Encounters
Summer 2011
The Center for Early Modern History promotes scholarly inquiry into the interchange of peoples,
goods, and ideas that marks the first era of global contacts, ca. 1300–1800. Since its founding, the
Center has drawn on the talents of faculty and students from a variety of disciplines, with interests
in many parts of the world, for a vibrant program of intellectual exchange.
Newsletter Vol. 16, No. 3
CEMH Advisory Board
Table of Contents
The Center for Early Modern History thanks
the community members who took time to
serve on our 2010–2011 Advisory Board.
These members were essential in laying the
groundwork for our programming and in
articulating the vision for the Center in the
coming years. Members of this year’s board
were:
From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The 2010–2011 Year in Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
How I Came to Early Modern History . . . . . . . . . 5
Faculty Achievements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
New Books from Faculty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Graduate Student & Alumni Achievements . . . . . 9
2010 Union Pacific Grant Winners . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Angélica Afanador-Pujol (Art History)
New Publication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Giancarlo Casale (History)
Early Modern Class Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Sarah C. Chambers (Chair, History)
Honoring our Founders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Edward L. Farmer (History)
Kathryn Goetz (Graduate
Representative, History)
Cover: 1602 world map by Italian-born Jesuit missionary
and scholar Matteo Ricci, recently purchased by the James
Ford Bell Library.
Kathryn Hayes (Antrhopology)
Nabil Matar (English)
Carla Rahn Phillips (History)
Center for Early Modern History
University of Minnesota
1030 Heller Hall
271–19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
www.cemh.umn.edu • cemh@umn.edu
Tel.: 612.625.6303 • Fax: 612.624.9813
William D. Phillips, Jr. (History)
Marguerite Ragnow (EO, James Ford
Bell Library)
Kathryn Reyerson (History, EO Center
for Medieval Studies)
Director: Sarah C. Chambers
Director of Publications: Edward L. Farmer
Assistant to the Director: Midori Green
Administrative Associate: Alexander L. Wisnoski III
2010–2011 Staff: Erin Poljanac and Jamie Poljanac
J.B. Shank (History)
John Watkins (English)
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From the Director
serving as Interim Director during this busy
time so that I could accept a research leave
abroad.
The Center for Early Modern History had
one of its fullest calendars of events during
the 2010-2011 academic year. In the fall,
we focused on “Maps and Missionaries”
to coordinate our speakers series with the
exhibit at the Bell Library of the recently
acquired and stunning Ricci-Wentao
world map produced in China in 1602.
Our distinguished visitors (Florence Hsia,
Dana Leibsohn, Michael Witgen and
Ulrike Strasser) took us on a global journey
following the paths of Jesuits across both the
Pacific and the Atlantic. Their fascinating
analyses also crossed disciplinary borders
of history, science and art as they shared
their research both at CEMH and at other
workshops and colloquia on campus. This themed series
was possible thanks to the collaboration and financial
support of multiple University of Minnesota sponsors:
Office of Research and Graduate Programs, College of
Liberal Arts, James Ford Bell Library, Theorizing Early
Modern Studies, Department of Art History, Department
of History, History of Science and Technology, Institute
for Global Studies, Institute for Advanced Study,
American Indian Studies Workshop, Immigration
History Research Center, Religious Studies, and the
European Studies Consortium.
Being on leave in the spring was particularly
poignant as I could not join the celebration
of Edward (Ted) Farmer’s distinguished
career on the occasion of his retirement
from the University of Minnesota. A leading
scholar of Chinese history, Ted trained many
graduate students and played a central role
in the Society for Ming Studies especially as
Editor of its journal and research series. He
also made valuable contributions to Global
Studies and the teaching of world history
at the University of Minnesota. I wish to
highlight here and thank him for his vision, energy and
boundless optimism in service to the Center for Early
Modern History. As one of the key founders of CEMH,
he was critical in formulating the global breadth which
has remained the distinguishing feature of the Center’s
mission. Although he served only in an interim capacity
as Director of CEMH, he was continuously active on
its Advisory Board, in the organization of conferences
and most notably as Director of Publications. I feel so
honored to have been able to serve alongside Ted and will
miss his presence (and unflagging good humor) greatly.
Like James Tracy, Ted generously asked that those who
wished to make a gift in honor of his retirement do so
with a contribution to the CEMH Founders Fund (please
see the information on the back of this newsletter). I
thank all who have already done so.
Spring semester was similarly marked by collaboration
as CEMH both organized and co-sponsored several
conferences and performances in addition to the regular
Friday talks. In February, CEMH welcomed prominent
scholars of Chinese history, including several University
of Minnesota alumni, to a conference that explored
recent trends in both Ming and World history. CEMH
and its affiliated faculty also supported and participated
in several other conferences held on campus, including
“Shared Cultural Spaces,” organized by Religious
Studies with a focus on aesthetic and scientific
interactions between Islam and the West, “Identity in
the Mediterranean World,” organized by the Institute for
Advance Study’s collaborative of the same name, and the
national meeting of the Society for Seventeenth-Century
Music hosted by the School of Music. For the latter,
CEMH co-sponsored two musical performances: “Slavic
Wonders” by the Rose Ensemble and “Matteo Ricci: His
Map and Music” a performance by ¡Sacabuche! (Linda
Pearse, Artistic Director) and Ann Waltner. The Ricci
performance picked up again on the theme of the fall,
interweaving readings from Ricci’s own writings with
music of his time. (There is a link to a Youtube video clip
from the CEMH website: http://www.cemh.umn.edu/
news/.) Given the diversity of events, I was particularly
disappointed to have missed the Spring semester, and I
wish to express my gratitude to William D. Phillips for
We are honoring our founders such as Professor
Farmer, because 2012 will mark the 25th anniversary
of the Union Pacific endowment that allowed a faculty
initiative to formalize into the Center for Early Modern
History. Building from their formative vision, This means
thinking about our intellectual and institutional future.
One major change will be a formal affiliation with the
Center for Medieval Studies under a Consortium for the
Study of the Pre-Modern World. Beginning in the Fall
of 2011, the two centers will be sharing an office suite
and staff and beginning to think about programmatic
collaborations. Stayed tuned for more updates on these
transitions and keep in touch by sending us your news.
Sarah C. Chambers, Director
Center for Early Modern History
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The 2010–2011 Year in Review
Transitions and a very busy schedule have made this past
year lively and exciting at the Center. In the Fall of 2010
we said goodbye to Associate Director Jamie Bluestone.
After tirelessly serving the Center for five years, Jamie
graduated and took a position at the University of
Minnesota, Duluth. Midori Green, Ph.D. Candidate
in Art History, joined the office as Assistant to the
Director along with Alex Wisnoski, who took over as the
Administrative Associate.
the West in Arts and Sciences” and “Mediterranean
Identities: From the Middle Ages to the Present”—in
addition to two muscial performances by ¡Sacabuche! and
the Rose Ensemble.
Enrollment in the interdisciplinary graduate minor
in Early Modern Studies, launched in 2009–2010, has
doubled in size this past year. As part of the minor
students enroll in the EMS workshop where they attend
and reflect on lectures and discussions across campus
which address the early modern period. In addition to
the workshop, students take the EMS core seminar. Michael
Gaudio (Art History) and J.B. Shank (History) co-taught
this year’s course under the title “Regimes of Sensation in
Early Modern Europe.” Exemplifying the interdisciplinary
theme of the minor, the seminar filled with students from
six different departments including Art History, Cultural
Studies and Comparative Literature, English, History,
Music, and Theatre Historiography.
In the fall, we hosted a lecture series entitled “Maps and
Missionaries” to coincide with the exhibition of the Matteo
Ricci 1602 World Map at the James Ford Bell Library on
the University of Minnesota campus. The series featured
talks by Florence Hsia, Dana Leibsohn, Michael Witgen,
Ulrike Strasser, and Ann Waltner as well as the James
Ford Bell Lecture given by Jonathan Spence, the Stirling
Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University.
Friday afternoon workshops continued as they have for
many years. In addition to the lecture series talks, we
hosted presentations by Diedre Shauna Lynch as well
as long-time contributor to the Center, Russell Menard.
The creation of a new student workshop, Medieval and
Early Modern Interdisciplinary Graduate Workshop
(MEMIGW or, affectionately, Ye Olde Workshoppe)
added to our lively Friday schedules.
CEMH Co-Sponsors
Maintaining our commitment to promoting interdisciplinary early modern programming across the
university, CEMH co-sponsored a number of events
with other departments and organizations this year.
The Center would like to thank all of those with
whom we had the pleasure and honor of working:
Center for Medieval Studies
College of Liberal Arts
Department of Art History
Department of English
Department of History
Immigration History Research Center
Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Global Studies
James Ford Bell Library
Program in History of Science,
Technology & Medicine
Program in Legal History
Religious Studies
School of Music
Theorizing Early Modern Studies
Workshop in American Indian History
Our transitions carried on into the spring semester as
Director Sarah C. Chambers crossed the Atlantic to spend
five months in Spain on a Fulbright Faculty Fellowship.
Filling in as Interim Director during a very busy spring
semester, William D. Phillips took over the position he
held from 2001-2005.
In February we hosted a conference to honor the retirement
of Professor Edward (Ted) Farmer. “History with Chinese
Characteristics: From Ming to Globalization” featured
former students and well-known scholars working on the
Ming Dynasty, Modern China, and World History. We
also had a packed semester of Friday workshops featuring
six different scholars including Stephen Blake, Yonglin
Jiang, Eric Otremba, Eric Dursteler, Matthew Hunter and
Daniela Bleichmar.
In addition to these events, CEMH also took part in
co-sponsoring a wide array of events on the University
of Minnesota campus and the Twin Cities. In March
chair of Art History Steven Ostrow gave a lecture at the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Titian’s Poesie of Philip
II. We also co-sponsored two conferences—“Islam and
4
HOW I CAME TO EARLY MODERN HISTORY
Recently Retired Professor Ted Farmer Shares about his Intellectual Evolution
As a new faculty member in the History Department at
the end of the 1960s I did not think of myself as an early
modernist, but as an Asianist. My courses were about
Asia, especially China, and I interacted most closely
with colleagues in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian (South
Asian) history. The route to early modern was long and
twisty. Upon reflection, I think that there were at least
three elements in the transition to the early modern focus
that we celebrate today. The first was the move to Ming
history; it put me in the early modern era, even if I still
thought of it as “late imperial China.” In graduate school
I focused on twentieth century Chinese intellectual
history, planning to write a dissertation about Feng
Youlan. It was only late in my graduate studies, upon
learning that someone at Columbia had already picked
Feng as a dissertation topic, that I made the great leap
to a new dissertation topic on the founding of the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644). Unwittingly, I had ventured into
early modern history
an early modern center was an altogether more serious
proposition. As a newly minted comparativist I was
receptive to Tracy’s idea that we organize ourselves across
fields but within a chronological range. Once the Center
was set up, I had numerous opportunities to interact with
colleagues in European and American history and to
teach in the core early modern survey, sometimes jointly.
Through Center projects I took the opportunity to extend
my ideas about historical comparison from Asia to a
wider global dimension. It was enormously stimulating
and often amusing. I remember, in particular, one year
when I was teaching the course with Rus Menard who
approached things from the perspective of economic
history. As it happened, Andre Gunder Frank who was
visiting that year, sat in on a few meetings of our class.
He was absolutely horrified to find me advocating a
comparative perspective instead of emphasizing the
connective power of the world trade system, which he
viewed as the core determinant historical process. He
cited my mistaken approach in numerous articles for a
few years after his visit to Minnesota.
Second was the embrace of comparative history. This
occupied much of my time and energy for most of a
decade, as four of us at Minnesota (myself, David Kopf,
Byron Marshall, and Romeyn Taylor) and another
colleague at Yale (Gavin Hambly) designed and cowrote a two-volume survey text, Comparative History of
Civilizations in Asia (1976). In many ways this project was
a collective response to William McNeill’s book, The Rise
of the West, which surveyed Eurasian History with an
eye to how Europe emerged to assume a global hegemony
in modern times. Where McNeill celebrated European
ascendancy; we were interested in comparability. Our
text was a survey of Eurasian history east of Suez, tracing
the story of three civilizations (West Asian, South Asian,
East Asian), each comparable in scale and cultural
distinctiveness to Europe, and two zones of interaction
(Central Asia and Southeast Asia), viewed comparatively.
The project was transformative. I was no longer an area
specialist but now a dedicated comparativist; I now
understood history in terms of parallel and interactive
cultural streams. Because our survey ranged from the
dawn of civilization to the present, we necessarily dealt
with the early modern era but did not focus on it as a
separate field of inquiry.
CEMH has effectively raised the profile of our department
both nationally and internationally. The Center has done
two things that help to increase scholarly contacts: inviting
visitors and holding conferences. I have had a chance to
meet many scholars whom I would not otherwise have met.
I think of people like Phil Curtin, Sanjay Subrahmanyam,
and S.A.M. Adshead among the long-term visitors. The
conferences brought dozens of people for shorter periods.
During the great conference on merchant empires, Wang
Gongwu, the leading authority on the Chinese diaspora
in Southeast Asia, suffered a severe chill when the heating
system shut down in the hotel where the sessions were
held. His light suit was no match for Minnesota winter.
He reminded me of the experience many years later.
The biggest impact the Center had on me as a historian is
that it freed me from thinking only about Chinese or Asian
history and encouraged me to think about a wider range
of topics. In the late 1980s, I proposed that the History
Department reorganize its introductory survey courses
and offer a survey of world history. Our experience of
working across fields in early modern history made it
easier for colleagues from all sections of the History
Department to come together around the topic of world
history. A three-quarter sequence was introduced and,
initially at least, most of the courses were team taught. For
a number of years, I taught the modern section with Stuart
Schwartz, from whom I learned a great deal (continued)
The third step in my journey to the early modern was
facilitated by the formation of the Center for Early Modern
History under the inspiration and direction of Jim Tracy.
Tracy and I used to participate in the departmental poker
game, and from time to time play squash, but the idea of
5
Giancarlo Casale, Associate Professor of History, was one
of three finalists for the 2010 Cundill Prize in History at
McGill University, winning a “Recognition of Excellence”
for his first book The Ottoman Age of Exploration (Oxford).
about Latin American history. In this enterprise we were a
few steps ahead of the profession at large.
In addition to expanding my view of history, association
with the Center brought me into contact with a wider
range of graduate students than I would ever have
encountered if my teaching had been restricted to courses
on China or East Asia. Seminars on early modern history,
world history, and editing and publishing attracted
graduate students from across the department as well as
from other disciplines. I think what I will remember most
fondly about my time in the Center for Early Modern
History are the experiences of working with many
colleagues and staff members. On two occasions, I served
as interim director of the Center when research leaves
called the director away. In the first instance, I worked
with Maggie Ragnow in 1994 to organize a conference
on “Imperial Identity: Construction and Extension of
Cultural Community in the Early Modern World.” After
Maggie assumed the curatorship of the James Ford Bell
Collection, I had the opportunity to co-teach a course
with her and to collaborate on other projects. Some years
later, I worked with Maggie’s successor in the Center, Jamie
Stephenson, now Jamie Bluestone, to start a publication
series, Minnesota Studies in Early Modern History, which
now includes three titles. Most recently, I have had the
pleasure of working with Alex Wisnoski on the “History
with Chinese Characteristics” that took place just this last
February. The conference was held in my honor and it is
an event I will not forget.
Sarah C. Chambers, Director of the Center for Early
Modern History, spent the spring semester of 2011 on
a Fulbright in Spain researching royalist émigrés fleeing
the independence revolutions in South America. She has
also co-edited, along with John Chasteen, Latin American
Independence: An Anthology of Sources released by Hackett
Publishing in 2010.
In April, Kirsten Fisher of the History Department
was honored with the Horace T. Morse - University of
Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding
Contributions to Undergraduate Education. She is now
a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
This coming year (2011/12) she will be in Germany on
a Fulbright scholarship, working on a book on a radical
freethinker in the early American Republic. Her most
recent publication is “‘Religion Governed by Terror’: A
Deist Critique of Fearful Christianity in the Early American
Republic,” Revue Française D’Études Américaines No. 125
(3e Trimestre, 2010): 13-26.
In the past year, Chris Issett, Associate Professor of
History, has received grants as a Co-Principle Investigator
from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation (Taiwan), the
British Academy, and the National Science Foundation.
Next year Prof. Issett will be in Tawain on a Fulbright
Scholar Program fellowship.
Faculty Achievements
2010-2011
Professor of English Nabil Matar, along with Bill Beeman
and Jeanne Kilde, organized the conference on Islam and
the Humanities sponsored by the NEH, hosted at the
University of Minnesota in February 2011. Prof. Matar
co-authored Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713
with Gerald MacLean published by Oxford University
Press in April 2011. He also co-edited and co-introduced
Through the Eyes of the Beholder: the Holiness of the
Holy Land, 1517-1713 to be released in the summer of
2011 by Brill Publishing. Other publications include
“Protestant Restorationism and the Ortelian Mapping of
Palestine (with an Afterword on Islam),” in The Calling
of the Nations, eds. Mark Vessey, Sharon V. Betcher et
al. (University of Toronto Press, 2011) and a reprint of
“Queen Elizabeth through Moroccan Eyes,” in The Foreign
Relations of Elizabeth I (Palgrave, 2011), ed. Charles
Beem,, first published in Journal of Early Modern History.
Prof. Matar also signed a book contract with Columbia
University Press to introduce and annotate an edition of
Henry Stubbe’s “The Rise and Progress of Mahometanism,
1671.” His presentations include the Keynote address at
Angélica J. Afanador-Pujol, Assistant Professor of
Art History recently published “The Tree of Jesse and
the ‘Relación de Michoacán’: Mimicry and Identity in
Colonial Mexico,” in The Art Bulletin (December 2010).
Daniel Brewer is editing the Cambridge Companion to the
French Enlightenment volume. He presented three papers
recently: “Dead Time,” at a conference on “Translating the
Encyclopédie in the Global Eighteenth Century (Fordham
University and New York University); “Affording the
Eighteenth Century,” on a panel on “Will Tomorrow’s
University Be Able to Afford the Eighteenth Century? If So,
How and Why?”, at the American Society for EighteenthCentury Studies conference; “(Mé)Connaissance
historique et savoir historien au dix-huitième siècle,” by
invitation from the CNRS research group THETA (Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique/Théories et Histoire
de l’Esthétique, du Technique, et des Arts), Paris.
6
Minnesota, Morris; a lecture entitled “Titian’s Poesie for
Philip II: The Triumph of the Brush” at the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, which was co-sponsored by the CEMH;
and chaired one session, organized another, and read a
paper at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of
America in Montreal. Ongoing projects projects include
a book on the art theory of Gianlorenzo Bernini, and
articles on metapictorial strategies in the art of Francisco
de Zurbarán and the historiography of Bernini’s bozzetti.
“Conversion in the Early Modern World,” York University,
in June 2011 and an invited lecture on “Henry Stubbe
and the First Use of Christian Arabic Sources about
Muhammad” at Center for Middle East Studies, University
of Chicago, in April 2011. The University of Minnesota
presented Prof. Matar with the prestigious Scholar of the
College Award for 2011.
Raul Marrero-Fente of the Department of Spanish and
Portuguese recently published his book Bodies, Texts, and
Ghosts: Writing on Literature and Law in Colonial Latin
America (Lanham, MD: University Press of America,
2010). His has also edited Espejo de paciencia by Silvestre
de Balboa (1608) (Madrid: Cátedra, 2010). His recent
articles include “Epica, violencia y conquista en ‘Los actos
y hazañas valerosas del capitán Diego Hernández de Serpa’
de Pedro de la Cadena (1564)” in Calíope: The Journal for
the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry
and “Género, convento y escritura: La poesía de Sor Leonor
de Ovando en el Caribe colonial” in América Sin Nombre.
Prof. Marrero-Fente has contributed several chapters to
books including Nuevas lecturas de los Comentarios Reales
del Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Mestizo Renaissance: 400
Years of the Royal Commentaries, Humanismo, mestizaje
y escritura: En los 400 años de los Comentarios Reales, and
Cultura y letras cubanas en el siglo XXI. He also serves on
the editorial board of Revista Iberoamericana.
Carla Rahn Phillips has published two book projects
within the last year. The first, El tesoro del San José: Muerte
en la mar en la Guerra de Sucesión published by Marcial
Pons Historia, is the Spanish translation of her monograph,
The Treasure of the San José. She has also co-authored A
Concise History of Spain along with William D. Phillips,
Jr., published by Cambridge University Press. Prof.
Phillips co-authored “Introduction to the ‘Social History
of the Sea’ Special Issue,” an issue she also co-edited. Her
book reviews have appeared in Chronicles of the Trail:
Quarterly Journal of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
Trail Association, Journal of Modern History, Bulletin of
Spanish Studies and Itinerario. She also led the Summer
Dissertation Seminar: “Comparative History of the Early
Modern World,” sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation and held at the University of Minnesota in the
2010. That same year, two of her Ph.D. advisees, Luis X.
Morera (May 2010, co-advised) and Jamie Rae Bluestone
(Dec. 2010), completed their dissertations. Prof. Phillips
has presented lectures at Minneapolis Branch of the
American Association of University Women, The Western
Mediterranean Workshop of the University of Chicago,
and Newberry Library’s Center for Renaissance Studies,
in addition to participating in conferences including
Mediterranean Studies Association International
Congress, the Association [Society] for Spanish and
Portuguese Historical Studies, and the American
Historical Association. She is also serving on the editorial
boards of Sea History: The Art, Literature, Adventure, Lore
& Learning of the Sea, Archive for Reformation History,
and Mains’l Haul. A Journal of Pacific Maritime History.
John Roger Paas, the William H. Laird Professor of
German and the Liberal Arts at Carleton College, recently
published The German Political Broadsheet 1600-1700, vol.
10: 1671-1682 with Harrassowitz Verlag press in 2010.
Steven F. Ostrow, Professor and Chair of Art History,
taught a new course, “Baroque Rome: Art and Politics in the
Papal Capital” in spring 2011, which was cross-listed with
the Early Modern Studies Minor. His recent publications
include “Paul V, the Column of the Virgin, and the
New Pax Romana” Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians 69 (2010), and three book reviews: of Massimo
Firpo and Fabrizio Biferali, “Navicula Petri”: L’arte dei
papi nel Cinquecento 1527-1571 (Editori Laterza: Rome,
2009), in The American Historical Review 116 (2011), of
Rhoda Eitel-Porter, Der Zeichner und Maler Cesare Nebbia
1536-1614 (Hirmer Verlag: Munich, 2009), in Renaissance
Quarterly 63 (2010), and of Pamela M. Jones, Altarpieces
and Their Viewers in the Churches of Rome from Caravaggio
to Guido Reni (Ashgate Publishing: Aldershot, 2008),
in Sixteenth Century Journal 41 (2010). He delivered a
paper, entitled “Cartelas que engañan: Some Historical
and Theoretical Reflections on the Cartellino in Spanish
Golden Age Painting” as the George Levitine lecture at
the Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art; a
paper entitled “Merisi’s Messengers” at the Univeristy of
Associate Professor in the English Department, Katherine
Scheil has co-edited the book Shakespeare, Adaptation,
Modern Drama: Essays in Honour of Jill Levenson to be
published by the University of Toronto Press in 2011. The
collection includes 15 essays by international scholars on
Shakespeare and modern drama, in honor of Jill Levenson.
Professor Emeritus James D. Tracy has co-edited, along
with Manfre Hoffman, The Collected Works of Erasmus,
vol. 78, Controversies (498 pages, Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2011).
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New Books from Faculty in 2010–2011
Sarah C. Chambers (History) and John Chasteen
Latin American Independence: An Anthology of Sources
368 pp., Hackett Publishing, 2010.
They document the importance of diplomatic and
mercantile encounters, show how the writings of captives
spread unreliable information about Islam and Muslims,
and investigate observations by travellers and clergymen
who reported meetings with Jews, eastern Christians,
Armenians, and Shi’ites. They also trace how trade and
the exchange of material goods with the Islamic world
shaped how people in Britain lived their lives and thought
about themselves.
Through a variety of primary sources - including speeches,
poems, letters, and book excerpts - this collection
illustrates the origins, progress, and unfulfilled republican
promise of the Latin American Wars for Independence
(1780-1850). A general Introduction offers a history
of the period; head notes introduce each selection
and provide historical and political context. Maps and
illustrations are included, as are a chronology of the Wars
for Independence, suggestions for further reading, and a
thorough index.
Raúl Marrero-Fente (Spanish And Portuguese/Law)
Bodies, Texts, and Ghosts: Writing on Literature and Law in
Colonial Latin America
136 pp., University Press of America, 2010.
Gerald MacLean and Nabil Matar (English)
Britain and the Islamic World, 1558-1713
304 pp., Oxford University Press, 2011.
Bodies, Texts, and Ghosts aims to promote the dialogue
between Hispanic Atlantic cultures by exploring legal
and literary texts from a cross-cultural perspective, while
also taking into account the theoretical contributions
of spectral criticism. Marrero-Fente argues that a
transatlantic approach provides a broader framework to
rethink the ways in which literature and law have been
formulated. According to Marrero-Fente, adopting a
transatlantic perspective offers a method of thinking
across geographical borders, which allows readers to
examine in-depth the reciprocal cultural exchange
between Spain and Spanish America during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Through an interdisciplinary
approach, the author studies how the different discursive
formations of the colonial period represent racial, gender,
and cultural differences on both sides of the Atlantic.
This innovative approach to Hispanic studies creates new
possibilities of interpretation, including the adoption of a
global perspective in the field of colonial Latin American
studies.
Before they had an empire in the East, the British travelled
into the Islamic world to pursue trade and to form
strategic alliances against the Catholic powers of France
and Spain. First-hand encounters with Muslims, Jews,
Greek Orthodox, and other religious communities living
together under tolerant Islamic rule changed forever the
way Britons thought about Islam, just as the goods they
imported from Islamic countries changed forever the way
they lived. Britain and the Islamic World tells the story of
how, for a century and a half, merchants and diplomats
travelled from Morocco to Istanbul, from Aleppo to
Isfahan, and from Hormuz to Surat, and discovered a
world that was more fascinating than fearful.
Gerald MacLean and Nabil Matar examine the place of
Islam and Muslim in English thought, and how British
monarchs dealt with supremely powerful Muslim rulers.
8
William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips (History)
A Concise History of Spain
362 pp., Cambridge University Press, 2010.
History Department Ph.D candidate Tiffany Vann
Sprecher coauthored an article with Ruth Karras entitled
“The Midwife and the Church: Ecclesiastical Regulation
of Midwives in Brie, 1499-1504,” which is slated to be
published this summer in the Bulletin of the History of
Medicine. She has also been awarded the Russell J. and
Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowship.
The rich cultural and political life of Spain has emerged
from its complex history, from the diversity of its peoples,
and from continual contact with outside influences.
This book traces that history from prehistoric times to
the present, focusing particularly on culture, society,
politics, and personalities. Written in an engaging style,
it introduces readers to the key themes that have shaped
Spain’s history and culture. These include its varied
landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse
human migrations; the importance of its location as a
bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and
Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant
Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with
Islam and Protestantism, as well as debates over the place
of the Church in modern Spain. Illustrations, maps, and a
guide to further reading, major cultural figures, and places
to see, make the history of this fascinating country come
alive.
Alumni Achievements 2010-2011
Michael Ryan (Ph.D. in History, 2005) has authored A
Kingdom of Stargazers: Astrology and Authority in the Late
Medieval Crown of Aragon, which will appear this year
from Cornell University Press. He also received tenure and
promotion to Associate Professor at Purdue University,
but will be joining the faculty of the University of New
Mexico as an Associate Professor of History this coming
fall. His new email address will be: ryan6@unm.edu.
Jamie Rae Bluestone (née Jamie L. Stephenson)
successfully defended her dissertation “Why the Earth
Shakes: Pre-Modern Understandings and Modern
Earthquake Science” last fall. She received her degree
(Ph.D., History) and got married in the same month
(December 2010). She lives in Duluth, MN, and is an
adjunct at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Graduate Student Achievements
2010-2011
Christopher Flynn of the History Department married
Whitney-Lehr Ray (now Flynn) on Jan. 8, 2011.
Ulrike Strasser (Ph.D. in History, 1997) presented
“Mapping the ‘Palaos Islands’: Geographical Imagination
and Knowledge Transfer Between German Jesuits and
Oceanic Islanders Around 1700” at this past December’s
Center for Early Modern History Friday workshop.
In 2010 she co-authored, along with Heidi Tinsman,
“It’s a Man’s World? World History Meets History of
Masculinity, in Latin American Studies for Instance” in
Journal of World History. Also, as a UCLA Clark Professor,
she co-organized, with Christopher Wild, a series of
four conferences entitled “Cultures of Communication,
Theologies of Media” at the William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library during the academic year 2009/10.
Rachel D. Gibson from the Department of French and
Italian passed her prelims, and during (2011-2012) she will
be on an exchange fellowship, researching and teaching at
the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France.
Katie Goetz from the History Department recently
received a Ruth R. and Alyson R. Miller Fellowship from
the Massachusetts Historical Society, which will allow her
to conduct dissertation research in Boston for the summer
and fall of 2011.
Caitlin McHugh, Ph.D. student in the English Department
specializing in early modern drama, presented her paper
“The Unnamed Island: Prospero, Caliban, and Possession
in The Tempest,” at The South-Central Renaissance
Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, March 2011. Her article
“De-problematizing Shakespeare: Late-SeventeenthCentury Alterations to Measure for Measure” has been
accepted for publication in Restoration.
Yonglin Jiang (Ph.D. in History, 1997) gave a paper at
the conference History with Chinese Characteristics, and
presented some of his current research at a Center for
Early Modern History Friday workshop. He also recently
published The Mandate of Heaven and The Great Ming
Code in 2011 with University of Washington Press.
Have something to share?
Tracy Rutler from the Department of French and Italian
passed her prelims and received the Peterson Fellowship
(through the French Department) for this summer.
CEMH is looking for news. Please email
any news of your activities, awards,
or publications to cemhnews@umn.edu.
9
2010-11 Union Pacific Grant Winners
Each year the Center for Early Modern History awards money to early modern graduate students to help defray the costs associated with travel during their dissertation research and copying of materials in foreign archives. Last year’s award winners were Demetri Debe, Xiangyu Hu, and Alex Wisnoski. Recently, the Center
was pleased to learn about what these graduate students were able to accomplish with the help of this funding.
Demetri Debe
Demetri Debe
Xiangyu Hu
Alexander L. Wisnoski III
familiar with the resources available for my project in each
archive. I was also able to quickly identify that the NOPL,
HNOC, and particularly the LHC are the most important
archives upon which to focus my time going forward. I
made contacts at all five archives that I can draw upon
in the future. I also became a member of the Louisiana
Historical Society. This membership, in turn, gives me
access to a scanned, searchable set of original documents
that are otherwise unavailable outside of Louisiana. I was
able to accomplish sufficient research on this trip to draft
a conference paper that is tied directly into (continued)
My research grant formed the foundation of the money
I used to travel to New Orleans and conduct research
in five separate research libraries: Tulane University
Special Collections, The New Orleans Public Library
(NOPL), The New Orleans Notarial Archive Research
Center (NONA), The Historical New Orleans Collection
(HNOC), Louisiana Historical Collection, Louisiana
Historical Center, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans
(LHC). On this trip to New Orleans I was able to become
New from Minnesota Studies in Early Modern History
Religious Conflict and Accomodation in the Early Modern World
Edited by Marguerite Ragnow and William D. Phillips, Jr.; 272 pp., Minnesota Studies
in Early Modern History.
Dramatic events involving religious leaders and their more zealous followers have
intruded on the world’s stage in recent decades, bringing renewed attention to religion as
a significant factor in modern society. This collection of essays, drawn from a conference
inspired by the tragic events of September 11, 2001, explores religious conflict and
accommodation in various places around the world in the early modern period. The
individual studies, though focused on an earlier time, illuminate the challenges facing
the early twenty-first-century world, some of which may be hauntingly familiar.
Professor James Tracy discusses the battle between Christianity and Islam in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean
basin, what he calls the background war of the early modern period. His essay reminds us that these two groups of
believers were long-standing enemies, both sides preoccupied with challenges to their own faith. The relationship
between religion and politics played out much differently in other parts of the early modern world and the studies in
this volume reflect a complexity and diversity of experience that ranges from the conflicts within Christianity during
the French Wars of Religion to the Mughal emperor Akbar’s attempts to forge mutual understanding among the varied
cultures under his rule to the struggles between the Spanish and Chinese for supremacy in the Philippines. Religious
conflict has long been a worldwide issue, as these essays attest, yet as they also demonstrate, accommodation was not
only possible, it was often quite successful.
10
Fall 2011 Early Modern Class
Listing
my dissertation. This is a 7,000-9,000-word draft for a
workshop style conference with the goal of preparing
each paper as a chapter for a volume of collected
essays on Labor in New Orleans. The working title is
“Necessary Connections: Building Black Mobility in the
Public Markets of New Orleans, 1720-1815” and focuses
African and Afro Creole Women’s roles as marketers who
produced, bought, and sold food and whose labor was
essential for feeding the city. I believe this writing will also
form the backbone of a dissertation chapter.
Early Modern Studies--EMS 8100: Workshop
in Early Modern Studies
(Sarah C. Chambers)
Art History--EMS 8500/ARTH 5302: Prints and
Print Culture in Early Modern Europe
(Michael Gaudio)
Art History--EMS 8500/ARTH 5777: Diversity of
Traditions: Indian Art 1200- Present
(Catherine B. Asher)
Xiangyu Hu
English--EMS 8500/ENGL 8150: Seminar in
Shakespeare: Shakespeare and Adaptation
(Katherine Scheil)
With the help of the Union Pacific Research Grant, I
went to Beijing and read more than 100 fugitive cases at
the First Historical Archive of China and other primary
sources at Beijing University Library. I copied and
digitalized more than 60 fugitive cases with financial
aid from the Union Pacific Microfilm Grant. These
fugitive cases have refreshed my understanding of the
fugitive problem in Qing China, and they comprise the
major sources in the sixth chapter of my dissertation
titled “The Juridical System of the Qing dynasty (16441911) in Jingshi (Beijing).” The fugitive problem, wherein
thousands of slaves fled from the banner system, was the
focus of conflicts between Manchu and Han in the early
Qing dynasty. Previous scholarship emphasizes that the
early Qing rulers ruthlessly oppressed the Han people
through strict implementing the fugitive law. My reading
of archives reveals that the Qing rulers were always
concerned about the Han and they attempted to create a
balance between Manchu and Han. The involution of the
fugitive law and the adjudication of fugitive cases strongly
demonstrate the sinicization (the processes by which nonChinese became Chinese) agenda of the Qing rule.
English--EMS 8500/ENGL 5150: Readings
in 19th-Century Literature: Jane Austen & Her
Contemporaries
(Andrew Elfenbein)
English & History--EMS8500/ENGL 8120/HIST
5900: Gender in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
(John Watkins & Ruth Karras)
German--EMS 8500/GER 8820: Advanced Theory:
Formation of Modern Ethics in Kant and Adam Smith
(Matthias Rothe)
History of Medicine--EMS 8500/HMED 8001:
Foundations in the History of Early Medicine
(Jole Shackelford)
Spanish--EMS 8500/SPAN 5526: Global Colonial
Studies in the Hispanic World, 1492-1600
(Raul Marrero-Fente)
Spanish--EMS 8500/SPAN 5106: The Iberian Middle
Ages: The Canon and/vs. Critical Currents
(Michelle Hamilton)
Alexander L. Wisnoski III
Upcoming Conference
Last summer the Union Pacific Research Grant provided
support for my research trip to Peru. My times was split
between Lima and Cuzco, combing through state and
ecclesiastical archives. As my disertation focuses on
marital conflict and familial networks, I surveyed dozens
of cases involving domestic abuse, deserting wives, divorce
and annulment. Through reading of the cases I was able
to hone in on the recurring debates over the meaning of
“making a married life,” a phrase invoked consistently
throughout these files. In addition to the research funds
to visit the archives Peru, the Union Pacific copy grant
provided me the necessary funds to take digital photos
of many of the cases trelevant to my dissertation. While I
will remain state-side this summer, I am able to continue
reading new cases and finding new, fascinating material.
CEMH is pleased to announce that the 2012 conference
of The Forum on European Expansion and Global
Interaction (FEEGI) will be held at the University
of Minnesota the weekend of April 20, 2012. Many
panels at FEEGI meetings are organized thematically,
often around oceanic paradigms, to encourage
discussion about the ways in which world regions can
be compared, contrasted, and connected. Any topic
engaging global interaction and imperial expansion
between about 1350 and 1850 is welcomed at FEEGI.
Please visit the association’s website for information
on how to submit a proposal and further details on
the conference: http://www.feegi.org/index.htm.
11
Honoring Our Founders,
Supporting the Next Generation
Center’s formation and continued success over the years.
As we prepare to celebrate the Center’s 25th anniversary,
it is an especially fitting occasion to honor those who
have made the Center strong.
This fund, housed at the University of Minnesota
Foundation, will provide valuable financial support for
CEMH programming and operations. Gifts may provide
funding for conferences, workshops, publications,
graduate programs, student support and operating
expenses—all the important activities that are central
to our mission and to preparing the next generation of
scholars of global history.
As you can tell, the past year has been especially busy
in the Center for Early Modern History—teaching and
research, workshops and conferences, retirements and
graduations—which is just how we like it! And as you
read this, we’re already in the midst of planning and
preparing for another banner year.
The Center for Early Modern History Founders Fund
at the University of Minnesota Foundation is now in its
second year, and many of you have already made generous
donations. The Founders Fund honors the many faculty
and staff members who have been instrumental in the
This type of discretionary support is invaluable,
especially in these uncertain economic times. Your gift
is a vote of confidence, in the Center and in each of us.
Private giving helps us pursue exciting new initiatives
such as a program of digital publication and increased
public outreach.
Please consider making a gift to the Founders Fund
today. Your gift will secure the continued success of the
Center as we prepare for another 25 years of outstanding
scholarly inquiry.
Warmly,
Eva Widder
Yes! I would like to contribute to the Center for Early Modern History.
Your gift will provide valuable support to the Center’s ongoing activities, including publications,
conferences, workshops, research, and graduate student support.
Enclosed is my gift of
$50 ______ $100 ______ $250 ______ $500 ______ $1,000 ______ Other (specify amount) ______
for the Center for Early Modern History Fund (#2194).
Name(s) _________________________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________________________________
City _______________________ State/Prov. ___________ Postal Code __________ Country ___________
Please make your check payable to the University of Minnesota Foundation. On the memo line, print CEMH Fund #2194.
Mail your payment with this form to: University of Minnesota Foundation, CM–3854, PO Box 70870, St. Paul, MN 55170–3854.
To make a credit card gift online, visit www.cemh.umn.edu/giving.
For more information please contact Eva Widder, College of Liberal Arts Office of External Relations, 612.626.5146; ewidder@umn.edu.
Thank you for your generosity!