Race in the Middle Ages

Catalog description

We all know who Chaucer is, but what do we know about the literature written in the Middle East and Asia prior to 1600? The answer is a surprising amount, but these texts are too often overlooked. ?Race in the Middle Ages? aims to remedy this by reading medieval texts that consider racial and ethnic identities, with a special focus on texts written by non-western women and people of color. These will include Lady Nijo?s Confessions (Japanese), One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian), and Attar of Nishapur?s The Conference of the Birds (Persian). In reading these texts we will explore diverse perspectives on the terrestrial paradise, the Crusades, and alterity, while encountering a Japanese concubine turned nun, the West?s favorite ?diamond in the rough? Aladdin, and a medieval staple: talking birds. Readings will be accompanied by critical work on race in the Middle Ages, prompting questions like: how was geography, religion, and history made legible on the body?; how did the essentialization of difference satisfy desires and/or corporealize intellectual and ideological difficulties?; and how does thinking about race in the Middle Ages inform our thinking about race and racism today?