"Can These Bones Come To Life?" I: Field Reports from Re-construction, Re-enactment, and Re-creation in the Classroom

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Societas Johannis Higginsis

Organizer Name

Kenneth Mondschein

Organizer Affiliation

Westfield State Univ./American International College

Presider Name

Michael A. Cramer

Presider Affiliation

Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY

Paper Title 1

Reconstructing Military Tactics from Livy

Presenter 1 Name

Tom Leoni

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Catholic Univ. of America

Paper Title 2

Sword and Pen: HEMA Studies, the Communities, and the Academic World

Presenter 2 Name

Daniel Jaquet

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. de Genève

Paper Title 3

How to Use a Potato Ricer in the Medieval Lit Classroom

Presenter 3 Name

Michelle Markey Butler

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Maryland

Paper Title 4

Swordfighting 101: Aristotelian Physics in the Classroom

Presenter 4 Name

Kenneth Mondschein

Start Date

16-5-2015 1:30 PM

Session Location

Bernhard 210

Description

Continuing our wildly popular and well-attended series of interdiscplinary sessions on the insights into history that can be gained from attempts to reconstruct medieval arts and material culture, as well as the historiographical issues involved in such work, we will be presenting "lab reports" from four professors who have used historical re-creation in the undergraduate classroom. Our presenters will explain the sources they used, their methodology of reconstruction, their results, and effects on student engagement and learning. Topics include reconstructing the Roman military tactics and techniques as described by Livy, an examination of Fechtbuch studies both within and without the European academy, a Tolkien course that engaged with early medieval material culture, and a course of fencing that functioned as an "Aristotelian physics lab."

Kenneth C. Mondschein