ARTH 1503 Art and Astronomy (Ramirez-Weaver)

MW, 9-9:50 AM

Looking outward and upward at the starry sky, artists, philosophers, and scientists have throughout history consistently sought to situate themselves within the cosmos and to comprehend its heavenly machinery. Creative efforts at understanding or harnessing the significance of the planets and the stars have resulted in architectural wonders such as Stonehenge, zodiacal floor mosaics in late antique synagogues, star pictures in medieval manuscripts, Islamic celestial globes and astrolabes, illustrations for medical treatment, alchemical interventions, observation or imagination of the heavens, and more modern treatments ranging from Joseph Cornell to Star Wars. This course traces the development of scientific, political, spiritual, magical, and intellectual technologies of power that have tied individuals to their views and uses for astronomy. Topics include: stars and rule, astronomy, astrology, Ptolemy’s universe, Christian reinterpretation, Arabic or Islamic contributions, alchemy, magic, medicine, Galileo, science fiction, Chesley Bonestell, Remedios Varo, Kambui Olujimi, androids, Star Trek, and Star Wars.

ARTH 2861— East Asian Art

Tues/Thurs 5-6:15 pm, Cam 160

This course is a general introduction to the artistic traditions of China, Korea, and Japan from the prehistoric period to the modern era. Major topics include funerary art, Buddhist art, and later court and secular art. The course seeks to understand artistic forms in relation to technology, political and religious beliefs, and social and historical contexts. It also introduces the major philosophic and religious traditions—Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, and Buddhism—that have shaped cultural and aesthetic ideals of East Asia. The lectures survey major monuments and the fundamental concepts behind their creation.

ARTH 3591-003 Medieval Manuscript Illumination (Ramirez-Weaver)

TR, 9:30-10:45 AM

This course examines the development of manuscript illumination following the birth of the codex in ca. 300. Each manuscript studied exemplifies aspects of changing period styles, scientific beliefs, and spiritual identities. The myriad ways that books manifest crafted confessions of medieval ideas and reveal a sensual appreciation for beauty and value will be interrogated through a set of case studies ranging roughly 450-1450. Students in this course will learn the fundamental research skills required to undertake original study of medieval manuscripts.

ARH/ARTH 4591: Lay Piety: Religion in Everyday Medieval Life (Reilly)

Th, 3:30-6

This seminar will examine the changing dynamic of everyday religious practice with a focus on later medieval England through the material culture and architecture of the parish church. We will explore ordinary people’s experience of religion in the pre-Reformation period. Classes will be discussion based and each student will undertake a major research project on a topic developed in consultation with the instructor.

ENGL 3275: The History of Drama I (Parker)

MW, 2:00-3:15

The first third of this course will cover the drama of classical antiquity in translation, beginning with Greek plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, then moving from there to the Latin plays of Plautus, Terence, and Seneca. The next third of the course will consider the kinds of performance that displaced (and in some cases transformed) these pagan traditions after the Christianization of the Roman empire; we will likely read a liturgical drama, a morality play, a saint play, some vernacular Biblical drama and a secular farce. The final third of the course will cover plays from the Renaissance, focusing particularly on the commercial London stage of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

HIEU 2071 The Birth of Europe (Kershaw)

MW (12-12:50) + discussion

Studies ways of life and thought in the formation of Western Europe from the 4th century a.d. to the 15th. Includes a survey of the development of society and culture in town and countryside, the growth of economic, political, and religious institutions, and the impact of Muslim and Byzantine civilizations.

HIEU 2559 Medieval and Renaissance Europe

MW (12-12:50) + discussion

JPTR 3010 Survey of Traditional Japanese Literature (Heldt)

TR 2-3:15 PM

This course provides an introduction to Japanese literature from earliest times through to the nineteenth century. We will read selections from representative texts and genres, including myth, poetry, prose fiction, memoir literature, drama, and works of criticism. No knowledge of Japanese culture or language is required.

MEST 3492 The Afro-Arabs and Africans of the Middle East and North Africa: Premodern Texts and Modern Contexts

Nizar F. Hermes, Mon 3:30-6:00pm, New Cabell 338

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the literary representation and cultural construction of Black Afro-Arabs and Africans in premodern Arabic sources ranging from boasting epistles (mufākharāt) and travel literature to poetry and—chiefly—popular sagas/folktales (siyar shaʿabiyyah) which turned into pseudo-historical literary and cultural epics/romances. We will sample the works of some of the most “Arab-washed,” literary and intellectual icons in the MENA (SWANA) history, featuring black heroes, poets, and knights. We will situate these texts in such contexts as the Zanj Rebellion (869–883) in Iraq; the reign of Abū al-Misk Kāfūr (946-968), the black slave turned into vizier then sultan of Ikshīdid Egypt and the Levant; the Saharab Afro-Amazigh dynasties of North Africa and al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) and their eleventh- century invasion of the West African empire of Ghana; the sixteenth-century Moroccan imperial forays into the Songhai realms and the invasion of Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné, the elite African army of the Afro-Arab sultan Mulāy Ismāʿīl of Morocco (r.1672 to 1727), the great Swahili city-sultanates of East Africa (Mogadishu, Kilwa, and Mombasa), the rich symbiotic Afro-Arab Swahili language and culture, and the landmark abolition of slavery in the regency of Tunisia in 1485. (Also fulfills Africa requirement).

PLPT 3010: Ancient and Medieval Political Theory (Bird)

MW, 5-5:50

Western Political Theory from Plato to the Reformation. Among authors covered are Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther. For the medieval period, central themes are natural law, allegorical interpretation of Scripture, and the origins of modern liberal political theory.

RELG 2820 Jerusalem (Andruss)

Tu/Th, 9:30-10:45

This course traces the history of Jerusalem with a focus on its significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. How have these communities experienced and inhabited Jerusalem? How have they imagined the city and interpreted its meaning? How have Jews, Christians, and Muslims expressed their attachments to this contested space from antiquity to modern times? Our exploration will be rooted in primary texts and informed by historical and cultural context, as well as scholarly approaches to sacred space.

RELG 3559 Medieval Religion in Modern Fiction (Shuve)

W 2:00-4:30pm

This course will examine how contemporary fiction writers explore religious problems and questions through the lens of the medieval world. We will have the opportunity to learn about religious thought and practice in the Middle Ages through our reading of historical fiction, but we will also ask how these works, set in very different worlds, help us better to understand our own. In this class, we will experiment with different kinds of reading and writing. In addition to the discussion and analysis of landmark recent novels, we will visit UVA’s Special Collections library to study medieval manuscripts first-hand; engage in silent reading as a group (through a “Silent Book Club” session); and participate in a creative writing workshop led by a published author. Students will have the opportunity to write their own short works of historical fiction in lieu of a standard essay, if they so choose.

FREN 5011 Old French (Ogden)

M 1-1:50 PM

Introduction to reading Old French, with consideration of its main dialects (Ile-de-France, Picard, Anglo-Norman) and paleographical issues. May be taken in conjunction with FREN 5510/8510 or independently. Weekly reading exercises, a transcription and translation exercise, and a final open-book exam. Prerequisite: good reading knowledge of modern French, Latin or another romance language. Taught in English.

FREN 5510/8510 Medieval Saints' Lives (Ogden)

MW 2-3:15 PM

African saints. Trans saints. Saints’ Lives as media. Saints in material culture and literature and history. Recent academic enthusiasm for medieval saints’ Lives has begun to uncover the usefulness of this genre for gaining deeper understanding of both medieval and modern attitudes toward a variety of topics, from sexuality and sentiments to materiality and foreign cultures. Reading Lives written between 880 and the late thirteenth century, together with the work of some of the most engaging scholars in the field of hagiography studies, we will investigate a variety of issues that resonate with current interests in the broader fields of medieval and French studies. Readings include the Lives of St. Mary the Egyptian (a courtesan turned hermit), St. Catherine of Alexandria (known for her wisdom), St. Alexis (who abandoned his family), St. Louis IX (king of France), St. Euphrosyne (a woman who became a male monk), and St. Moses the Ethiopian (a brigand turned abbot).

MEST 5349 The Afro-Arabs and Africans of the Middle East and North Africa: Premodern Texts and Modern Contexts

Nizar F. Hermes, Mon 3:30-6:00pm, New Cabell 338

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the literary representation and cultural construction of Black Afro-Arabs and Africans in premodern Arabic sources ranging from boasting epistles (mufākharāt) and travel literature to poetry and—chiefly—popular sagas/folktales (siyar shaʿabiyyah) which turned into pseudo-historical literary and cultural epics/romances. We will sample the works of some of the most “Arab-washed,” literary and intellectual icons in the MENA (SWANA) history, featuring black heroes, poets, and knights. We will situate these texts in such contexts as the Zanj Rebellion (869–883) in Iraq; the reign of Abū al-Misk Kāfūr (946-968), the black slave turned into vizier then sultan of Ikshīdid Egypt and the Levant; the Saharab Afro-Amazigh dynasties of North Africa and al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) and their eleventh- century invasion of the West African empire of Ghana; the sixteenth-century Moroccan imperial forays into the Songhai realms and the invasion of Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné, the elite African army of the Afro-Arab sultan Mulāy Ismāʿīl of Morocco (r.1672 to 1727), the great Swahili city-sultanates of East Africa (Mogadishu, Kilwa, and Mombasa), the rich symbiotic Afro-Arab Swahili language and culture, and the landmark abolition of slavery in the regency of Tunisia in 1485. (Also fulfills Africa requirement).

PMCC 6000: Intro to Premodern Cultures & Communities (Gordon)

Weds, 2-4:30

This course uses sound to explore dynamic and new approaches to the premodern period. It promises a dynamic and dynamic and fresh look at the premodern (loosely conceived as stretching from the 5th c. to 1700) that will privilege new avenues of scholarship focused on a global, transhistoric, and multidisciplinary approach to the past. Presented through a series of sonic case studies and team-taught modules by UVA faculty that will address the long history of slavery, cross-cultural exchange, gender and sexualities, and global religious practices with an eye to encouraging debate and dialogue between faculty and students. Students will be guided in producing a final seminar paper that works across disciplinary boundaries. Modules will include topics like “Travel, Trade Routes and the Sonic Passage” “Joan of Arc and the Voice then and now” The Invention of Race and the Slave Trade.” This seminar is a required course for the graduate certificate in Premodern Cultures & Communities.