How do genealogies of modernity inform literary and historical traditions, shape emerging media, and modulate our ideas about human flourishing? Spanning the medieval and early modern eras, GenMod supports inquiries into religion and secularism, ethics, gender and sexuality, and comparative media during the “age of reform” (roughly 1300-1650).
Graduate students in the area benefit from:
- A dynamic interdisciplinary program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies that brings leading scholars to campus and offers grants to support travel for research, conferences, and seminars at the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Folger Library in Washington, D.C.
- Close collaboration with the Departments of French and Italian Languages and Literatures, Music, History, History of Art and Architecture, and History and Philosophy of Science, and ample opportunities for course work in supporting disciplines
- Strong support for trans-Reformation research in multiple media in partnership with the Media and Material Practices focal area.
- Collaborative relations with the other focal areas in literary studies, Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies, and Race, Poetics, Empire, and a strong partnership with area universities through the Pittsburgh Consortium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.