Medieval History
By Anatoly Liberman
Anatoly Liberman is a professor at he University of Minnesota, where he has taught medieval culture, German and other languages since 1975.
Everything should be interdisciplinary, right? Read the ads for the few openings in the humanities, and you will see that colleges will hire only specialists with an interdisciplinary focus and the propensity for critical thinking. Now, thinking is of course always critical; otherwise, it is not thinking, so let us forget about this part of advertising. But how many irons should one have in the fire?
For starters, allow me to tell an anecdote. I once had a problem in my right eye, and the excellent ophthalmologist who had observed me for years said that he wanted to ask the opinion of a doctor specializing in the diseases of the lid. "The lower lid?" ? I asked darkly, because I happened to be worried about that part of my anatomy. "Yes," he snapped back, "the lower lid of the right eye."
His answer restored my confidence in the medical profession. I had known that there were experts in the diseases of the retina and suspected that the same might be true about the cornea, but the lid too!
Click here to read this article from Minnesota Public Radio
- Expert From Sweden Exposes Mystery Of Minnesota Runestone
Dr. Henrik Williams, professor of Scandinavian languages at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, will present the 2010 O. Fritiof Ander Lecture in Immigration History on Friday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. in room 102 in the Hanson Hall of Science (726 35th St.)....
- Iranian Scholars Share Avicenna's Medieval Medical Wisdom
For pulmonary ailments, certain medieval physicians had a useful medical textbook on hand offering detailed information remarkably similar to those a modern doctor might use today. One of the fathers of medicine, the great Persian scholar Avicenna left...
- Against The 19th Century: A Mini-manifesto
As the most recent Kalamazoo, I participated in a wonderful BABEL panel soliciting mini-manifestos on how to change Medieval Studies. Here's my contribution: Waging Guerrilla Warfare against the 19th Century The idea of writing a ?manifesto?...
- Medieval Anti-judaism In The Crucible Of Modern Thought
the following colloquium, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh in April 2012, may be of great interest to some of you [I should add, too, that Nina Caputo and Hannah Johnson are co-editing a special issue of "postmedieval" on this topic, to be published...
- Call For Papers: Icons & Iconoclasm
Call for Papers: Icons & Iconoclasm Icons & Iconoclasm The Jefferson Scholars' Foundation and the Jefferson Graduate Fellows at the University of Virginia present the second biannual Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue, Sept. 17 and 18, 2010. The...
Medieval History
When did 'interdisciplinary' become the adjective we can't live without?
Anatoly Liberman is a professor at he University of Minnesota, where he has taught medieval culture, German and other languages since 1975.
Everything should be interdisciplinary, right? Read the ads for the few openings in the humanities, and you will see that colleges will hire only specialists with an interdisciplinary focus and the propensity for critical thinking. Now, thinking is of course always critical; otherwise, it is not thinking, so let us forget about this part of advertising. But how many irons should one have in the fire?
For starters, allow me to tell an anecdote. I once had a problem in my right eye, and the excellent ophthalmologist who had observed me for years said that he wanted to ask the opinion of a doctor specializing in the diseases of the lid. "The lower lid?" ? I asked darkly, because I happened to be worried about that part of my anatomy. "Yes," he snapped back, "the lower lid of the right eye."
His answer restored my confidence in the medical profession. I had known that there were experts in the diseases of the retina and suspected that the same might be true about the cornea, but the lid too!
Click here to read this article from Minnesota Public Radio
- Expert From Sweden Exposes Mystery Of Minnesota Runestone
Dr. Henrik Williams, professor of Scandinavian languages at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, will present the 2010 O. Fritiof Ander Lecture in Immigration History on Friday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. in room 102 in the Hanson Hall of Science (726 35th St.)....
- Iranian Scholars Share Avicenna's Medieval Medical Wisdom
For pulmonary ailments, certain medieval physicians had a useful medical textbook on hand offering detailed information remarkably similar to those a modern doctor might use today. One of the fathers of medicine, the great Persian scholar Avicenna left...
- Against The 19th Century: A Mini-manifesto
As the most recent Kalamazoo, I participated in a wonderful BABEL panel soliciting mini-manifestos on how to change Medieval Studies. Here's my contribution: Waging Guerrilla Warfare against the 19th Century The idea of writing a ?manifesto?...
- Medieval Anti-judaism In The Crucible Of Modern Thought
the following colloquium, to be held at the University of Pittsburgh in April 2012, may be of great interest to some of you [I should add, too, that Nina Caputo and Hannah Johnson are co-editing a special issue of "postmedieval" on this topic, to be published...
- Call For Papers: Icons & Iconoclasm
Call for Papers: Icons & Iconoclasm Icons & Iconoclasm The Jefferson Scholars' Foundation and the Jefferson Graduate Fellows at the University of Virginia present the second biannual Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue, Sept. 17 and 18, 2010. The...