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Catlos, Brian A.

Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Dr. Catlos specializes in ethnic and religious identity and relations (e.g.: Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations) in the pre-Modern Mediterranean, the Islamic World, and Christendom, with an emphasis on issues relating to conflict and accommodation and minority-majority relations in both the Christian and Islamic worlds. His work is strongly revisionist and challenges established paradigms of ethnic and religious conflict and cooperation. A particular field of specialization is medieval Iberia. He is a primarily a social and economic historian, and a historian of religion, although his methodology is strongly inter-disciplinary. He is a leading figure in the emerging field of Mediterranean Studies, both in terms of theorizing the Mediterranean as a historical paradigm and in organizing and directing research projects.

keywords

  • ethno-religious identity, muslim-christian-jewish relations, medieval history, mediterranean studies, minority-majority relations, conflict and peace, cultural transmission, european history, iberia, jewish history, islamic history, religious ideology, political history, economic history, social history, archival studies

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • ARAB 2320 - The Muslim World, 600-1250
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2019 / Summer 2019 / Fall 2019 / Summer 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Summer 2022 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Summer 2024
    Focusing on the history of the Muslim World in the age of the caliphates, this course takes an interdisciplinary, comparative approach to the development of Islamicate society, focusing on social structure, politics, economics and religion. Students will use primary and secondary sources to write a research paper, and make in-class presentations to cultivate critical thinking, research and writing skills. Taught in English. Same as RLST 2320.
  • HUMN 3801 - Muslims, Christians, Jews and the Mediterranean Origins of the West
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
    Provides a historical foundation for the study of western Modernity, including the Anglo-European and Islamic worlds. It focuses on the Mediterranean region in the long Middle Ages (650-1650), emphasizing the role of Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples and cultures, in Europe, Africa and West Asia. The approach is interdisciplinary incorporating social, economic, cultural, literary and art history, combining lectures with discussions based around readings of contemporary documents and the analysis of contemporary artifacts. Same as RLST 3801.
  • HUMN 3850 - The Mediterranean: Religion Before Modernity
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2019
    Offers an innovative approach to the multifaceted history of Christian-Muslim-Jewish interaction in the Mediterranean. It eschews established paradigms (e.g., Europe, Islamic world) that distort our understanding of these and pushes students to reconsider the accepted paradigms of Western history. Students will reappraise assumptions regarding the nature of ethnic, religious, national and cultural identity, and their role in human history. Same as RLST 3850.
  • RLST 2320 - The Muslim World, 600-1250
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2019 / Summer 2019 / Fall 2019 / Summer 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Summer 2022 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Summer 2024
    Focusing on the history of the Muslim World in the age of the caliphates, this course takes an interdisciplinary, comparative approach to the development of Islamicate society, focusing on social structure, politics, economics and religion. Students will use primary and secondary sources to write a research paper, and make in-class presentations to cultivate critical thinking, research and writing skills. Same as ARAB 2320.
  • RLST 3000 - Christian Traditions
    Primary Instructor - Summer 2018 / Fall 2018 / Summer 2019 / Fall 2019 / Summer 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023 / Summer 2024
    Serves as an introduction to the academic study of Christianity, understood in its historical context, beginning with its most remote Mesopotamian origins and through to beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Coverage is global, but "Western" Christian tradition are emphasized, as is the evolution of doctrine, ritual and institutions in relation to social, cultural and political factors.
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