Courses

For detailed information on times, locations, or requisites please refer to Course Search 

Art History 320: Italian Renaissance Art / Sarah Ganzel 

English 804: Topics in Early Modern Literature / Joshua Calhoun

French 391: French for Reading Knowledge / Anne Vila                  
The goal of this course is to give students with no previous knowledge of French the ability to read texts that are necessary or useful for their research. The fundamental elements of French grammar are given over the course of the semester.  Basic exercises focus on translation from French to English.  A good deal of memorization will be required, but students will generally not be expected to reproduce forms in French, just to recognize them.  French pronunciation will NOT be studied extensively, and students will NOT learn to speak French or to understand spoken French, just to read texts written in French.
No previous knowledge of French is required; those who have studied some French but cannot yet read texts in their field of research are welcome to take the course.  French 391 can be taken by graduate students in many departments as a means of fulfilling a foreign language reading requirement. This is a lively course with plenty of student interaction, and lots of individual guidance from the instructor.

Italian 731: Features in Italian Literature / Kristin Phillips-Court
In-depth exploration of periods and concepts of Italian literature, from the Middle Ages to Baroque period. Topics vary. Taught in Italian.

History 600: The Supernatural in Early Modern Europe / Eric Carlsson
The historical record of early modern Europe (c. 1500–1800) is replete with accounts of the supernatural. Stories abound of healing miracles, apparitions, demonic possession, levitations, bilocations, and more. This was also an age of religious reformations, scientific revolution, and Enlightenment, marked by intense debates about the nature and reality of supernatural activity, both diabolical and divine. In recent years, historians have renewed their focus on the place of the supernatural in early modern culture. They are re-examining long-held narratives about “disenchantment” and secularization in the period, while also rethinking how we make sense of past experiences that people understood as extraordinary.
In this seminar, we will investigate this world together through case studies spanning the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, read alongside recent scholarship. Students will explore key historiographical debates, give oral presentations, and contribute actively to class discussions. The capstone project is a substantial, original research paper (~20 pages) on a topic of the student’s choice. The seminar aims to help students think historically about belief, experience, and evidence, while building their skills as researchers and writers. 

History of Science 903: Medieval, Renaissance, and 17th Century Science – meets with History of Science 911: Eighteenth-Century Science: Scientific Genres / Florence Hsia
In this graduate seminar, we will explore current approaches to genre analysis by examining some of the ways in which natural knowledge was textually and visually articulated from the Middle Ages through early modernity. Potential examples include almanacs, horoscopes, and medical cases; books of secrets and recipe books; tables, herbals, and maps; disputations and commentaries; lists, inventories, and catalogues; manuals and handbooks; poetry, fables, and aphorisms; problemata, dialogues, and epistolary forms; biographies; essays and histories; and albums, dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Readings will represent a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches, disciplinary perspectives, and geographical/cultural areas. The writing requirement for this seminar will be tailored to students’ particular needs in their respective programs of study. Students will gain familiarity with current scholarly debates, expand their analytical and interpretive skills, and strengthen their oral and written communication skills.  

Philosophy 432: History of Modern Philosophy — James Messina
In this course, we will read and discuss selections from the works of some influential 17th and 18th century philosophers, such as Descartes, Princess Elisabeth, Malebranche, Spinoza, Leibniz, Lady Masham, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Though these thinkers are a diverse bunch, one thing that unites them is their preoccupation with a set of philosophical issues connected with the scientific revolution ushered in by scientists like Galileo and Newton. The scientific revolution, which was closely associated with the so-called mechanical philosophy, raised troubling questions about free will, the mind-body relationship, God’s place in nature, the sources and limits of knowledge, and the ultimate nature of reality. The modern philosophers we will study in this class thought deeply about these questions, and though their answers often diverge widely from one another (and sometimes from common sense), they helped to shape philosophy as it is practiced today. 

Spanish 468:  Women/Gender:16th-17th C Spain / Mercedes Alcalá-Galán

Spanish 490: Race, Religion and Ethnicity in the Age of Empire / Steven Hutchinson
Drawing mainly from early modern Spanish and Colonial texts, covers encounters and relations with different forms of “otherness”. Move from America to Spain and across the Mediterranean world to Istanbul, from the late 15th century to the 17th. Discuss issues of race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation. Spain’s long history of relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians will form a backdrop to interactions with Amerindians, sub-Saharan Africans, Jews, Moriscos, Gypsies, North African Muslims and Turks. One of the millions of slaves during this period was Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. He and many other writers would reflect profoundly on questions of “otherness” in works that would have universal implications and continue to connect with our concerns in the 21st century. 

— 

Please send your course descriptions for Spring 2027 to smoedersheim@wisc.edu