Jarbel Rodriguez
I am historian of Medieval Europe, specializing on Muslim/Christian relations in the Crown of Aragon,but my interests extend well beyond this field. I have published articles on religious conversion and diplomacy; contributed to a book on medieval knighthood; and written one book on captivity and co-written a world history textbook focused on how societies interact and influence one another. I have taught classes on a wide range of topics that include the Crusades, the Black Death, Crime and Punishment, Persecution and Magic and the Supernatural. I also have a long-running interest in Medievalism, particularly in modern popular music and have a growing fascination with historical soundscapes. Currently, I am in the process of examining the interfaith soundscape in Medieval Aragon and exploring how religious beliefs helped to shape the aural qualities of cities in the Crown of Aragon.
Education
- B.A. – University of Miami (FL), 1990-1994
- M.A. – University of Miami (FL), 1994-1996
- M.A. – Princeton University, 1996-1998
- Ph.D. – Princeton University, 1998-2001
Courses Recently Taught
Undergraduate:
- Western Civilization to 1500
- Seminar in Historical Analysis
- The Early Middle Ages
- The High Middle Ages
- The Renaissance
- Medieval Popular Beliefs
- Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval Europe
- Intolerance and Persecution in Medieval Europe
- The Crusades
- The Black Death
Graduate:
- History as a Field of Knowledge
- The Crusades
- The Black Death
- Crime and Punishment in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
- Interfaith Spain
- Imagining the Middle Ages
- Historical Soundscapes
Research Interests
- Interfaith Relations in Medieval Spain
- Captivity
- Medievalism
- Interfaith Soundscapes
Selected Publications
Books:
- Muslim and Christian Contact in the Middle Ages : A Reader (University of Toronto Press, 2015)
- Captives and their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon (Catholic University Press, 2007)
- Exchanges: A Global History, Volume I with Trevor Getz and Richard Hoffman (Prentice Hall, 2008)
- Co-Editor with Yuen Gen Liang, Authority and Spectacle in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honor of Teofilo F. Ruiz (New York and London: Routledge, 2017).
Articles:
- "Financing a Captive's Ransom in Late Medieval Spain" in Medieval Encounters 9 (2003) 162-179
- “Conversion Anxieties in the Crown of Aragon in the Later Middle Ages” in Al-Masāq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean 22 (2010) 315-324
- “Captivity and Diplomacy in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon,” in Center and Periphery: Studies on Power in the Medieval World in Honor of William Chester Jordan, ed. Katherine L. Jansen et al. (Brill, 2013)
Selected Awards
- NEH Summer Seminar, Barcelona, Spain
- SF State Sabbatical Leave
- SF State Presidential Award for Professional Development
- Princeton University Center for Human Values Fellow
- Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities
- Fulbright Fellowship in Spain
- Spanish Ministry of Culture Research Grant
Website(s):