PROFESSOR ALBRECHT CLASSEN
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PROFESSOR ALBRECHT CLASSEN
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6th International Symposium on Medieval and Early Modern Culture, University of Arizona, Tucson Urban Space: The Experience of Urban Life in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age
The 6th International Symposium University of Arizona, Tucson May 1-4, 2008 Organizer: Dr. Albrecht Classen
Historians have studied the emergence of
medieval city life for a long time, a process of greatest interest for many
different specialists, and by now reflected in whole libraries of relevant
publications. Economic, military, political, religious, and art-historical
dimensions of town and city have been examined in great detail, but we still do
not know enough about the basic experience the new urban space offered for
people in the Middle Ages and the early modern age. What did it mean to be
exposed to so many neighbors, colleagues, strangers, travelers, administrators,
craftsmen, maids, wives, female workers and artists, etc. within the limited
space of an enwalled city? How did the individual experience power represented
by the city authorities, by the guild, church groups, gender orientation,
institutions, all located within the city walls? Linguistically, we also face numerous difficulties
because in English we distinguish between 'town' and 'city,' whereas in German,
for instance, the term 'Stadt' comprises all urban settlements, which might also
reflect the considerable differences in urban growth in various European regions. What concepts of
urban life can we find in literary and art-historical documents? How did the
urban context shape religious experiences? How did life within a walled
settlement--town or city--change the burghers' attitudes toward their rulers,
and toward the Church? What were the images of ideal cities, and when did they
emerge first? How did writers and painters project cities in the exotic East, in
contrast to their own experiences back home? To what extent did life within an
urban context facilitate contacts with foreign worlds, since merchants and
medical doctors, among others, were the primary voyagers abroad, establishing
numerous contacts with people of different tongues, religion, and culture?
Building on a rich corpus of previous research, this interdisciplinary symposium will address a host of new questions, shedding new light on one of the most complex cultural-historical phenomena since at least the eleventh century.
This is a self-sustaining academic symposium. Participants are expected to secure travel funds and other costs (housing, registration) from their home institution. The registration fee of $60. will include all meals and refreshments, three receptions, and an excursion. Selected papers will be accepted for publication in a volume, to be included in the series "Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture," ed. Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter). Each contributor to the volume will receive a free copy. Anyone interested in joining the symposium as part of the audience, please contact the organizer. Student participation will be most welcome.
Support from the Dean of Humanities, University of Arizona, UAMARRC (University of Arizona Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Committee), GEMS (Group for Early Modern Studies at the University of Arizona), ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Tempe, AZ), the University of Arizona Library, Special Collections, and the Depts. of German Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, Anthropology, Psychology, Geography and Regional Development and of Near Eastern Studies is gratefully recognized. I am particularly grateful for outside support from Vint & Associates Architects Inc, Tucson Hits since May 7, 2007:
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