Medievalism and Imperial Modernity: from the “Global Medievalist Moment” to Today

In the nineteenth century, much of the world was colonized by European empires that projected a combination of supposed civilizational and technological advancement along with medievalist traditions related to virtue, Christianity and martial valour. Focusing on examples from Japan and China, this talk examines how a ‘global medievalist moment’ in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had impact far beyond Europe, which in turn came to be influenced by Japanese medievalism. This talk further introduces for discussion some of the larger questions underpinning the research strand.

Part of the Medievalism and Imperial Modernity research strand, co-organized with the York Asia Research Network