary "entertainment" and try to understand something of their historical and cultural context. The course will be taught as lecture and discussion.
We will have a midterm and final exam, quizzes (as needed), and two short papers. Class attendance is expected, as is participation in the class Blackboard Discussion Forum. For the syllabus and other information still available on the web from a previous version of this course (Spring 2006, under the "old" number of English 51), see: http://www.unc.edu/~jwittig/51/en51.htm
Texts:
Bradley, S. A. Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Everyman. Vermont: Tuttle, 1982.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed., vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2000 OR the first part of this book published separately as:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: the Middle Ages. 7th ed., vol. 1 A. New York: Norton, 2000 (identical to the above but containing only the first 460 pages).
ENGL320
Chaucer
Professor Ted Leinbaugh
French
FREN 371
Survey of French Literature I: The Middle Ages and Renaissance
Hassan Melehy
FREN 830
François Rabel
Hassan Melehy
German
GERM 820
Cultures of Emotion in the Middle Ages
Kathryn Starkey
What do our feelings today have to do with emotions represented in historical sources? To what extent does social context govern emotional display? What is the relationship between the performance of emotions and their feeling? In this graduate seminar we will draw on a wide range of readings on emotion from diverse disciplinary fields to explore these and other questions. Our readings will help us to develop an understanding of emotion theory and issues of historical specificity. In addition we will read several important German medieval literary texts including Eilhart's Tristan, Gottfried's Tristan, Wolfram's Willehalm, Hartmann's Iwein, and the Nibelungenlied.
Prerequisite: Graduate-Level or permission of Instructor.
Readings Available in German or English
History
HIST 107
Medieval History
Brett Whalen
This course provides an introduction to the history of Europe and the Mediterranean world during the Middle Ages (ca. 300-1500), beginning with the transformations of the Roman world in late antiquity and concluding with the origins of the modern era. As a survey course, the class will explore events and developments in political, social and economic life. Special attention, however, will be paid to topics in religious and cultural history, including the authority of the Roman papacy, the crusades, the problem of heresy and trends in late medieval spirituality. In addition to covering the basic narrative and structures of medieval European history, this course will introduce students to some of the basic skills employed by historians (e.g. how to primary sources; identify and critique scholarly arguments; develop written arguments).
HIST 490
Between Flesh and Spirit: Gender, the Body and the Holy in Medieval
Christianity
Brett Whalen
Would men and women be resurrected complete with their sexual identities? Did martyrs feel pain? Could women act as legitimate sources of divine revelation? "Between Flesh and Spirit: Gender, the Body and the Holy in Medieval Christianity" will explore the response to questions such as these from late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Students will explore the gendered language and logic of theological tracts, hagiographies, exegesis, illuminated manuscripts and other materials as they relate to problems of the body and sanctity, including the resurrection of the flesh at the end of time, the act of martyrdom, the cult of relics, the judicial ordeal and claims of spiritual revelation. This class is intended for advanced sophomores, juniors and seniors. Anticipated enrollment will be around 15 students. As a history course, students will be expected to analyze primary source materials (more on this class) and interpret them as part of their broader political, social and cultural context. Although the class will incorporate some formal lecture, the burden will be on the students to participate actively in discussion of the shared readings and to carry out other class-related assignments. Although not required, it is highly suggested that students take one of the following course before enrolling: Introduction to Medieval Europe, Gender and Sexuality in the Western Christian Tradition, or Introduction to the History of Christian Traditions.
PWAD 660/ ENGL 660
War in Shakespeare's Plays
Christopher Armitage
War has occurred throughout recorded history, and war is a factor in many of Shakespeare's plays. In some it permeates the action; in others it is secondary but significant. In Hamlet, for example, the prince's familial conflicts are matched by Norway's warlike designs on Denmark: our focus will be on the latter, not on Hamlet's problems with his parents and girlfriend.
Like the work of other great artists who have long creative careers, Shakespeare's changed over time. We therefore usually take up his plays in the order he wrote them. For some of them, selected readings essential for this course will be announced as we proceed.
Religion
RELI 583
Religion and Culture in Iran, 1500-Present
Carl Ernst
RELI 584
Introduction to the Qur'an as Literature
Carl Ernst
Spanisch
SPAN 371
Survey of Spanish Literature to 1700
Frank Dominguez
Prerequisites, SPAN 260 and 300 or equivalent. The literature of Spain through 1700. Representative authors of Spanish literature from the medieval, Renaissance, and Golden Age.
SPAN 371
Survey of Spanish Literature to 1700
Carmen Hsu
An inquiry into the development of Spanish literature in its social and historical context from the Middle Ages to the end of the seventeenth century.
SPAN 650
The Spanish Commedia of the Golden Age
Carmen Hsu
Prerequisites for undergraduates SPAN 371 and 372 or 373. A comprehensive study of the most representative plays of the Golden Age Spanish theater from its Renaissance beginnings through the seventeenth century.