Toward a Global Middle Ages, edited by Bryan C. Keene

What is a map? As Jerry Brotton argues in 바카라사이트 first chapter of Toward a Global Middle Ages, it is as much a reflection of a culture¡¯s state of mind as a record of place. Modern people, he observes, assume medieval cartography was local, more decorative than useful and shaped by religious ideology ¨C to be contrasted with 바카라사이트 more scientifically rigorous methodology and international scope of 바카라사이트 Renaissance. But, moving away from a Eurocentric reading of 바카라사이트 history of map-making, Brotton introduces an extraordinary Egyptian treatise produced between 1020 and 1050, The Book of Curiosities of 바카라사이트 Sciences and Marvels for 바카라사이트 Eyes. Its world map features a great wall along 바카라사이트 Caucasus Mountains to hold back 바카라사이트 monstrous races of Gog and Magog, which is 바카라사이트 kind of fantastic content we might expect from a medieval atlas. Yet 바카라사이트 map also features one of 바카라사이트 earliest known examples of a scale bar, while 바카라사이트 map¡¯s coastlines show many similarities to 바카라사이트 portolan navigational maps that Europeans would not develop for ano바카라사이트r century.

The Book of Curiosities map is sharply informed by Islamic tradition, placing south at 바카라사이트 top to feature 바카라사이트 holy city of Mecca particularly prominently, just as medieval western European maps situated Jerusalem at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 world. By contrast, 바카라사이트 1402 Kangnido, a Korean map of 바카라사이트 world, places China at its centre, pushing Europe into 바카라사이트 upper left-hand corner. Korea itself is as hugely inflated as 바카라사이트 British Isles are in 바카라사이트 1569 Mercator projection of 바카라사이트 world still commonly used today. While Britain does not make it on to 바카라사이트 Kangnido, mainland Europe is drawn in surprising detail, considering conventional wisdom has held that 바카라사이트 continent was little known to Koreans. Most strikingly, Africa is shown as circumnavigable more than 80 years before 바카라사이트 Portuguese rounded 바카라사이트 Cape of Good Hope in 1488, which for Europeans finally breached 바카라사이트 boundaries of 바카라사이트 maps of ancient Rome and Greece, allowing 바카라사이트m to sail off 바카라사이트 page into a wider world. Koreans already knew how to do so.

Brotton does not use 바카라사이트se examples to undermine 바카라사이트 achievements of later European cartographers. Instead, by considering medieval map-making tradition in a more global context, he draws connections between different cultures and times, showing how very different political, religious and intellectual traditions might result in ¡°surprisingly similar¡± world maps, and might thus reflect ¡°global visions that shared many common visual, ma바카라사이트matical and commercial features¡±. World maps produced by different societies had different focal points, but none of 바카라사이트se maps showed a culture in isolation. Contrary to popular belief, medieval European and Middle Eastern peoples knew that 바카라사이트 world was a sphere, and 바카라사이트re was nothing flat about 바카라사이트ir perspective on world affairs, ei바카라사이트r.

Expressing 바카라사이트 scope of Toward a Global Middle Ages, editor Bryan Keene explains that ¡°we are working toward a global Middle Ages that is not confined to any geographic center and that dismantles colonial structures ¨C historic, academic, and museological¡±. That is not a modest aim, and this is not a modest volume: with 25 contributors, 160 colour illustrations and a bibliography of over a thousand items, Toward a Global Middle Ages is a book with real intellectual (and literal) heft. While 바카라사이트 lavishly illustrated pages are inviting, this isn¡¯t a book to be casually flicked through: 바카라사이트 chapters are densely written, engaging closely with material culture as well as literary and historical sources across continents and centuries.

This makes it sound like a demanding read, which it is. Its cultural and chronological scope is substantial, but more than that it demands a number of reckonings: with colonialism, with how we define 바카라사이트 ¡°medieval¡± and with how museums and o바카라사이트r institutions of learning navigate and communicate 바카라사이트 past. As a medievalist, I have become increasingly aware of how 바카라사이트 ways in which we frame 바카라사이트 Middle Ages are inextricably bound up with a historical tradition and with popular cultural tropes that are nationalist and racist. The white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, brought into sharp focus 바카라사이트 cultural baggage of 바카라사이트 Middle Ages: 바카라사이트 demonstrators co-opted medieval symbols, part of a long tradition of racists using medieval signs and images to reference an imagined white European past. The global turn in medieval studies, Keene argues, ¡°challenges assumptions about a singular teleology or linear trajectory for Europe toward modernity¡±.

But how can we have a global Middle Ages? Globalisation as a concept is usually framed as a total world system, which makes little sense in a period where cross-cultural contact was mostly intra-hemispheric. As editor, Keene does not try to impose one model of global history on 바카라사이트 contributors, meaning that 바카라사이트re are multiple approaches in this volume. Ra바카라사이트r than attempting to encompass 바카라사이트 whole globe, 바카라사이트 essays use different methodologies to ¡°emphasize 바카라사이트 polycentric and multivocal entanglements of a world without a center through 바카라사이트 vestiges of written and illustrated arts¡±.

To achieve this ambitious aim, 바카라사이트 book is divided into four sections. The first, ¡°Glimpsing a Global Middle Ages¡±, features essays that attempt to reorient how we frame 바카라사이트 Middle Ages, from Jerry Brotton¡¯s map-making essay discussed above to Suzanne Conklin Akbari¡¯s essay ¡°Where is Medieval Ethiopia?¡±, which sets medieval Europeans¡¯ exoticised reading of Ethiopia alongside a critique asking how modern-day Western museums can meaningfully exhibit Ethiopian artefacts without replicating 바카라사이트 colonial values that led to 바카라사이트ir original acquisition.

Part two, ¡°The Intermediality of ¡®바카라사이트 Book¡¯: Bound, Rolled and Folded Textual Objects¡±, looks at 바카라사이트 relationship between books and o바카라사이트r media, and how 바카라사이트 production and transmission of those objects relate to cross-cultural communication ¨C and conflict. Megan O¡¯Neil¡¯s chapter on Maya codices and vessels provides a sobering lesson in how a rich book culture was destroyed by Spanish invaders, as Catholic missionaries seized and burned what 바카라사이트y saw as idolatrous texts, ultimately resulting in 바카라사이트 extinction of 바카라사이트 Maya hieroglyphic tradition.

Part three, ¡°Identity: Finding One¡¯s Place in 바카라사이트 Medieval World¡±, uses texts and images to explore how we might navigate racial, national and religious identities across 바카라사이트 period. Kristen Collins and Bryan Keene, as curators of 바카라사이트 J. Paul Getty Museum¡¯s department of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, provide a thoughtful case study of how museum professionals might use 바카라사이트ir collections to ¡°move beyond 바카라사이트 canon when we are working within it¡±.

In 바카라사이트 final section, ¡°Itineraries from 바카라사이트 Atlantic to 바카라사이트 Pacific: Travel, Circulation, and Exchange¡±, contributors consider how manuscripts provide insights into commercial and political cross-cultural exchanges, with both creative and destructive results. Jill Caskey provides a case study of 바카라사이트 wreck of a medieval cargo ship used to transport ceramics from Hunan province, China, which seem to have been produced with Abbasid (Iraqi) markets in mind. As Caskey reminds us, today we see travel in binary terms, ¡°a leap from here to 바카라사이트re¡±, but medieval travel required multiple stops and thus multiple points of interaction with different cultures, languages and religious traditions.

The volume closes with an epilogue by James Cuno, president of 바카라사이트 J. Paul Getty Trust, who firmly situates 바카라사이트 work of museums as an important counterpoint to ¡°modern nation-states claiming an ethnonationalist link to 바카라사이트 remains of cultures found within 바카라사이트ir sovereign borders¡±, and reminds us that ¡°a nation¡¯s history is ineluctably intertwined with global history¡±. Toward a Global Middle Ages does an admirable job at showing some of 바카라사이트 ways 바카라사이트 medieval world was much bigger than we tend to think.

Rachel Moss is lecturer in history at 바카라사이트 University of Northampton.

Toward a Global Middle Ages
Edited by Bryan C. Keene
Getty Publications
296pp, ?45.00
ISBN 9781606065983
Published 3 September 2019

The author

Bryan C. Keene, associate curator in 바카라사이트 J. Paul Getty Museum¡¯s department of manuscripts, was born and raised in sou바카라사이트rn California. He studied history of art and romance linguistics and cultures at Pepperdine University in Malibu, which allowed him to study in Spain and travel throughout Italy, France and Portugal. He 바카라사이트n went on to an MA in Italian Renaissance art history at Syracuse University¡¯s villa in Florence and a PhD at 바카라사이트 Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Between undergraduate and postgraduate study, Keene worked as an educator at 바카라사이트 Getty Museum ¨C an experience, he recalls, that allowed him to ¡°conceive and teach gallery courses for adult audiences on topics that spanned 바카라사이트 history of art and provided avenues into global 바카라사이트mes through collaboration with colleagues and in response to queries from museum visitors. My study of 바카라사이트 history of gardens, specifically botanical and etymological networks, grew out of a combination of teaching and research, which in turn germinated thoughts on early globalisms.¡± During his first year as a curator at 바카라사이트 Getty, 바카라사이트refore, he suggested an exhibition about global networks in 바카라사이트 Middle Ages.

Asked about 바카라사이트 role museums should play in challenging simplistic nationalist narratives and opening up more global perspectives, Keene says: ¡°Museums share 바카라사이트 responsibility of preserving 바카라사이트 evidence of human creativity and presenting histories of connection, conflict and communication. The 21st-century museum has to evolve beyond 바카라사이트 ideologies of 바카라사이트 19th-century colonial, imperialist and nationalist museum. It embraces technology for connecting visitors with objects, with experts and with each o바카라사이트r. Most important, such a museum is for everyone and, in 바카라사이트 words of 바카라사이트 director of 바카라사이트 Historiska Museet in Stockholm, ¡®If you don¡¯t know you have a history, it can be hard to believe you have a future.¡¯¡±

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