History 229 - Colloquium: A World Before Race?: Ethnicity, Culture and Difference in the Middle Ages

Twenty-first century scholars argue that race is a constructed social identity that began to coalesce around the seventeenth century. But were they right? This course looks to the Middle Ages to challenge the consensus that racial constructions were a byproduct of modernity. Does race function differently between the world of Latin Christendom and that of the dar al-Islam? What are the advantages and dangers of using the prism of race to analyze ethnic, cultural, and religious differences in this medieval period? What does studying race in the Middle Ages teach students about contemporary conceptions of race? Enrollment limited to 18.