Teaching Medieval and Early-Modern Cross-Cultural Encounters Across Disciplines and Eras

We seek essays for a collection exploring innovative methodologies for teaching medieval and early-modern cross-cultural encounters in the undergraduate and graduate classrooms. Renewed interest in Christian-Islamic and Christian-Jewish relations, revised histories of trans-Atlantic encounters, and new work on multi-cultural geographic regions, such as the Mediterranean, Andalusian Spain, and the British Isles, have led researchers from a range of fields to demonstrate the diversity and complexity of cultural identities as they were perceived and negotiated during these two eras. Scholars have also considered artistic and historical dimensions that exclude Europeans and their perspectives by focusing, for instance, on cross-cultural encounters within Asia and Africa. In addition, these areas of research have stimulated debate regarding the inclusion or non-inclusion of earlier periods into larger narratives of race, religion, and nation. Cross-cultural encounters now feature prominently in class curricula, partly because they illustrate the heterogeneity of medieval and early-modern societies and perspectives, in turn rendering these eras more interesting and relevant to our students. Given the current academic climate, in which fields of study once central to the university curriculum now face marginalization and elimination, the relevance of medieval and early-modern cross-cultural encounters to current questions regarding race, religion, and nation could help invigorate the study of early cultures. Yet, how might we negotiate concerns regarding historicism, anachronism, and cultural comparison when teaching cross-cultural encounters?

We welcome proposals from instructors in any field and any period who have organized courses (in part or in whole) on medieval and/or early modern cross-cultural encounters, actual and/or imagined. We encourage creative approaches to this topic and are open to all interpretations of “medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters.”

Some of the issues proposals might consider include:

• medieval and early modern views and literary/artistic productions of dominant and minority cultures
• fruitful pedagogic strategies and sources; practical and conceptual difficulties
• teaching cross-cultural encounters as contributions to renewal or change within university pedagogy and academic disciplines
• responsibly extending courses focused on cross-cultural encounters beyond specific historical eras
• designing classes on cross-cultural encounters that don’t favor the perspective of a single culture
• incorporating medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters in courses taught by non-specialists
• medieval/early-modern cross-cultural encounters and current cultural crises across the globe
• teaching medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters that decenter or exclude Europe

This volume develops from a seminar we organized at the American Comparative Literature Association’s 2012 conference. Based on interest in this volume among conference participants and others, we are confident that we can place it with a peer-reviewed academic press. Essays should not exceed 7000 words and will be due in June 2013.

Please submit a 300-word abstract and short biography to Lynn.Shutters@colostate.edu and Karina.Attar@qc.cuny.edu by October 1st, 2012. We are also happy to field questions from and provide further information to potential contributors.