LFU:online

Erwerb fortgeschrittener Kenntnisse ausgewählter Themen der Epochen und deren wissenschaftliche Diskussion.

Students in this undergraduate lecture course will explore the influence of gender upon late-medieval writing about pilgrimage and devotional practices — especially that of contemplative travel to holy sites using the imagination (i.e. “imagined pilgrimage”) from an interdisciplinary perspective that includes History, Art History, and Anthropology. Students in the class will also consider coeval religious practices, travel writing, and imagined devotional journeys in other medieval religions, particularly Islam and Judaism. In this course, we will explore the accounts of several medieval travelers — who traveled from West to East, and from East to West — with an eye to understanding how their voyages and their reflections and accounts of those voyages were shaped by concepts of gender.

With an emphasis on primary sources and opportunities for class discussion  (and for students to be exposed to a US-style teaching approach that mixes both seminar and lecture formats), we will explore what motivated medieval travelers to journey to, from, or within regions throughout the medieval world, and how they portrayed their activities

Assessment will be made via an end-of-semester mini-essay exam.