Synopsis:
Focusing on religious, political, and geographical ideas and models, this volume explores, how and to which extent pertinent large-scale concepts influenced or determined concrete actions in premodern cultures. "Ordering" objects, perceptions, and phenomena is not a neutral activity. The models and concepts that are used in this endeavor do not merely arrange the empirically available material, but they invest them with specific positions and values that are culturally determined. The activity of ordering relies on models that help us to perceive and categorize the information conveyed by experience and tradition alike. In turn, its results effectively influence the behaviour and actions of individuals and groups. With a focus on premodern societies in Europe, the Arab world and East Asia, this volume proposes new approaches to premodern models of world-order, by analyzing their effects on individual of collective actions. Examples include socio-religious concepts (Christianity, terra paganorum, dar al-harb), political ideas(empire) and geographical notions. A section dedicated to Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, and Pre-Columbian America considerably broadens the geographic scope and provides innovative additional material for further comparative insights.
About the Author:
Christoph Mauntel is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Medieval History (University of Tübingen). His research focuses on late medieval political culture (esp. in France) and the interrelation between geographical and cultural concepts in premodern cultures.Klaus Oschema is professor of (late) medieval history at the Ruhr-University Bochum. His specialisation includes late medieval nobility and society, the concept of Europe in the Middle Ages and transcultural contacts and transmission of knowledge.
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