MEMS is an interdisciplinary program, with students and faculty from many departments and degree programs across the university.
Among similar programs nationally and internationally, UM’s program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies is distinctive because of its global conception—embracing work on the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas as well as Europe, the traditional focus of MEMS scholarship.
We cover a broad temporal range, although what and when "pre-modern," "medieval," and "early modern" mean differ from region to region, culture to culture, and calendar to calendar. Whether the advent of "modernity" is tied to the Industrial Revolution, the Meiji Restoration, or something else entirely, we encourage exploration of the cultural range of this period in and across geographic regions. Another hallmark of the MEMS program is our interdisciplinarity. MEMS affiliates study the history of art and architecture, archaeology, history, literature, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religious studies, music, and the history of science and technology.
The MEMS program organizes the University’s extraordinarily rich resources in medieval and early modern studies into a collaborative community where we can share work, information, and interests. To learn more about what we've been up to recently, please check out our newsletters. For upcoming events, please refer to our Events page. We hope you will join us!
