“Forgotten but not Gone: Medieval Capitalism”
The annual spring speaker of the History Graduate Student Organization (HGSO) for this year is Dr. Steven A. Epstein, the Ahmanson-Murphy Distinguished Professor of Medieval History at the University of Kansas. Dr. Epstein has published five books and numerous articles on a broad range of topics that draw a much wider readership than only scholars of medieval history. His most recent work has focused on questions of slavery, the meaning and efficacy of utilizing loaded terms such as “race” in historical debates, and, finally, not only construction and maintenance of various boundaries separating groups of people, such as religion, language and ethnicity, but also the ways in which people defined, overlooked or transcended these boundaries in order to establish relationships with those different from themselves. These are all topics that have been, and continue to be, applied to a wide range of scholarly fields well beyond just medieval history; these are issues with contemporary relevance, as well. Dr. Epstein’s presentation, which is entitled “Forgotten but not Gone: Medieval Capitalism,” is of interest not only to a broad range of history department students and faculty, but also to the members of many other departments university-wide and the community at large.
Short Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Steven A. Epstein
Most Recent Employment
- Until July, 2003 – Professor of History of Medieval History at the University of Colorado-Boulder
- July, 2003-present – Ahmanson-Murphy Distinguished Professor of Medieval History at the University of Kansas
Education
- BA: Swarthmore College, 1974 (History and Biology)
- MA: Cambridge, 1980 (Medieval History)
- Ph.D.: Harvard University, 1981 (Medieval History)
Select Awards
- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
- Bellagio Residency
- Resident in Medieval History, American Academy in Rome
- Named University-wide Distinguished Professor at Kansas
Professional Memberships
- American Historical Association
- Medieval Academy of America
- Renaissance society of America
Research Interests
Regarding his most current research, Dr. Epstein says: "My current research includes a few small projects on city government in the Middle Ages, slavery in Italy, and family life in urban medieval Italy. The book in progress concerns the broad subject of ethnogenesis in the eastern Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. I am looking at the wide area stretching from the Black Sea down to Egypt with an eye toward explaining how the various peoples living there defined themselves in contrast to their neighbors. I am studying treaty and contract making, colonies, slavery, physiognomy, and ethnic identity as ways to explore how people crossed the boundaries of culture, language, and creed to form relationships with others."
Publications
Books
Wills and Wealth in Medieval Genoa, 1150-1250. Cambridge, Massachusets: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Genoa & the Genoese, 958-1528. Contributors: Steven A. Epstein - author. Publisher: University of North Carolina Press. Place of Publication: Chapel Hill, NC. Publication Year: 1996
Portraits of Medieval and Renaissance Living: Essays in Honor of David Herlihy, eds. Samuel Kline Cohn and Steven A. Epstein. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1996.
Speaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity, and Human Bondage in Italy. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.
Purity Lost: Transgressing Boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1400. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Articles
Dr. Epstein has published numerous articles on diverse topics in the broad field of the medieval Mediterranean world.
Teaching
Dr. Epstein has taught both general surveys of medieval European history, as well as more specialized courses on the Mediterranean, Venice, Florence and Genoa, slavery, and economic history.