The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley
  • 5.0 (8)
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  • UPDATED MONTHLY
The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast brings medievalists from all professional and disciplinary tracks together to think and talk about the too-oft-unsung diversity of the Middle Ages. We offer public-facing, open access content directed at experts and non-experts alike to present updated, accurate, and culturally responsible accounts of the plurality of the medieval period. Series producers: Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Loren Lee, Reed O'Mara, and Logan Quigley. Our podcast is made possible by our partnership with the Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America. Our Speculum Spotlight series is produced in partnership with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, and we are especially grateful for the support of Speculum’s Editor, Katherine L. Jansen. For more information about The Multicultural Middle Ages, visit our website: https://www.multiculturalmiddleages.com For more information about the Medieval Academy of America and the work being done by its Graduate Student Committee, visit: https://www.medievalacademy.org/page/Graduate_Students.

  1. The Medieval Peasantry: A Homogeneous Whole or a Space of Social Diversity?

    OCT 25

    The Medieval Peasantry: A Homogeneous Whole or a Space of Social Diversity?

    What knowledge exists about medieval peasants and their lives? How do we know what we know? In this episode, Elías Carballido González explores various historical approaches to thinking about the peasantry, considers the state of the field in the present day, and discusses a handful of examples with a focus on northwest Iberia. For more information about Elías, medieval peasants, or this podcast, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    37 min
  2. The Textual Cult of Richard Rolle: Writing Contemplation in Later Medieval England

    OCT 1

    The Textual Cult of Richard Rolle: Writing Contemplation in Later Medieval England

    In this episode, Andrew Albin and Andrew Kraebel, the editors of Speculum's essay cluster on the textual cult of fourteenth-century mystic Richard Rolle, chat with MMA series producer and host Jonathan Correa-Reyes about Rolle's life, his works, and the contemplative life that he practiced. This episode is a collaboration with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. For more information about Richard, Andrew, and Andrew, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    51 min
  3. Cosmic Ecologies and Animalities in the Jewish Middle Ages

    SEP 25

    Cosmic Ecologies and Animalities in the Jewish Middle Ages

    In this episode, MMA series producer and host Reed O'Mara chats with organizers of and participants in Cosmic Ecologies: Animalities in Premodern Jewish Culture, a recent symposium held at Northwestern University and the Newberry Library. The conversation explores medieval Jewish art and culture, particularly cosmic ecologies and their continuities across the animal-human-divine-demonic spectrum. Special thanks to Elina Gertsman, David Shyovitz, Julie A. Harris, Beth Berkowitz, and Sara Offenberg. For more about this topic and the speakers' research, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    1h 2m
  4. The Paintings of the Hall of Kings at Alhambra, Spain

    SEP 25

    The Paintings of the Hall of Kings at Alhambra, Spain

    Art and politics have long been intertwined in Spain. From the early medieval Visigoths to the Umayyad Caliphate to the fall of Granada under Muhammad XII in 1492, political, cultural, and artistic landscapes were continually reshaped as successive groups took power. Ghadi Amer explores the relationship between politics and art movements in medieval Spain, focusing on the paintings of the Hall of Kings in Alhambra, Spain. For more about Ghadi's research and this topic, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    35 min
  5. Making Afghanistan Medieval

    AUG 25

    Making Afghanistan Medieval

    Afghanistan today is often called medieval: “a broken 13th-century country” (Liam Fox), “delayed by a few centuries” (Thomas Barfield), ruled by “a medieval band of degenerate savages” (Senator Cotton). How did this label come to take hold, and where do we go from here? Join scholars Tanvir Ahmed and Sabauon Nasseri as they discuss how Afghanistan has been made out to be medieval from the British Empire to the War on Terror, and how Afghan historical writing offers multiple escapes from the historiographical trap. For further reading and more information on Tanvir, Sabauon, and this topic, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    31 min
  6. Prince Vladimir as a Recruit in the War Between Russia and Ukraine

    JUL 25

    Prince Vladimir as a Recruit in the War Between Russia and Ukraine

    Medievalism has been a common—and hardly innocent—practice in eastern European political discourses ever since the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s. To use but one example, both Russia and Ukraine have laid claims on such prominent historical figures as Prince Vladimir/Volodymyr the Great, Princess Olga, Boris and Gleb/Hlib, as well as on such semi-legendary characters as Ilya of Murom. The recent military conflict has led to a renewal of interest in the history of medieval Rus’ and to the rewriting and falsification of this history, particularly in the public sphere through education and political discourse. In this episode, scholars Anastasija Ropa and Edgar Rops discuss the appropriation of the historical and legendary figures of Prince Vladimir/Volodymyr the Baptizer of Rus’, Princess Olga, and Ilya of Murom in different Ukrainian and Russian media, particularly sculpture and cinema. For more information about this conversation, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    37 min
  7. Emergency Art History: Protecting At-Risk Cultural Heritage Sites in Nagorno-Karabakh

    JUL 25

    Emergency Art History: Protecting At-Risk Cultural Heritage Sites in Nagorno-Karabakh

    Recent years have seen the re-ignition of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The historical monuments of this mountainous territory in the South Caucasus attest to the presence of Armenian people in the region for millennia. With the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict having culminated in the expulsion of Armenians from their homes after Azerbaijan assumed control of the region, these monuments are in serious danger. In this episode, Jonathan Correa Reyes speaks with Professor Christina Maranci about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the rich cultural heritage of the region, and our responsibility as scholars concerning at-risk cultural heritage sites and monuments. For more about this conversation, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    27 min
  8. Speculum Spotlight: “Ai flores, ai flores do verde pino”: The Ecopoetics of the Galician-Portuguese Pine Forest

    JUL 1

    Speculum Spotlight: “Ai flores, ai flores do verde pino”: The Ecopoetics of the Galician-Portuguese Pine Forest

    Scholar Adam Mahler reflects on their experience with researching and writing their article, "'“Ai flores, ai flores do verde pino': The Ecopoetics of the Galician-Portuguese Pine Forest," which appears in Speculum 99.3 (July 2024). Denis of Portugal’s “Ai flores, ai flores do verde pino” [Oh flowers, oh flowers of the green pine] is the medieval monarch’s most famous cantiga de amigo and is one of the best-known songs of the Galician-Portuguese tradition. Many have read Denis’s “pine song” as an allusion to the Pinhal de Leiria, the pine forest that he planted—or so the story went. Though Portuguese historians and paleobotanists have debunked the Leiria forest’s origin story, a preponderance of documentary evidence from Denis’s reign suggests that the monarch recognized forests as poetically generative sites of political and social tension. "The Ecopoetics of the Galician-Portuguese Pine Forest" charts ecocritical and new materialist paths through the “pine songs” of Denis and other Galician-Portuguese troubadours by examining the medieval forest in its cultural, commercial, and poetic dimensions. This article contends that Denis’s pines and his poems are affectively and acoustically co-constituted, concluding that the Galician-Portuguese troubadour tradition, particularly in its woman’s-voice compositions, encodes important ecological knowledge. For more information about Adam, Denis, and medieval Portugal, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

    31 min
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5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast brings medievalists from all professional and disciplinary tracks together to think and talk about the too-oft-unsung diversity of the Middle Ages. We offer public-facing, open access content directed at experts and non-experts alike to present updated, accurate, and culturally responsible accounts of the plurality of the medieval period. Series producers: Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Loren Lee, Reed O'Mara, and Logan Quigley. Our podcast is made possible by our partnership with the Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America. Our Speculum Spotlight series is produced in partnership with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, and we are especially grateful for the support of Speculum’s Editor, Katherine L. Jansen. For more information about The Multicultural Middle Ages, visit our website: https://www.multiculturalmiddleages.com For more information about the Medieval Academy of America and the work being done by its Graduate Student Committee, visit: https://www.medievalacademy.org/page/Graduate_Students.

Information

  • Creator
    Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley
  • Show Website
    The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

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