This lecture takes up questions in African Medieval to Early Modern ivory imagery and sources framed in part around a set of seemingly anomalous motifs that address how power and ivory have mutually shaped each other both in Africa (particularly Nigeria) and in European contexts. Among the works taken up are images of elephants in […]
Description of Lecture: The reception of Italian lyrical poetry in Cyprus during the time of Venetian rule (1489-1571) yielded rich fruits. The precious collection of Cypriot love poems, preserved in a unique manuscript at the Marciana Library in Venice, is a mature expression of Renaissance reflections and artistic sensitivity. Simultaneously, it reveals a convergence of […]
Abstract: The ideal of “death for the fatherland” (Pro patria mori) may seem to be an invariable reality of human society, from Sparta and Athens to today’s wars. In fact, it is a political imaginary whose periodization can be traced. Ernst Kantorowicz, in a famous article published in 1951, proposed an analysis of this problem. […]
Guest Speaker: Hannah Barker (Arizona State University) In 1455, the Venetian patrician Giosafat Barbaro encountered an old friend in surprising circumstances. As a young merchant in the Black Sea port of Tana, Barbaro had met and befriended a local Tatar notable named Chebechzi. At the end of his time in Tana, Barbaro returned home expecting […]
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and […]
Herman L. Bennett is a Professor at the Graduate Center (CUNY) and Director of the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC). He has held faculty positions at UNC-Chapel Hill, The Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University, and the Free University of Berlin. CANCELED – This lecture is […]
MORNING SESSION 08:00–08:15 PDT Opening Words Chase Caldwell Smith, Patrick Morgan, and Sofía Yazpik 8:15–8:20 PDT Welcome Zrinka Stahuljak, Director, CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA PANEL 1: Making South Asian and Indian Ocean Materialities Moderator: Chase Caldwell Smith 8:20–8:40 PDT Traded Silks for the Gods in Kerala: Patola, its Connections, Contributions and […]
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and […]
Cappella Romana brings to life the vibrant soundscape of medieval Thessaloniki, Byzantium’s second largest city. Hear ancient hymns honoring the city’s patron, the ever-popular St. Demetrios, sung on the weekend of his annual feast day. Experience ecstatic Byzantine chants for the saint adorning the Cathedral Rite of Constantinople, sung by the women and men of […]