The Global Middle Ages: An Introduction discusses how, when, and why a 'global Middle Ages' was conceptualized; explains and considers the terms that are deployed in studying, teaching, and researching a Global Middle Ages; and critically reflects on the issues that arise in the establishment of this relatively new field of academic endeavor.
This book is for readers who may or may not be familiar with the Middle Ages, but are interested in race and racism, and want to know how far back in time racism begins to appear. The book does for race studies what feminism, queer studies, postcolonial studies, have done to change how we view the past.
This Element explores how religion and violence visited on Jewish bodies and lives created the first racial state in the history of the West and stands as an example of how methods and conceptual frames of postcolonial and race studies can bring new perspective to the foundational history of the past.