Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:00 to 3:20 PM
Dr. Susan Longfield Karr
This course explores the history of Renaissance Europe through the lens of Power, Politics, and Persuasion. Throughout the course, we will focus on cultural, intellectual, religious, political, and economic institutions and structures that distinguish this period as ‘early modern.’
After we explore some of the political and cultural antecedents of the Renaissance, we’ll turn our attention to the philosophical, legal, and scientific innovations that served to challenge, legitimate and redefine Europe from the late- 14th through mid 17th centuries.
Topics include, but are not limited to, virtue politics; the foundation of civil society; ideas of the common good; the advent and influence of humanism, and with it, the humanities; the conflation of history, memory, and imagination; the impact of scientific discovery and new technologies; as well as changes in popular culture; visual and theatrical arts; architecture; university education; and material cultures.
All of this will be explored within the contexts of empire- and state formation within and beyond Europe, drawing on primary sources from poetry, plays, letters, treatises, and proclamations.
The course also integrates a variety of experiential learning opportunities, ranging from playing a live-action imperial election game to attending a local production at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Students who wish to apply for the study abroad component of the course can do so here: https://studyabroad.uc.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular&id=10397
