Medieval Studies Abroad in Summer 2019
Explorations in the Holy Roman Empire–A Walking History of Imperial Europe from the Romans to the Present. This Summer B study abroad program explores ways in which European cultural history has been organized around and shaped by Roman imperialism from the times of the Romans to the present day. This cultural history includes recent phases when European imperialism has been subsumed by or incorporated in different kinds of nationalisms. The best and worst “nation builders” have been Europeans themselves (and their cultural descendants): “best” in the sense of inventing nations as cultural constructions that are associated in different ways with increasing possibilities and standards of living; “worst” in the sense that nations in their ongoing articulation with imperialism, besides being forcefully imposed on many regions in Europe and throughout the world, have led to the destruction of entire populations and two World Wars. The vision of a united Europe emerged in the twentieth century as a post-national and post-imperial alternative to the destructive imperial underside of nation states. This program takes students on a walking tour of some of the most important cities associated with this imperial, national, and (attempted) post-imperial cultural history of Europe.. (Click here for more details.)