Angelli Garibaldi-Arias is a first-generation student born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Denver, Colorado. She is double majoring in English and Romance Studies with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Her research focuses on medieval and early modern literature — particularly Dante’s Divine Comedy and Cervantes’ Don Quixote — exploring questions of ethics, migration, empire and human value. Through literary and philosophical analysis alongside interviews with immigrants, her honors thesis, “Global Inequalities:… read more about Angelli Garibaldi-Arias '26: Reading Migration Through Literature »
By the time Brooke Hira graduates, she will have built a Duke experience that stretches across disciplines and interests. Hira, an Art History and Visual Arts major with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and a certificate in Information Science and Studies, has spent the past four years exploring the intersections between technology, creativity and community, which often appeared in places she’d never expected when she first arrived on campus. Looking back, Hira says she wishes her 17-year-old self worried a… read more about The Art of Figuring it Out »
College can easily become a straight line: pick a major, commit to a track, graduate and start a career. For many students, especially those in STEM, the pressure to stay the course can make exploring other interests feel risky (even irresponsible) and cast the humanities as an indulgence rather than a necessity. But at Trinity, students are encouraged to explore across disciplines, discovering new paths that enrich their education as much as challenge their curiosities. After… read more about Hailey Harmon '26: The Humanities Major She Didn’t See Coming »
Co-host organizers and Vagantes board members Izzy Howard (UNC-Chapel Hill) and Brogan Hannon (Duke) deliver opening remarks on the first day of the Vagantes Conference This past April, roughly forty graduate students from all over the world gathered on Duke’s campus at the 24th annual Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies. Co-hosted with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduate organizers Brogan Hannon (Duke, Religious Studies), Izzy Howard (UNC, English), Emily… read more about Medievalists on the Move: The Vagantes Conference Wanders to the Triangle »
Dr. Astrid Giugni (English and Information Science + Studies) leads the Bass Connections project “Ethical Consumption before Capitalism,” which brings undergraduate STEM and Humanities students together to trace how the discourse of commercial consumption and the labor needed to sustain early modern markets are presented in the pamphlets, sermons, and meeting records produced for and responding to the English Trading Companies. See https://bassconnections.duke.edu/project/ethical-consumption-capitalism-2024-2025/Joshua… read more about Humanities + STEM: Ethical Consumption before Capitalism | An Interview with Dr. Astrid Giugni »
A graduation dinner and celebration was held in May for the 2025 Medieval and Renaissance Studies graduates with their parents and favorite professors in a private dining room at Café Parizade in Durham. The 2025 class includes Amy Chou (minor), Henry Gussis (major), Joshua Palomo (major), Matthew Song (minor), Lia Sprouse (minor), and Grant Wernick (minor). Like several humanities programs at Duke, a small number of majors… read more about 2025 Graduates in Medieval and Renaissance Studies »
The Early Modern London project, led by Dr. Astrid Giugni (Lecturing Fellow in English and Information Science + Studies) ran during the 2022-23 school year with the generous support of the Center for Computational Thinking at Duke. The undergraduate students working on this project reconstructed key aspects of the lively printing and publishing world of early modern London. Active around the time of Shakespeare, writers like Thomas Dekker and Ben Jonson did not work in isolation. Instead, they were members of a thriving,… read more about Using Machine Learning to Understand Notions of Charity in 17th-Century England »
Medieval art historian Katherine Werwie to be new Associate Curator of the Nasher Museum of Art Excerpted from the Nasher Museum of Art News Katherine Werwie has been hired as the new Associate Curator of the Nasher Museum of Art. She is a medieval art scholar who will conceptualize and implement curatorial programming. She will start on June 1, 2023. The museum’s Brummer Collection of medieval art was a big draw for Katherine Werwie. Duke’s original art museum was founded in 1969 with the… read more about Medieval art historian Katherine Werwie is new Associate Curator of the Nasher Museum of Art »
Dr. Thomas Robisheaux is Professor of History at Duke University. In this interview, he discusses what he describes as the “most exciting and rewarding” teaching experience he has had in his career at Duke: teaching and leading the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Focus Program. The Focus Program is a unique opportunity for first-year Duke undergraduates to build community through cross-disciplinary exploration of a range of topics, from poetry and mathematics to art and technology. … read more about Building Undergraduate Community in the Focus Program during a Pandemic: An Interview with Dr. Thomas Robisheaux »
A graduation luncheon and celebration was held in May for the 2022 Medieval and Renaissance Studies graduates with their parents and favorite professors at Café Parizade in Durham. The 2022 class includes Katie Cannon (major), Emma Keaton (minor), Emma Rand (major), Krishna Sinha (minor), Cassandra Stecker (major), and Arial Strode (minor). Like many humanities programs at Duke, Medieval and Renaissance Studies graduates a… read more about 2022 Graduates in Medieval and Renaissance Studies »
Comp Sci + MedRen: An Interview with Leona Lu (Trinity College, class of 2023) Last summer you participated in a research project led by Professor Astrid Giugni (English and Information Science + Studies) called “Reconstructing Utopia in Restoration London.” What was this project about? This was a Data+ project, and students got paid a $5,000 stipend to be involved for six weeks last summer! We applied machine learning algorithms like Latent… read more about Comp Sci + MedRen: An Interview with Leona Lu (Trinity College, class of 2023) »
Patrick Timmis is graduating in August with his Ph.D. in English (defended in May), and he obtained the Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Medieval and Renaissance Studies. His dissertation, “Performing the Protestant State: Preaching and Playing from Marprelate to Milton,” was directed by Professor Sarah Beckwith. Starting in the fall, Dr. Timmis will be a visiting assistant professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan. You’ve just defended your dissertation a month ago. What is your dissertation about? My… read more about Don’t Be an Isolated Genius: An Interview with Patrick Timmis (Ph.D., August 2021) »
Gaby McDonald, a graduating senior, double majored in Biology and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She opted to graduate with distinction in her Medieval and Renaissance Studies major by completing an honors thesis titled “The Dangerous Popess: Pope Joan, the Exclusion Crisis, and Restoration Theater.” This thesis, which was awarded Highest Distinction, explores the political and gender implications of the myth of Pope Joan in Restoration drama. In fall 2021, Gaby will begin medical school with plans to become a doctor.… read more about Pope Joan and the Top Girls: An interview with Gaby McDonald (Trinity College, class of 2021) »
At this time of collective stasis, when most of us are homebound and getting fidgety, a discussion about medieval pilgrimage might move our imaginations, and possibly even our bodies! On the newest BBC 4 “In Our Time” series — which explores the history of ideas — host Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea and experience of Christian pilgrimage in Europe from the 12th to the 15th centuries, which figured so strongly in the imagination of the age. For those able and willing to travel, there were… read more about “In Our Time” Interview: Medieval Pilgrimage »
This is the sixth in a series of blog posts on global pandemics written by the staff of Duke Libraries’ International and Area Studies Department. This post is written by Heidi Madden, Ph.D. , Librarian for Western European and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. You have all probably seen them: online reading lists created expressly for the bored souls forced to stay indoors because of the restrictions on movement imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic… read more about Boccaccio’s Decameron – The Book of the Moment in a Time of Pandemic »
Caroline A. Bruzelius, Anne Murnick Cogan Professor Emerita of Art and Art History, has been elected a Member of the prestigious American Philosophical Society. Thirty-four Members were elected this year, including others in the humanities such as Elizabeth Alexander, President, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Marin Alsop, Music Director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Lonnie Bunch III, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution; Carla Hayden, Librarian, Library of Congress; David W. Oxtoby, President, American Academy of Arts and… read more about Caroline Bruzelius Elected to the American Philosophical Society »