Global Education and Field Study

England & Wales - EN280/HY200/CO120 - Medieval Colonialisms

Conwy Castle, Wales

EN280/HY200/CO120 - Medieval Colonialisms

London-Oxford-Exeter-Cornwall-Swansea-Conwy

Last Offered: Summer 2026

Borderlands are not only geographical but also political and social spaces. Boundaries blur, cross-cultural exchanges evolve, cultures interlayer in these contact zones. Borderlands introduce complex matrices of identity and power negotiated across time through historical and literary memory. This course will explore both historical and literary texts that tell the story of “borderlands cultures” in contact zones between England and Wales during the High Middle Ages (1100-1400): colonial historical narratives in conversation with miracle legends, bestiaries, mystical texts, and Arthurian tales. We’ll consider the politics, social experiences, and resulting constellations of gender, class, race, and religious inter-connectedness that these texts reveal.

How do these texts give voice to different histories of invasion, colonization, immigration, assimilation? What theologies and political systems do they explore? How do they (re)imagine and (re)present identities across time, including how human and non-human bodies interact? Because British colonialism in early modernity is paradigmatic for later global encounter and post-colonial histories and literatures, examination of its origins will undergird students’ understanding of subsequent periods and regions.

Course led by Prof. Re Evitt and Prof. Carol Neel

Course Info

This course is NOT YET CONFIRMED for a future offering.

Financial Info

How to Apply or Withdraw

Course Expectations

Heightened Physical & Psychological Requirements for All Study Away: Study Away or Abroad can be a very different experience than an on-campus course, requiring both physical and mental adjustments which may not be typical for your on-campus experience. This includes requirements for physical activity such as more extensive physical movement (walking, touring, extended sedentary time during travel, etc.), requirements to manage luggage, often on uneven terrain such as cobblestone streets or buildings without elevators, or locations with limited medical facilities, potential extremes of weather and temperature. Housing options are also significantly different from an on-campus experience.

Some programs will use family homestays while others will require students live in pairs, triples, and quads. Travel is also inherently a stressful alteration to your normal routines, with greater flexibility, adaptability and resilience required, whether it is dealing with distinct cultures, language differences, feelings of “otherness” or lack of belonging, or simply greater ambiguity and unfamiliarity with surroundings. We recommend that all students consider these realities of study away and abroad as they consider programs. Below we will list any known expectations which the faculty have identified for their specific course.

Expectations for Study on this Program: This course will include daily walking: between public transportation hubs and overnight accommodations; to course sites in urban and rural or natural environments (museums, contemporary castles and churches, trails in the Peak District). It will also include light hiking to visit archaeological sites, ruins. Additionally, Wales is bilingual, but students will need to adjust to a country where they may not understand road/highway signs, maps, and on occasion the language spoken around them. Students who may require support due to these expectations should speak with Prof. Evitt prior to application to ensure that appropriate support in England & Wales will be possible.

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England & Wales - EN280/HY200/CO120 - Medieval Colonialisms

EN280/HY200/CO120 - Medieval Colonialisms

London-Oxford-Exeter-Cornwall-Swansea-Conwy

Last Offered: Summer 2026