Critical Social Inquiry 0116 - The Global Middle Ages: Ethiopia

Why did Cuban and African-American abolitionists, seeking liberation in the Americas,look back in time and across the globe to Ethiopia? How was African sovereignty, as exemplified in Ethiopia, a beacon for later emancipation? These questions will lead us to explore Ethiopian imperial and religious politics but also the arts, architecture, and book culture of Ethiopia in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Case studies will include illuminated manuscripts, the practice of magic, monasticism, church architecture, the cult of the Virgin Mary, ancient Renaissances, encounters with Judaism and Islam, strategies of othering and racialization, visits and encounters, diplomatic gift exchanges. Moving into the early modern age, we will study military partnerships with the Portuguese, the expulsion of the Jesuits, and female royal patronage of the arts. The focus will be on primary sources whenever feasible. We will also study a magic scroll preserved at Amherst College and learn the G???z alphabet

In/Justice Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time