Is Byzantine studies a colonialist discipline? : toward a critical historiography /

In this collection from editors Anderson (Cornell Univ.) and Ivanova (Univ. of Sheffield, UK), contemporary scholars and leaders in the field of Byzantine studies explore new avenues and critical approaches to the legacy of the Middle Ages and their past interpreters. In this period of academic turmoil, the young Byzantinists have raised their critique of the discipline's traditional forebears against their colonial influences and the resulting legacy of racism that continues to impact the field, among other influences that remain from previous eras since the 16th century. What is useful here are the new approaches to the manifold facets of a great, albeit tortured, civilization and its relationships with many other alien cultures both historical and religious, particularly the Rus and the Slavs. Chapters also explore the artistic heritage of the Copts and Ethiopians and their repression in many museums, let alone the near ban on Byzantine scholarship in Turkey. There are useful parallels to Deborah Tor and Alexander Beihammer's edited volume The Islamic-Byzantine Border in History (CH, Jan'24, 61-1413). Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. --Steven B Bowman, emeritus, University of Cincinnati