Professors Mary Watt and Will Hasty of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) at the University of Florida discuss the cultural significance of castles, cloisters, palaces, and cities, the subject matter of two UF MEMS courses. The video was produced by Naomi Rivas and Nicholas Cravey as a student project.
The classes in this list are only the selection of MEMS courses that have been cross-listed with the “MEM” prefix. Numerous other classes being offered may also count towards the MEMS Minor and IDS Major. For more information, contact Will Hasty (hasty@ufl.edu).
Fall 2024 Courses
Instructors: Mark Law, with Will Hasty and Mary Watt
In this online course, you will learn how technological innovations and basic physical principles underlying them (e.g., force, work, and energy) in the cultural domains of power generation, agriculture, sacred spaces, warfare, and textiles interact with belief- and value systems to shape the European Middle Ages. (H, P, and N pending)
Instructor: Richard Wang, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Pre-modern Chinese narrative from its philosophical and historical origins to the fiction at the turn of the 20th century. Emphasizes the 16th and 17th centuries when Chinese vernacular fiction flourished. (H and N)
Instructor: Mary Watt, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Semester-long, in-depth examination of Dante Alighieri’s text, Inferno, with the support of a variety of visual materials and digital resources devoted to Dante and his world. Special attention paid to the political, historical, and religious context in which Dante wrote. Taught in Italian.
Prerequisite: ITA 3420 or ITA 3500 or ITA 3564 or ITW 3100 or ITW 3101 or instructor permission.
Instructor: Florin Curta, Department of History
Instructor: Valerie Hampton
Instructor: Ben Guyer
Instructor: Mattieu Felt, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
An investigation of literary texts from the 8th through the 17th centuries presented within the framework of Western literary and feminist criticism.
Prerequisite: Critical Tracking semester 2 or greater.
Instructor: Yehoshua Ecker, Center for Jewish Studies
A survey of the history of Jews in Muslim societies from the Muslim conquests of the 7th century to the dispersions and transformations of the 20th century. The ArabMuslim conquests brought most Jews in the world under one political entity. This reality has drastically altered in the past 100 years. This survey of about 1,400 years offers an overview of a crucial period in Jewish history. It uses the political history and chronology of the Muslim world as a scaffold for outlining and contextualizing the Jewish experience within this world, and the impact of this experience on Jews beyond it.
Instructor: Yehoshua Ecker, Center for Jewish Studies
The Ottoman Turks conquered the region later known as modern Palestine (including Jerusalem) in 1516 and ruled it for four centuries. What was Palestine like under Ottoman rule? This course
explores decentralized Ottoman governance, Middle Eastern and European interventions, and also the ways in which Muslims, Christians and Jews lived and interacted through the early twentieth century, when Palestine became one of the world’s most contested places.