A new approach to medieval history, this course focuses on the Mediterranean world as a site for the convergence of Western and Eastern Christian, Muslim, Jewish, sub-Saharan African, and East Asian peoples and cultures. It treats topics such as political and military conflict, including Muslim conquests and the Crusades; the situation of religious minorities; religious conversion; cultural exchange; commerce; slavery; aspects of material culture, such as art and architecture; and family and gender from a comparative perspective.