This episode focuses mostly on medieval Islam, including a cool medieval epic about a warrior woman and her son. But also we talk about why theory is good (it is), and how medievals - not just in the Islamicate world - thought about enslaved peoples and race difference. It’s different, but kind of similar, to how we do today.

Guest

Rachel Schine is an assistant professor of Arabic and History at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on racialization and Afro-Arab connections in the medieval Islamic world. Her first book, Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race, was awarded the Middle East Medievalists' Book Prize, and work on her second book is currently supported by a membership at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. You can follow her on Bluesky at @rachelschine.bsky.social.

Credits

• Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com
• Editor: Julia Schifini
• Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE
• Art: Ulysses Gabriele
• Multitude: https://multitude.productions

Find American Medieval Online

• Website: AmericanMedieval.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval
• Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval
• YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval
• Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social

About Us

American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves.

After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.

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Sponsors

• Just a reminder to check out one of my favorite other podcasts, This Guy Sucked - another sibling show on Multitude. It's a history podcast for haters by haters. Join historian Dr. Claire Alban and a new expert every week to see why no dead person is safe. Everyone from Charlemagne to James the Second to Phyllis Schlafly. They all sucked in their own way. New episodes every Thursday. Check it out now.

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