Bonnie Effros

Hist 202: Gateway to the Middle Ages
Spring 2023
Professor Bonnie Effros

This course explores how what we know and potentially can learn about the Middle Ages has changed enormously over the last three decades. To start, medievalists have become more adept at reading the historical sources against the grain. Borrowing from the fields of literary theory and gender studies, we are more conscious of who and what topics are missing from our historical sources. Moreover, whereas historians used to be almost entirely dependent upon the written sources, perhaps with occasional reference to monuments or extraordinary objects, our approaches have now grown more sophisticated. Historians have access not just to archaeological data but data from a substantial number of scientific technologies that have allowed us insight into topics such as the medieval environment, disease, diet, technologies, settlement, and more.

HIST 336: Imperial and Colonial Archaeology and Museums
Spring 2024 and 2025
Professor Bonnie Effros

Myths of the “Indiana Jones” type portray archaeologists conquering and exploring exotic landscapes in search of hidden treasures (and even punching Nazis) for loot to be shown in Western museums and private collections. These myths have encouraged the public to dream romantically of archaeological adventures abroad and the origins of the rich collections in their capital cities. But it is clear that individuals such as Aurel Stein (1862-1943) and Langdon Warner (1881-1995), reputed to be the models for Steven Spielberg’s “hero”, were not really as heroic as they sound. This course will critique how the idealized images created by such fictional accounts hide the ugly realities of the close connection between archaeology and museums, on the one hand, and imperialism, colonialism and war, on the other. Although popular sentiment in the West has tended to embrace the adventure rather than ponder the legacy of archaeological explorers like the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) or the British explorer August Pitt Rivers (1827-1900), imperial powers’ allegations of having “saved” world heritage from neglect or destruction was often a pretext to expand political influence and disrupt the legal jurisdiction of target nations and coveted territories. We will examine those whose lives were entangled in some way with ancient monuments and how ancient artefacts often fell victim to the imperial war machine; we will learn how conquered peoples saw their lands confiscated, artefacts looted and remains of ancestors violated, and how they lost local monuments to overseas purchasers and imperial powers. We will assess the legacy of the practice of describing Indigenous peoples as racial inferiors or “primitives” as compared to European and North American explorers, conquerors, and scholars, and how museum displays helped to solidify these narratives. Finally, we will reimagine what exhibitions might convey to their audiences in telling stories about the archaeological materials they showcase.

Hist 525: Professional Development for Historians
Fall 2022, 2023, 2024
Professor Bonnie Effros

This seminar gives graduate students an understanding of the current landscape of the historical profession. In order to put a history postgraduate education to work, this course will help students recognize the kinds of skills that they possess and what skills they might want to consider developing further or acquiring during graduate school. These are tools that will be of use in any kind of career upon which students embark after earning their advanced degree in History. The course is thus designed to familiarize students with the different kinds of careers in which historians are engaged, whether academic careers, or working in government, businesses, international organizations, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.