Demons and monsters are inherently moveable creatures: from the late second millennium BCE onwards a number of demons and monsters migrate from their native Mesopotamian contexts, moving westward. Of course, these figures do not remain static throughout their journey, instead acquiring the characteristics of the different cultural contexts wherein…[Read more]

Within Iran, the transformation in the Islamic legal understanding of the foreign (ajnabi) into a political concept was accelerated by the encounter with Europe during the 19th century. The classical Iranian understanding of otherness as a domain fully demarcated from the self was replaced by an internalized other, resulting in what we call here…[Read more]

In the summer of 2011, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov (1887) debuted on the Iranian stage. The director and playwright Amir-Reza Koohestani (b. 1978) created a production that was faithful to the classic status of this text while also maximizing its resonance with a contemporary Iranian audience. I explore how Koohestani achieved this b…[Read more]

«De Camino a la Gloria: orígenes y sentido del Camino de Santiago en la Edad Media». Ponencia invitada en la mesa redonda “Del Camino al Pórtico” organizada por la asociación SED Cultura, retransmitido desde la sede de Ediciones Encuentro el 10/6/2021.

En el presente artículo se analiza una crónica que, pese a haber sido poco tratada en el mundo académico, constituye una importante fuente para el estudio de los últimos años del emirato nazarí de Granada desde el punto de vista andalusí: la Nubḏat (Ajbār) al-ʿaṣr. Escrita por un antiguo soldado granadino durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI en…[Read more]

In this work, we study the medieval Christian reception of the book of Job as a possible starting point for further reflections on the consideration and experience of suffering within the medieval religious worldview. After a presentation of the book of Job as a paradigmatic Judeo-Christian expression of the problem of human suffering —a u…[Read more]

En el presente artículo presentamos un estado de la cuestión (revisión bibliográfica y esbozo de una posible línea a seguir) acerca de las ideas de misión y cruzada y su interrelación (la manera en que se conjugan ambos conceptos, aparentemente contradictorios o excluyentes) en el pensamiento filosófico, político y misionero del mallorqu…[Read more]

«Auditu auris audivi te, nunc autem oculus meus videt te. Experiencia, encuentro y conocimiento a partir de Job 42,5» VIII Congreso Internacional de Filosofía Medieval de SOFIME (Porto, 6-8 de septiembre de 2021).

En el presente trabajo analizamos el tratamiento que hace Isidoro de Sevilla (c. 556-636), la más ilustre figura de la cultura hispanovisigoda, que ejerció un notabilísimo influjo durante todo el medievo a lo largo y ancho de la cristiandad, del problema de la pobreza y la injusticia social. En los dos primeros epígrafes estudiamos sus con…[Read more]

Was King Æthelred ‘the Unready’ seen as a failure by his contemporaries? The study looks at sources that were written during and immediately after Æthelred’s reign in order to see if the king was criticised or blamed for the misfortunes in the conflicts with the Danes. The most important authors to be considered are Ælfric of Eynsham and Archbish…[Read more]

This is a case study on how the positioning of bishops in succession struggles had effects on the dioeceses. It looks at the dioeceses of Worms and Cologne during the three royal successions of Otto III (984), Henry II (1002) and Conrad II (1024).

Since the Intifada of 2000, living conditions in the Gaza Strip have progressively deteriorated, and when Hamas came to power in 2006–07, a complete blockade was enforced on the inhabitants by Egypt and Israel. In addition, five full-scale wars have been
waged on the Strip. Despite these conditions, Gazans remain resilient, as evidenced by s…[Read more]

Purportedly in response to a request by his unnamed beloved one, the late 18th-century Ottoman poet Ḥasan-i Yāver wrote Poetry’s Artistry, a 441-verse mathnawī that offers some hands-on advice for trying one’s hand at poetry. As tashbīh, jinās, kināya, taḍādd, taḍmīn, ilmām, iltifāt, tardīd, ishtibāh, tawriya, īhām, takhmīs, tarkīb-band,…[Read more]

A short essay on the different forms of money used in the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Translated into German by Julia Linke.

In this article we trace the history of Urban Renewal in Lansing through a collaborative research project involving undergraduate students and the course instructor. Looking in fine-grain detail at the block and individual house level, the project reveals the patchwork of discrimination that African Americans faced in accessing housing in the…[Read more]

In this article we trace the history of Urban Renewal in Lansing through a collaborative research project involving undergraduate students and the course instructor. Looking in fine-grain detail at the block and individual house level, the project reveals the patchwork of discrimination that African Americans faced in accessing housing in the…[Read more]

An overview of taxation in ancient states.

A short story about the pitfals of a new law, the General Act for the Dismantling of Normalising Power and Structures of Privilege, and, more philosophically, about the problems of institutionalizing progressive politics through law. Published in The Cabinat of Imaginary Laws, by Peter Goodrich and Thanos Zartaloudis: Returning to the map of the…[Read more]