2017-18 Academic Catalog

The Crusades, beginning in 1099, brought the kingdoms of Western Europe into contact with many new cultures. This course studies the literature of the period to understand the attitudes and motivations that initiated it, and takes a postcolonialist approach to characterize texts from the Crusades as an attempt to define the Self against the Other—not just on the part of the Crusaders, but from the perspective of Muslims, Jews, Orthodox Greeks, and others. By examining this material, we can gain insight into the motivations behind prejudice and violence, issues which are of crucial importance today.