Early Modern Studies

Humanities Quadrangle, Rooms 431 and 436, 203.432.0672
http://earlymodern.yale.edu
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Chair 
Marisa Bass

Director of Graduate Studies 
Erika Valdivieso

Affiliated Faculty Marisa Bass, Lauren Benton, Paola Bertucci, Dominique Brancher, Paul Bushkovitch, Rudiger Campe, Allison Caplan, Edward Cooke, Ivano Dal Prete, Michael Della Rocca, Fabian Drixler, Maura Dykstra, Carlos Eire, Paul Freedman, Supriya Gandhi, Alessandro Giammei, Bruce Gordon, Samuel Hodgkin, K. David Jackson, Nicholas Jones, Christina Kraus, Noel Lenski, Volker Leppin, Tina Lu, Alan Mikhail, Jane Mikkelson, Feisal Mohammed, Isaac Nakhimovsky, Morgan Ng, Catherine Nicholson, Jessica Peritz, Mark Peterson, Ayesha Ramachandran, Kishwar Rizvi, Pierre Saint-Amand, Stuart Schwartz, Nicole Sheriko, Nicola Suthor, Shawkat Toorawa, Katie Trumpener, Jane Tylus, Erika Valdivieso, Jesús Velasco, Lisa Voigt, Mimi Yiengpruksawan

Fields of Study

Early Modern Studies offers a combined Ph.D. degree that integrates concentration in a partner department with interdisciplinary study of the historical period between 1350 and 1800, a temporal range that recognizes “early modernity” as manifested differently and at different times across the world. The program’s scope is global, transnational, transcultural, and committed to a vision of an interlinked world with many, varied, locally-inflected transitions to modernity. Inclusive in scholarship and teaching, the combined degree encourages students to forge connections to diverse disciplinary frameworks, geographic conjunctures, and institutional structures. Current partner departments are: Classics, Comparative Literature, English Language and Literature, French, Germanic Languages and Literatures, History, History of Science and Medicine, History of Art, Music, Italian Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, and Spanish and Portuguese.

Admissions This is a combined degree program. Students must first apply to the doctoral program of one of the partner departments; if accepted, they can then apply to the Program in Early Modern Studies during their second term of graduate study at Yale. Admission to the combined degree in early modern studies thus occurs after the student has already matriculated in the graduate school. Upon acceptance to the combined degree, students are normally enrolled as such from their second year of graduate study. 

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Students are subject to the combined Ph.D. supervision of the Early Modern Studies program and the relevant partner department. The student’s course of study is decided in consultation with an adviser, the director of graduate studies (DGS) in early modern studies, and the DGS in the partner department. 

As detailed below, requirements for the combined degree vary slightly to accommodate the requirements of the individual partner departments, but all candidates for the combined degree are expected to meet the following requirements:

Timing and Completion of Courses The total number of courses for the combined degree in Early Modern Studies remains the same as that of the partner department’s Ph.D. program. Students in the combined degree have the option of taking some of their coursework in their third year in the program. Within that scope, students must incorporate the courses listed below:

  1. EMST 700/EMST 701, Workshop in Early Modern Studies: This year-long seminar to be taken as two half-credit courses, offers a historiographic, theoretical, and methodological introduction to key questions in the field through a dynamic engagement with a series of research presentations by scholars within and beyond Yale.
  2. EMST 800, EMST 801, Early Modern Colloquium: This year-long colloquium, taken as two half-credit courses, must be taken concurrently with  EMST 700/EMST 701. Students attend regular research presentations by scholars within and beyond Yale, which complements EMST 700/701. This course does not typically count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D. by the partner department.  
  3. Three elective courses in early modern studies of which at least one course must be taken outside the student’s primary department. One of the courses may be an interdisciplinary course (i.e. a relevant course in the sciences, social sciences, or other relevant topic outside the traditional humanities).
  4. EMST 900, Professional Skills Workshop for Early Modern Studies: This course is typically taken in spring of the student’s third year of graduate study as a one-semester course designed to support students as they begin to form their dissertation projects. Skills covered include abstract writing, preparing fellowship applications, interviewing, and presenting, with a focus on how to communicate the contribution of an interdisciplinary dissertation project to a range of audiences. This funded workshop also culminates in a conference and offers each student the opportunity to invite one scholar to campus from outside Yale for one-on-one mentoring on their developing research and career goals.

In general, it is expected that courses in early modern studies constitute about one-third of the student’s doctoral coursework. We expect that most students in the combined degree will take more courses in the field as relevant to their specific area of research specialization. 

Language Requirement The language requirement follows the student’s primary department requirements. However, students in the combined degree have flexibility with regard to the completion of language requirements, in negotiation with the partner department.

Qualifying Exams Qualifying exams will follow the student’s primary department; however, a significant portion of the student’s exam lists must be on early modern topics. See guidelines for individual partner departments below.

Prospectus and Admission to Candidacy Procedures for the submission and approval of prospectuses follow the student’s primary department; at least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee. Upon completion of all predissertation requirements, including the prospectus, students are admitted to candidacy for the combined Ph.D. degree. Admission to candidacy must be completed by the beginning of the fourth year.

Dissertation The parameters for the dissertation will follow the student’s primary department. At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee. Students in the joint degree are also generally encouraged to have at least one faculty adviser outside their home department. 

Teaching Student’s teaching assignments will primarily be determined by the home department. However, all students in the combined degree will be permitted additional flexibility in the completion of teaching requirements: students may complete their required four terms of teaching in years two, three, or four of their graduate program. In addition, students will typically assist in the teaching of at least one course in early modern studies. A Graduate Professional Development Opportunity in a relevant area (museums, libraries, collections, etc.) may be substituted for this requirement.

Specific Requirements by Partner Department

Students currently pursuing doctoral degrees in music or Spanish and Portuguese who seek admission to the combined degree program with EMST for the fall of 2025 should consult with the DGS of EMST. Details for the combined degrees in classics, comparative literature, English, French, history of art, and history of science and medicine are listed below. 

Classics

Students are admitted to the Classics department first, and then apply during the second term of graduate study to participate in the Combined Program in Classics and Early Modern Studies.

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Classics and Early Modern Studies

  1. Practice translation tests in Greek and Latin on texts assigned from the Classical Philology reading lists; these are taken before the beginning of the first and third terms and are meant to help students prepare for the qualifying translation exams to be taken before the beginning of the fifth term in the program.
  2. A proseminar offering an introduction to the discipline of Classics and its various subdisciplines, to be taken in the first year in residence.
  3. Departmental reading examinations in French (or Italian) and German. The first (in either language) is to be passed by the end of the first year; the other may be passed at any time before submission of the dissertation; students are, however, encouraged to complete this requirement as early in the program as possible.
  4. A minimum of twelve term courses, with the following stipulations: (a) two yearlong survey courses in the history of Greek and Latin literature (four courses in total); (b) four courses prescribed by Early Modern Studies, including EMST 700/EMST 701, which counts for a single course; (c) four other graduate courses in CLSS. In addition, EMST 800/EMST 801, Early Modern Colloquium, must be taken concurrently with EMST 700/EMST 701, and EMST 900, Professional Skills Workshop, and is taken in the third year. Neither of these two courses (EMST 800/EMST 801, and EMST 900) count towards the minimum course requirement.  
  5. Greek and Latin composition. This requirement may, but need not, be satisfied by courses taken under (4) above.
  6. Oral examinations in Greek and Latin literature, based on the syllabus covered by the survey courses, drawn from the Classical Philology Ph.D. reading list. These are to be taken closely following the surveys in the respective literatures, as follows: the first, at the end of the second term (May of the first year), the second at the end of the fourth term (May of the second year).
  7. Translation examinations in Greek and Latin, based on the Classical Philology Ph.D. reading list, by the beginning of the fifth term in residence.
  8. Four special field exams to be taken in the fall of the third year (fifth term in residence); two of these must be at least partly in a classical field and two must be at least partly in an early modern field. 
  9. A dissertation prospectus by the end of the sixth term in residence. The procedures for approval of the prospectus are as for the Philology program, but at least one member of the EMST faculty, as approved by the DGS in Early Modern Studies, must be on the prospectus approval committee (which is a committee of the whole in Classics); the prospective thesis committee, the DGS and the EMST faculty member must approve of the prospectus.
  10. A dissertation. Once dissertation writing has begun, students will present work in progress from the dissertation at least once per academic year. Research presentations will normally take the form of pre-circulation of a selection of work from the dissertation and a discussion of it with interested faculty, or some other research presentation experience approved by the DGS. This is a requirement for remaining in good standing; exemptions from it require the support of the dissertation adviser and the approval of the graduate committee.

Comparative Literature

Coursework Students are required to complete fourteen term courses, at least seven of these (including CPLT 515, Proseminar in Comparative Literature) in the Department of Comparative Literature. Students must take at least four courses in Early Modern Studies (offered in several departments), including the core seminar (EMST 700/EMST 701); at least one of these courses must be taken outside Comparative Literature. At least three of a student’s overall list of courses must be in literary theory, criticism, or methodology; at least one course each in poetry, narrative fiction, and drama; and at least one course each in ancient or medieval literature and Enlightenment or modern literature. These requirements can overlap with the requirements of the Early Modern Studies program. At least two courses must be completed with the grade of Honors. In general, students should take a wide range of courses with a focus on one or two national or language-based literatures.

Languages Students must demonstrate proficiency in three languages apart from English, one of which must fulfil the philological requirement in Comparative Literature. The languages chosen should be relevance to the student’s chosen area of research and should be determined in consultation with the DGSs in Comparative Literature and Early Modern Studies. 

Orals Qualifying exams follow the format in Comparative Literature; however, a significant portion of the student’s exam lists must be on early modern topics. The exact number will be determined in consultation with the DGSs in Comparative Literature and Early Modern Studies. 

Prospectus and Dissertation The prospectus should be completed in September of the fourth year. Procedures regarding the dissertation will follow departmental practice, however at least one member of the dissertation committee must be an affiliate of the Program in Early Modern Studies.

English Language and Literature

Doctoral students in English Language and Literature may apply in the second term of graduate study to the Program in Early Modern Studies, to pursue a combined Ph.D. degree in English and Early Modern Studies. All requirements for the Ph.D. in English apply, with the following adjustments.

Coursework In years one and two, a student in the combined program will complete ten seminars in English, including ENGL 990, The Teaching of English, two courses on early modern texts and/or topics, one course in each of two out of three additional historical periods (medieval, eighteenth- and/or nineteenth- century, twentieth- and/or twenty-first century), and two seminars in Early Modern Studies, including EMST 700/EMST 701, Workshop in Early Modern Studies, and one seminar outside of English. Students also participate in EMST 800/EMST 801, the Early Modern Studies Colloquium.

Qualifying Examination Students will follow the usual procedures for oral qualifying exams in English, with the additional requirement that at least two of their four lists must concentrate on early modern texts and topics. 

Prospectus In addition to enrolling in ENGL 993, the English Department Prospectus Workshop, in fall, third-year students in the combined program will enroll in EMST 900.

Dissertation Committee At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee. The chair of the committee will be from the English Department, but students in the combined program are encouraged to include at least one faculty member from outside of English on their committees. 

French

Students are admitted to the French Department first and then apply during the second term of the first year to participate in the combined program.

Coursework Sixteen courses at the graduate level are required. These correspond to the requirements of the Department of French and those of the Early Modern Studies Program. Of the courses taken in French, one must be FREN 610, Introduction to Old French. Three others (elective) must fall within early modern periods (1350 to 1800) including one course outside of the department (History, History of Art, Music, Religious Studies, Philosophy, etc.). There are three required Early Modern Studies courses: EMST 700/EMST 701, Workshop in Early Modern Studies; EMST 800/EMST 801, Early Modern Colloquium; and EMST 900, a professional skills workshop to be taken in the third year. 

Languages Two languages appropriate to the field are required and can be satisfied in the variety of ways presented in the French Department Rules and Regulations and following the timeline outlined in the document.

Qualifying Examination An oral qualifying examination must take place as early as possible in the third year of study, before spring recess at the latest. The examination will consist of five topics; at least three must be in the early modern field.

Dissertation A formal prospectus is to be presented by the end of the sixth term (third year) of study. The prospectus committee will consist of three faculty members, including the dissertation director(s) and at least one member in the field outside of French. Once approved by the committee, the prospectus will be submitted to the graduate faculty of the Department of French for a vote on final approval and advancement to candidacy. More than one dissertation adviser is permitted and indeed encouraged, but the principal adviser will normally be in the Department of French. The official readers of the finished dissertation need not be members of the original prospectus committee but will include at least one member of the Department of French and one member of EMST.

Germanic Languages and Literatures

Coursework The required number of courses and timeline for coursework follows the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature guidelines. Students also enroll in EMST 700/EMST 701 and EMST 800/EMST 801 during the second year of coursework, and they enroll in EMST 900 during the spring of year three. These courses do not count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literature.

Language Requirement The language requirement follows the Germanic Languages and Literature department requirements. 

Qualifying Examination Qualifying exams follow the Germanic Languages and Literature department requirements with the added requirement that two out of the four exam fields must be on early modern topics. 

Dissertation At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the dissertation committee.

Teaching A student’s teaching assignments are determined by the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, with every effort made to assign a student to at least one course (or course equivalent) in early modern studies.

History

Coursework The required number of courses and timeline for coursework follows the Department of History guidelines for history students in the combined program. In general, it is expected that courses in early modern studies constitute about one-third of the student’s doctoral coursework, and at least one course with an early modern focus must be taken outside the student’s primary department. Students will also enroll in EMST 700/EMST 701 and EMST 800/EMST 801 during the second year, neither of which count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D. in history. In the spring of third year, students in the Department of History are also encouraged, but not required, to enroll in EMST 900.

Advising A student’s academic adviser is a member in the Department of History. A student may also choose to have as co-adviser a faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies who is not affiliated with History. 

Language Requirement The language requirement follows the Department of History requirements. 

Qualifying Exams Qualifying exams will follow the Department of History requirements with one added requirement that at least half the exam content must be about early modern subjects (the equivalent of one and a half fields if the student completes three fields, two fields if the student completes four fields).

Prospectus and Admission to Candidacy Procedures for the prospectus follow Department of History guidelines. At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee. Upon completion of all predissertation requirements, including the prospectus, students are admitted to candidacy for the combined Ph.D. degree. 

Dissertation At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the dissertation committee. 

Teaching A student’s teaching assignments are determined by the Department of History, with every effort made to assign a student to at least one course (or course equivalent) in early modern studies.

History of Art

Doctoral students in the history of art may apply in the second term of graduate study to the Program in Early Modern Studies to pursue a combined Ph.D. degree in the history of art and early modern studies. All requirements for the Ph.D. in the history of art apply, with the following adjustments.

Coursework History of art students in the combined program take the same number of courses as those on the regular history of art track. In years one and two, a student in the combined program completes ten seminars in the history of art, including HSAR 500, the First Year Seminar, and three seminars on early modern topics, as well as EMST 700/EMST 701, the Workshop in Early Modern Studies. Students also participate in EMST 800/EMST 801, the Early Modern Studies Colloquium.

Second-Year Paper Requirement The qualifying paper is to be submitted for consideration according to the policies of the Department of the History of Art, typically in the second term of the second year.

Languages The language requirement will follow the History of Art department requirements.

Qualifying Examination Students will follow the usual procedures for oral qualifying exams in History of Art, with the additional requirement that three of their four lists must concentrate on early modern texts and topics (between 1350 and 1800). 

Prospectus Students in the combined program enroll in EMST 900, the Early Modern Studies Professional Skills Workshop, during the spring of their third year in support of their development of the dissertation prospectus.

Dissertation Committee At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee. The chair of the committee will be in the History of Art, but students in the combined program are encouraged to include at least one faculty member from outside of History of Art on their committees. 

History of Science and Medicine

Admission to the HSHM/EMST is a competitive process. HSHM Ph.D. students who wish to enroll in the Program in Early Modern Studies apply during their second term at Yale. They need their adviser’s approval and a letter of support from the HSHM DGS.

Requirements for the HSHM/EMST Ph.D. Degree

  1. In addition to fulfilling the HSHM requirements as specified in this bulletin, students in the combined program will take:
    1. EMST 700/EMST 701, Workshop in Early Modern Studies: This core, year-long seminar to be taken as two half-credit courses, offers a historiographic, theoretical, and methodological introduction to key questions in the field through a dynamic engagement with a series of research presentations by scholars within and beyond Yale.
    2. EMST 800/EMST 801, Early Modern Colloquium: This year-long colloquium, taken as two half-credit courses, must be taken concurrently with EMST 700. Students will attend regular research presentations by scholars within and beyond Yale, which will complement EMST 700. This course does not typically count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D.
    3. Three elective courses in early modern studies, of which at least one course must be taken outside the student’s primary department. One of the courses may be an interdisciplinary course (i.e., a relevant course in the sciences or social sciences or other relevant topic outside the traditional humanities). These three courses can count toward the HSHM requirements, whether as electives or HSHM seminars.
    4. EMST 900, Professional Skills Workshop for Early Modern Studies: This course is typically taken in spring of the student’s third year of graduate study as a one-semester course designed to support students as they begin to form their dissertation projects. Skills covered include abstract writing, preparing fellowship applications, interviewing, and presenting, with a focus on how to communicate the contribution of an interdisciplinary dissertation project to a range of audiences. This funded workshop also culminates in a conference and offers each student the opportunity to invite one scholar to campus from outside Yale for one-on-one mentoring on their developing research and career goals.
  2. Other EMST Requirements:
    a. Language Requirement: same as HSHM language requirements
    b. Qualifying Exams: Qualifying exams will follow the student’s primary department. A significant portion of the student’s exam lists must be on early modern topics.
    c. Prospectus and Admission to Candidacy: At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the committee
    d. Dissertation: At least one faculty member affiliated with the EMST Program must be on the committee.
    e. Teaching: Student’s teaching assignments will primarily be determined by the home department. However, all students in the combined degree will be permitted additional flexibility in the completion of teaching requirements: students may complete their required four terms of teaching in years two, three, or four of their graduate program. In addition, students will typically assist in the teaching of at least one course in early modern studies.

Italian Studies

Coursework The required number of courses and timeline for coursework follows the Department of Italian Studies guidelines. Of the required courses taking for Italian studies, two must fall within the early modern period (1350–1800), and students are also encouraged to take an additional course toward the departmental requirements in another field (e.g history, history of art, music, religious studies, philosophy, etc.). Students also enroll in EMST 700/EMST 701, and EMST 800/EMST 801 during year two of coursework, neither of which count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D. in Italian studies. In the spring of year three, Italian studies students are strongly encouraged to participate in EMST 900.

Language Requirement The language requirement follows the Department of Italian Studies requirements. 

Qualifying Examination Qualifying exams follow the Department of Italian Studies requirements with one added requirement that two out of the three exam fields must be on early modern topics. 

Dissertation At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the dissertation committee.

Teaching A student’s teaching assignments are determined by the Department of Italian Studies, with every effort made to assign a student to at least one course (or course equivalent) in early modern studies.

Near Eastern Languages and Literatures

Coursework The required number of courses and timeline for coursework follows the NELC Department guidelines. Students also enroll in  EMST 700/EMST 701 and EMST 800/EMST 801 during the second year of coursework and in EMST 900 during the spring of year three. These courses do not count towards the total number of courses required for the Ph.D. in NELC.

Advising A student’s academic adviser will be a member in NELC. A student may also choose to have as co-adviser a faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies who is not affiliated with NELC. 

Language Requirement The language requirement follows the NELC department requirements. 

Qualifying Examination Qualifying exams follow the NELC department requirements for the Arabic humanities track, with the added requirement that one of the fields be focused on an early modern topic.

Dissertation At least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in Early Modern Studies must be on the dissertation committee.

Teaching A student’s teaching assignments are determined by NELC, with every effort made to assign a student to at least one course (or course equivalent) in early modern studies. 

Master’s Degrees

M.Phil. The combined M.Phil. degree may be requested after all requirements but the dissertation are met.

M.A. Students who withdraw from the Ph.D. program may be eligible for the M.A. degree if they have met the following requirements: successful completion of eight term courses, at least two of which must be in early modern studies, and with at least three grades of Honors. Candidates in combined programs will be awarded the M.A. only when the master’s degree requirements for both programs have been met.

Courses

EMST 502a / CPLT 502a, Always Compare!  Marta Figlerowicz and Ayesha Ramachandran

This course interrogates the conceptual frameworks and challenges of cross-cultural comparison. The discipline of comparative literature has its roots in comparative anthropology, linguistics, history, and religion—which are themselves imbricated in the long history of colonialism and in Eurocentric philosophies of history that describe Western cultures as superior to, and superseding, all others. In this course, we move across all these disciplines to ask why, and under what conditions, cross-cultural comparison can still be illuminating in our day and age. We introduce and model innovative new forms of comparative study that are currently reshaping and expanding our field and the humanities more broadly.
W 11:45am-1pm

EMST 541a / ENGL 551a, Spenser's Readers  Catherine Nicholson

This course has two complementary, though sometimes divergent, objects of interest: the first is the poetry of Edmund Spenser, particularly his immense allegorical epic-romance, The Faerie Queene; the second is that poem's varied and often vexed reception history, from the late sixteenth century through the present. The Faerie Queene is a poem about interpretation—its pleasures and its discontents—and we often find ourselves reading over the shoulders of readers in the poem. But it is also possible to read the poem through the eyes of other historical readers, adopting their (often alien) expectations, ambitions, and preoccupations as a way of discovering new things in the text and of reflecting on the biases and assumptions of our own critical practices. In this sense, this is a course about readerly methods and the history of reading as well as a course about Spenser, and participants whose primary interests lie outside the English Renaissance are warmly welcomed.
M 9:25am-11:15am

EMST 565b / CPLT 666b / GMAN 665b, Birth of the Political: Early Modern and Twentieth Century  Rudiger Campe

Early modern European works on colonial war, sovereignty, and politics, sixteenth to seventeenth centuries (by Sepúlveda, Grotius, Machiavelli, Lipsius [neo-Stoicism], Hobbes) are read in conjunction with twentieth century debates from the inter-war period to circa 1968 (by Schmitt, Kantorowicz, Benjamin, Oestreich, Foucault, authors who refer back to the modern early works and have importantly shaped our modern understanding of “the political” and, with it, the notion of the “early modern”). The course is interested in critically tracing the echoes regarding “the political” between early modernity and our own times.
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

EMST 572a / ENGL 722a, Transatlantic Literature, 1688–1818  Jill Campbell

Study of multiple genres in the literatures of Great Britain, North America, and the Caribbean from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century, with twenty-first-century creative and critical works providing a range of contemporary responses. Special focus on the role of literature in advancing and contesting concepts of race and gender as features of identity and systems of power, with attention to the circulation of goods, people, ideas, and literary works among regions. Readings from the long eighteenth century to include works by Aphra Behn, Phillis Wheatley, Samson Occam, Olaudah Equiano, Omar Ibn Said, Leonora Sansay, and Maria Edgeworth. Twenty-first-century creative works by Biyi Bandele, Yaa Gyasi, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abel; with critical selections from Édouard Glissant, Sylvia Wynter, Dionne Brand, Christina Sharpe, and Habiba Ibrahim.
W 10:30am-12:20pm

EMST 660a / HIST 560a / RLST 691a, Society and the Supernatural in Early Modern Europe  Carlos Eire

Readings in primary texts from the period 1500–1700 that focus on definitions of the relationship between the natural and supernatural realms, both Catholic and Protestant. Among the topics covered: mystical ecstasy, visions, apparitions, miracles, and demonic possession. All assigned readings in English translation.
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

EMST 661a / FREN 861a, Margins of the Enlightenment  Pierre Saint-Amand

This course proposes a critical examination of the French Enlightenment, with a focus on issues of progress, universalism, empire, and race. We confront these notions with approaches that have emerged in the postcolonial field of studies as well as gender and sexuality studies. Canonical authors are reinterpreted in that light along with lesser-known works. We are assisted by contemporary historians and critics of the Enlightenment, principally Michel Foucault, Lynn Hunt, and Robert Darnton. Readings by Mme. de Graffigny, Mme. de Stael, Mme. de Duras, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau, Raynal and Cugoano. Conducted in French.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 689a / EAST 889a / HIST 889a, Research in Japanese History  Fabian Drixler and Hannah Shepherd

After a general introduction to the broad array of sources and reference materials available for conducting research related to the history of Japan since ca. 1600, students prepare original research papers on topics of their own choosing in a collaborative workshop environment. Prerequisite: reading knowledge of Japanese.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 695b / HIST 958b / MUSI 852b, Temporalities: Early, Modern, and Otherwise  Maura Dykstra and Marlene Daut

What is the relationship between history and temporality? Perhaps a better question might be: what different relationships have there been between histories and temporalities, and how can interrogating those epistemic shifts generate new ways of “doing” history in the present? This interdisciplinary graduate seminar undertakes a critical genealogy of “history” itself, approaching the Enlightenment and the early-mid-twentieth century as two pivotal moments in the conceptual solidification of the relationship between time (singular) and capital-H history. Readings describing and utilizing foundational theories about time, periodization, and historicism, are juxtaposed against critiques and alternative imaginings in post/de-colonial studies, gender and sexuality studies, performance studies, and various traditions outside of (or opposed to) the canon of modernity. The syllabus includes texts by early modern theorists of history, twentieth-century social theorists, and the critical theoretical engagements that assailed and critiqued them.
HTBA

EMST 700a and EMST 701b, Workshop in Early Modern Studies  Erika Valdivieso

What is the nature of the “early modern” as a temporal, conceptual, and socio-political category in humanistic study? How did it emerge as an interdisciplinary framework and how does it relate to concepts of the medieval, the Renaissance, classicism, and modernity? Can “early modern” be usefully deployed to speak of non-Western geographic and political formations, and if not, why? Broadly focused on the historical period between 1350 and 1800, this seminar considers the many transitions to modernity across the globe and explores how scholars across the disciplines have crafted narratives to highlight its significance. Taken over an entire academic year, as two half-credit courses, the workshop provides a historiographic, theoretical, and methodological introduction to key questions in the field through a dynamic engagement with a series of research presentations by scholars within and beyond Yale (must be taken concurrently with EMST 800a/801b). Required for students in the combined degree in Early Modern Studies and meets on alternating weeks. Open only to students in the combined degree.  ½ Course cr per term
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

EMST 710a / EAST 512a / HSAR 520a, Chinese Art Modernity  Quincy Ngan

This seminar uses the visual and material cultures of China to examine the notion of “modernity” and the relations among the “medieval,” “early modern,” and “modern” periods. By comparing these concepts with the historiographical frameworks of “Song-Yuan-Ming transition” and “late imperial China,” we will become familiar with the methodological concerns and contradictions that complicate these relativized temporal frameworks. Works by Craig Clunas, Jonathan Hay, and Wu Hung, along with the insights from historians, inform our discussions of Chinese prints, paintings, ceramics, and other decorative objects in the long-term development of global art history. This class is most suitable for graduate students who have background in Asian art history, the history of China, East Asian studies, or early modern studies.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 718b / CPLT 648b, European Drama I: From the Greek Polis to the French Revolution  Rudiger Campe and Katie Trumpener

This seminar is designed as a graduate-level survey of European drama from antiquity to 1800. Our emphasis is on historically-informed discussion of primary texts; on mapping key epochs in dramatic history (including Greek tragedy and comedy, Elizabethan/ Jacobean; Spanish “Golden Age”; French neo-classicism; German Storm and Stress) in relationship to one another, across time, languages, and cultures; and on changing performance practices and conceptions of theater. Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes; Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim; Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Congreve; Lope de Vega, Calderon; Racine, Corneille, Moliere, Goldoni, Marivaux, Beaumarchais; Goethe, Schiller. Short classic texts by Aristotle, Nietzsche, Goethe, Bulgakov, Goldman, Leroy Ladurie, Barthes, Kott, alongside contemporary theater critics and historians.
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 720a / HSAR 620a, The Mind of the Book  Marisa Bass

This seminar offers an art-historical approach to the early modern book from the dawn of the printing press through the seventeenth century. We cover the interrelation of manuscript and print, collaborations among publishers, authors, and artists, and major early modern genres of visual and intellectual production (such as emblem books, natural history treatises, and cartographic atlases). Topics include the role of frontispieces, paratexts, illustration, annotation, and the idea of the book as a “body” of thought. All meetings are in Beinecke Library and centered on close firsthand study of the books themselves. The focus is on early modern Europe, but students are welcome to pursue research topics on early modern books from any cultural sphere.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 744a / HSAR 764a, Advanced Topics in Italian Renaissance Art  Morgan Ng

This seminar explores recent scholarship on Italian visual culture and architecture, c. 1400–1600. Potential themes include the relationship between art and the environment; transmedial approaches that exceed conventional definitions of painting, sculpture, and architecture; artistic production, patronage, and reception in relation to dynamics of gender, race, labor, and class; the movement of artists and materials; and expanding notions of artistic geography both within and beyond the peninsula. While sessions focus on secondary literature from recent decades, they also put newer scholarship in dialogue with longer historiographic traditions and primary sources. The course is a chance for graduate students not only to inform themselves about trends in the field but also to debate and situate their own voices in relation to them.
F 1:30pm-3:20pm

EMST 800a and EMST 801b, Early Modern Colloquium  Erika Valdivieso

This year-long colloquium, taken as two half-credit courses, must be taken concurrently with EMST 700a/701b. Students attend regular research presentations each semester by scholars within and beyond Yale, which will complement EMST 700. To be taken SAT/UNSAT.  ½ Course cr per term
HTBA

EMST 826a, Reading Calvin’s Institutes  Bruce Gordon

This course is a close reading of almost the whole John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559). Seminar discussion focuses on the structure, arguments, and contexts of the text. Particular attention is given to the analysis of the theological, literary, and historical aspects of the the book, and students are challenged to formulate their analysis of Calvin’s methods and intentions. 
T 9:30am-11:20am