FF:HIB064bn Ethnicity, Race, and Identity - Informace o předmětu

HIB064bn Ethnicity, Race, and Identity in the Middle Ages: An Introduction to Methodological and Theoretical Approaches

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Vyučující

Stanisław Leon Banach, MA (přednášející)

Garance

Stanisław Leon Banach, MA
Historický ústav – Filozofická fakulta
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Historický ústav – Filozofická fakulta

Rozvrh

Út 16:00–17:40 B2.41, kromě Po 17. 11. až Ne 23. 11.

Omezení zápisu do předmětu

Předmět je nabízen i studentům mimo mateřské obory.
Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 20 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 15/20, pouze zareg.: 0/20, pouze zareg. s předností (mateřské obory): 0/20

Mateřské obory/plány

předmět má 9 mateřských oborů, zobrazit

Cíle předmětu

In the field of medieval studies, few topics have inspired as much debate over the past several decades as those surrounding the existence of racial and ethnic identities and boundaries in the societies of premodern Europe. Reacting to earlier, essentialistic theories that foregrounded ethnicity, race, and nation in studies of medieval peoples, late-twentieth century scholarship generally rejected the application of these categories to the more distant past, considering race and ethnicity to be modern paradigms – much as the related idea of national identity.
Nevertheless, a growing body of historiographical literature from both Europe and North America has begun to reconsider the importance of ethnic and racial identities to premodern peoples, arguing for the presence of ‘ethnogenesis’, ‘race-thinking’, and ‘race-making’ throughout medieval Europe. This scholarship has spanned the entire length of the medieval era, encompassing research on the identities of ‘barbarians’ in the post-Roman world, as well as studies on the growth of racialised images of Jews and Muslims during the crusades, the Reconquista, and the Ottoman expansion into southeast Europe, to name but a few examples.
Given both the rich opportunities of engagement with historical sources and contemporary historiography, the main goals of this course are twofold: (1) to introduce students to a diverse range of case studies exemplifying processes of both the creation and operation of racial and ethnic categories and identities across various European societies during the middle ages – frequently using exemplary primary sources – and (2) to present and analyse the diverse theoretical views and methodological approaches of contemporary scholars regarding these issues. With this in mind, each course meeting will concentrate on a different period and/or topic in studies of medieval race and ethnicity while also offering, where appropriate, contrasting scholarly approaches on each of these topics.

Výstupy z učení

After completing the course, the student will be able to 1. accurately identify and describe several representative methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of medieval ethnicity, race, and identity in modern historiography, as well as the points of contention between these approaches; 2. apply this understanding of the processes of the formation and propagation of ethnic and racial identities to specific historical examples introduced in the course; 3. interpret and analyse the operation of ethnic and racial language in medieval primary source texts, understanding both the opportunities for and limits of creative analysis throughout these texts.

Osnova

• Course schedule, topics, and additional readings:
• September 23: Approaching the Study of Identity from Historical Sources
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper, “Beyond Identity”, Theory and Society 29 (2000)
• 2. Excerpt from Jordanes
• Optional reading: 1. Rogers Brubaker, "Ethnicity without Groups", European Journal of Sociology 43, no. 2 (2002)
• September 30: Identities from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 41-62
• 2. Excerpt from Isidore of Seville
• Optional reading: 1. Erica Buchberger, "Ethnicity and Imitatio in Isidore of Seville"
• October 7: Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Helmut Reimitz, History, Frankish Identity, and the Framing of Western Ethnicity, 550-850 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 1-24
• 2. Excerpt from Gregory of Tours
• Optional reading: Denise Kimber Buell, "Early Christian universalism and modern forms of racism", in The Origins of racism in the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• October 14: Archaeological Approaches
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Walter Pohl, "Archaeology of identity: introduction" (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010)
• 2. Florin Curta, The making of the Slavs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)), pp. 227-28, 247-75, 307-10
• Optional reading: Przemysław Urbańczyk, "Before the Poles: problems of ethnic identification in Polish archaeology of the Early Middle Ages", in Archaeology of Identity (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010)
• October 21: Muslim Views of Ethnicity and Race
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. John Hunwick, "Arab Views of Black Africans and Slavery"
• 2. Excerpt from Abû Ûthmân al-Jâhiz
• Optional reading: Christine Chism, "Definitions and Representations of Race", in a Cultural History of the Middle Ages, ed. Thomas Hahn (London: Bloomsbury, 2022)
• November 4: Crusading and Race
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Shirin Khanmohamadi, In Light of Another's Word: European Ethnography in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), chapter 4
• 2. Pope Urban II Excerpts
• Optional reading: Deepa Kumar, "Saracens, Moors and Islam: was there a Muslim race in medieval Europe?" Race & Class 66 , no. 2 (2024)
• November 11: Interpreting Images of Ethnicity and "Race" during the High Middle Ages
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Thomas Hahn, "Race and Ethnicity", in a Cultural History of the Middle Ages, ed. Thomas Hahn (London: Bloomsbury, 2022)
• 2. Robert Bartlett, "Illustrating ethnicity in the middle ages", in The Origins of racism in the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• Optional reading: Jean-Frédéric Schaub, Race is about Politics: Lessons from History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019), chapter 2
• November 25: Racialising Jews and Muslims
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. David Nirenberg, “Race and Religion”, in A Cultural History of Race in the Middle Ages
• 2. Kenneth B. Wolf, “Sentencia-Estatuto de Toledo, 1449”, Medieval Texts in Translation, 2008
• Optional reading: Nirenberg, "Was there race before modernity? The example of 'Jewish' blood in late medieval Spain", in The Origins of racism in the West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• December 2: Color and the Body in the Construction of Race
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 181-222
• 2. Excerpt from Parzival, pp. 105-8
• Optional reading: Maaike can der Lugt, "Race and Science", in A Cultural History of Race in the Middle Ages
• December 9: Playing with Race
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Krisztina Ilko, “Chess and Race in the Global Middle Ages”, Speculum 99, no. 2 (2024)
• 2. Excerpt from Mandeville on Prester John
• Optional reading: Sarah Salih, "Idols and Simulacra: Paganity, Hybridity and Representation in Mandeville's Travels", in The Monstrous Middle Ages, ed. Bettina Bildhauer and Robert Mills (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1993)
• December 16: Genetic History and the Future of Medieval Ethnicity and Race
• Mandatory reading:
• 1. Walter Pohl et al., “Integrating Genetic, Archaeological, and Historical Perspectives on Eastern Central Europe, 400–900 AD”, Historical Studies on Central Europe 1, no. 1 (2021)
• 2. "Poznań scientists reveal groundbreaking research on Piast State society" (scienceinpoland.pl, 2023)
• 3. "Slavs Originated in Ukraine and Southern Belarus, DNA Study Finds" (sci.news, 2025)
• Optional reading: Gretzinger et al., "Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs" Nature (2025)

Literatura

• The origins of racism in the west. Edited by Miriam Eliav-Feldon - Benjamin H. Isaac - Joseph Ziegler. First paperback edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, xiv, 333. ISBN 9781107687264. info

Výukové metody

Each course meeting will consist of (1) a lecture and (2) designated time for class discussion. The discussion will be especially focused on helping students gain the analytical skills to advance their own interpretations of sample primary sources.

Metody hodnocení

Assessment and Expectations:
In the exam period, students will be required to EITHER:
1) give a short oral/visual presentation (c. 10-15 minutes) in English OR 2) write a fully footnoted essay (c. 1500-2000 words) in English. Both forms of assessment are founded on the analysis of two historical sources that tell us something about the operation of racial and ethnic categories and identities in medieval Europe. Students will pick these sources from a representative list provided by the lecturer in English translation – these sources will all be very closely connected to the topics studied in class.

Student presentations and projects will be assessed on the basis of whether they
1. Show a good understanding of the context of the sources (for instance: who was the author, when and where did they live, what was the broader historical context in which they lived);
2. accurately explain the content of the sources, showing good understanding of medieval concepts and terminology;
3. analyse and compare what these sources tell us about the existence and operation of medieval racial and ethnic identities,
4. especially with reference to relevant theoretical and methodological approaches found in the historiography students will have read for the course.

Additionally, each student is required to actively participate in class discussion. NOT ATTENDING MORE THAN HALF OF CLASS MEETINGS WILL ENTAIL FAILURE.

Finally, each student is required to give a very short, 5-10 minute presentation introducing one of the mandatory readings for discussion during the semester. This is a SEPARATE requirement from the final presentation/essay.

Vyučovací jazyk

Angličtina

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