GENERAL DIRECTOR: Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
ORGANIZERS:
Iris Shagrir, The Open University of Israel
Anna Gutgarts, University of Haifa
Jonathan Rubin, Bar-Ilan University
Application deadline: 2 January 2023
The Advanced School for graduate students and post-docs will focus on the Crusades and the Latin East through a comparative and analytical prism. It will benefit from the accessibility of the rich crusader sites and remains throughout Israel, from recent advances in data analysis and from new approaches to textual evidence. During sessions and field trips, we shall expose young scholars to the most recent theoretical and methodological approaches in medieval studies, and encourage their critical thinking on traditional themes.
Themes and topics will include: New angles on the cultural history of Frankish settlements in the East; crusader cities in a Mediterranean context; immigrant societies compared; the integration of archeological data and texts; biographies, politics, and the (re)construction of historical identities; crusades studies and diversity.
Each of the selected topics will be dealt with in more than one way. Thus for example, the theme ‘Crusader cities in a Mediterranean context’ will engage comparatively with different Mediterranean and Crusader cities such as Acre, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Rome and Fustat/Old Cairo, and examine diachronic aspects of continuity and change.
Over a week-long gathering, sessions will focus on relevant methods, such as the creation and use of databases, or approaches, such as the archaeology of decline or of prosperity, spatial analysis, and cultural history.
Students will gain knowledge of a variety of subjects outside their immediate research topics, and more importantly about cutting-edge methodologies and research questions, related to urbanism and settlement, literary and material culture, as well as current trends and research agendas in the study of the crusades and the Latin East. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates. Successful applicants will be notified in early 2023 and will be offered travel and accommodation funding.
