{"id":309412,"date":"2018-04-13T13:01:41","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T17:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=309412"},"modified":"2018-04-19T16:39:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T20:39:24","slug":"rochester-researchers-insights-into-medieval-times-early-worlds-309412","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/rochester-researchers-insights-into-medieval-times-early-worlds-309412\/","title":{"rendered":"Going beyond medieval times to explore early worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMedieval times\u201d often conjures images of knights on Crusades, castles surrounded by moats, or perhaps the dragons from Game of Thrones<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But such images only scratch the surface of what medieval studies entails. The Early Worlds Initiative\u2014an interdisciplinary research project at the URochester\u2014aims to help faculty, researchers, students, and even the general public delve deeper into this complex and intriguing field. Along the way, participants intend to answer one of the biggest questions among some of those outside the field: Why, in the 21st century, should we care about what happened so many centuries ago?<\/p>\n

\"logo<\/a>The scope of the Early Worlds Initiative actually stretches beyond medieval times in Europe. It encompasses social and cultural developments from the 5th to 18th centuries, which includes the early modern period as well. And as Hahn notes, it extends globally while recognizing the limitations and biases of research conducted in the United States or Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIssues like nationalism, representative government, certainly race\u2014all these things existed in this previous age,\u201d says Professor of English Tom Hahn<\/a>, a key contributor to the project. \u201cLooking at those very different models of how they existed, not just in Europe but all over the world, helps us understand our own lives a bit more clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crossing disciplines to build on Rochester\u2019s \u2018longstanding strength\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The initiative will bring together faculty members in several disciplines, who might otherwise work in isolation. In will include scholars in the humanities and social sciences with expertise in, among other areas, transnational networks and connections, textual science and analysis, and music, theater, and performativity. It will also include scholars in data science, optics, and imaging. Connecting faculty members from across disciplines and units (including the Memorial Art Gallery and Eastman School of Music) will help spur new and distinctive insights into this pivotal era in human history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really dynamic opportunity,\u201d says Anna Siebach-Larsen, the director of the Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center<\/a>. \u201cThis is both where medieval studies is tending to go, and needs to go. There\u2019s so much going on and one person can\u2019t learn all of it. We really have to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"four
From Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, top row, two details from the Gerardi Mercatoris et I. Hondii<\/em>, a hand-colored version of Mercator’s famous atlas printed in Amsterdam in 1633; bottom row, a detail from Ptolemy\u2019s Geography,<\/em> published by Mercator in 1584; and a map from the Latin version of Ptolemy\u2019s Geography<\/em>, printed in Venice in 1562 (Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ photos \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The project originated last fall with Joan Rubin, the director of the University\u2019s Humanities Center<\/a>. \u201cRochester\u2019s longstanding strength in the study of medieval and early modern cultures seemed to me to be the best foundation on which to build an innovative set of scholarly projects that would enhance the University\u2019s reputation and create new knowledge in new forms,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Hahn concurs and credits the influx of faculty who have helped amplify Rochester\u2019s research strengths in their respective fields. These include:<\/p>\n