Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Medieval Literature
ENGL 353
Spring 2019
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
MDST 353 |
| Certificates: Jewish and Israel Studies |
Why do white supremacists celebrate the European Middle Ages as a lost era of racial and religious purity? This course approaches that question by considering the invention of medieval ideas of race, ethnicity and religious difference. Our focus will be on a selection of texts dealing with encounters--real and imaginary--of Western European Christians with cultures from the Mongol Empire to the Celtic "borderlands." The readings will begin historically with the Crusades and the gruesome chronicles written by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish authors. We will move on to religious polemics, travel accounts and, above all, romances: fictions that re-imagine the past in terms of exoticized sexuality, racial transformation, cannibalism, and nationalist fantasy. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CJST-MN)(CSCT)(ENGL)(MDST)(MDST-Art/Arch)(MDST-History)(MDST-Lang/Lit)(MDST-Phil/Reli) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
CHRISTIAN, JEWISH, AND MUSLIM CRUSADE CHRONICLES; THE SONG OF ROLAND; THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL; AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE; GERALD OF WALES; HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF IRELAND; MEMOIRS OF USAMA IBN MUNQUIDH; THE JOURNEY OF WILLIAM OF RUBRUCK TO ASIA; THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE; RICHARD THE LION-HEART; THE KING OF TARS.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly response papers; final research paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
English Major Requirements: Literary History I and Literatures of Difference
English Concentration Requirements: Race & Ethnicity |
| Instructor(s): Nisse,Ruth Times: ..T.R.. 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: CRT285; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 5 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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