The Multicultural Middle Ages

by Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley

The Multicultural Middle Ages is a podcast where medievalists from all professional and disciplinary tracks can come 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 ... 

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History
Society & Culture
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Podcast episodes

  • Season 2

  • Speculum Spotlight: Jewelry and People in the Byzantine Cemetery of Parapotamos, Epiros

    Speculum Spotlight: Jewelry and People in the Byzantine Cemetery of Parapotamos, Epiros

    S02 E10
    41:19

    Scholar Georgios Makris reflects on his experiences with researching and writing his article, “Jewelry and People in the Byzantine Cemetery of Parapotamos, Epiros,” which appears in Speculum 98:4.Jewelry reflecting the tastes, needs, and practices of past users across all social strata constitutes one of the most representative portable arts in the Middle Ages. Jewelry’s typical lack of iconography or original context has often prevented scholars of Byzantine art from engaging with the medium’s socio-historical value. By bringing together artworks from museum collections and objects found in the cemetery of Parapotamos, in northwestern Greece, this study disentangles medieval jewelry from an inquiry into provenance or the development of fashion and instead situates specific jewels in a discussion about meaning on a social level, in terms of ownership and human behavior in Byzantium and beyond.This episode is an installment in a special partnership with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. Each episode is designed to bring you behind the scenes of an article published in an upcoming Speculum issue. This episode is hosted by Katherine L. Jansen and Reed O'Mara.For more about Georgios, Byzantine jewelry, and this conversation, check out our Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/mmapodcast.

  • Medieval Japanese Buddhisms

    Medieval Japanese Buddhisms

    S02 E10
    01:02:33

    What does it mean to experience a sacred text? How did Buddhism make its way from south Asia to the Japanese archipelago? How did the adoption of Buddhism impact the Japanese Middle Ages? Join Jon Correa Reyes and Reed O'Mara for a conversation with Charlotte Eubanks, where they discuss some of the many ways in which Buddhist beliefs and practices shaped medieval Japanese history, individuals, and landscapes. Additionally, they shed light on how engagement with Buddhist sacred texts was a deeply embodied experience for Buddhist monks and devotees.For more about Charlotte, Jon, Reed, and their conversation, visit our Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/mmapodcast.

  • Racialized Medievalisms & Rings of Power: The Rise of the 'Diverse' Fantasy Prequel

    Racialized Medievalisms & Rings of Power: The Rise of the 'Diverse' Fantasy Prequel

    S02 E09
    01:08:00

    Join your episode co-hosts Kersti Francis (BU) and Misho Ishikawa (NYU) for a lively conversation with Chris Chism (UCLA) about prequels that attempt to "diversify" preexisting fantasy IP. Together Kersti, Misho, and Chris discuss the racial politics of The Lord of the Rings and the new Rings of Power series based on Tolkien's Silmarillion. Throughout the conversation, they deconstruct the white supremacist myth of a racially homogenous (re: white) European Middle Ages to better contextualize and understand 20th- and 21st-century medievalisms. Topics covered include The Green Knight, Game of Thrones, nationalism and war, fanfiction and fandom culture, and how to teach/grapple with medievalisms in the classroom. For more about Kersti, Misho, Chris, and this conversation, visit our Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/mmapodcast.

  • Experiencing Medieval Music

    Experiencing Medieval Music

    S02 E08
    58:19

    What did medieval music sound like? How can we read and perform the musical notation from medieval manuscripts? What does singing and playing music written before 1500 actually feel like? How did the early music tradition carry forward into the seventeenth century? In this episode, Reed O'Mara interviews musicologists Elena Mullins Bailey and Allison Monroe from the musical ensemble Trobár on the ins and outs of medieval song, both sacred and profane, and the mechanics of historical performance practice. For more about Reed, Elena, Allison, and this topic, check out our Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/mmapodcast.

  • Speculum Spotlight: Trans Climates of the European Middle Ages, 500-1300

    Speculum Spotlight: Trans Climates of the European Middle Ages, 500-1300

    S02 E07
    33:39

    Scholar François•e Charmaille reflects on their experiences with researching and writing their article, “Trans Climates of the European Middle Ages, 500 to 1300,” which appears in Speculum 98:3.This article gathers evidence of a distinct strand of writing in Western Europe from the sixth century onwards, which concerns itself with the relation between the seasons and sexual difference in humans, and particularly in discussions of Tiresias. From this tradition emerges what this article calls trans climatology, a conceptualization of seasons as gendered, of the climatically ordered possession of the seasons as transgender change, and of this change having a direct effect on the bodies of people, or indeed, of people's bodies having a direct effect on the climate.This is the first installment in a special partnership with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies intending to feature one writer from each new issue of the journal. This episode is hosted by Katherine L. Jansen and Logan Quigley.For more about François•e, trans climatology, and this conversation, check out our Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/mmapodcast.