Jamie Wood

An inquiry-based approach to teaching research methods in Information Studies

This paper presents the results of a project that aimed at restructuring the delivery of research methods training at the Information School at the University of Sheffield, UK, based on an Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) approach. The purpose of this research was to implement inquiry-based learning that would allow customization of research methods when applied to individual and small group learning and address the challenges of teaching in a large, diverse classroom. Discussion triads, inquiry-based seminars, and a poster session were integrated with traditional teaching methods to facilitate the development of student dissertation proposals as the module outcome. This paper presents the context and rationale for the project, the nature of inquiry-based learning, the context and changes introduced in the course module, teaching techniques and the evaluation of the project and outlines the lessons learned through the project. These include: the need to address a perceived disjunction between self-directed inquiry based activities and the classical mode of lecture delivery, requiring reviewing student experiences from an information consumption frame to a knowledge discovery frame; this, in turn, requires the development of evaluation frames that are devolved to students and differ from ‘customer feedback’ approaches that tend to be adopted in centrally devised questionnaires at many Universities.

The Afterlife of the Roman City: Architecture and Ceremony in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

this volume, in “Imperial Families: The Case of the Macedonians (867–1056)”, considers imperial families and their characteristics, especially the Macedonian dynasty (867–1056). An interesting aspect of this chapter is that Tougher deals with imperial siblings of the Macedonian dynasty (i.e. Leo VI and Alexander, Basil II and Constantine VIII, Zoe and Theodora) and the relations between family members in these families. Nadia Maria El Cheikh, in “An Abbasid Caliphal Family”, deals with the Islamic family during the ʿAbbāsid period, and especially with the family of the ʿAbbāsid caliph. Dirk Krausmüler’s essay, “Byzantine Monastic Communities: Alternative Families”, deals with an interesting aspect of the history of Byzantine history. He examines, using hagiography and monastic rules, how monastic communities functioned as families during the Middle Byzantine period. While other essays in this collection explore situations where monastic life was somehow a rejection of normal family life, Krausmüler points out how family could serve as a model for ascetic life. The last two chapters focus on Late Byzantine families. Leonora Neville’s “Families, Politics, and Memories of Rome in the Material for History of Nikephoros Bryennios” examines another imperial family, the Komnenoi, while Fotini Kondyli, in “Changes in the Structure of the Late Byzantine Family and Society”, uses monastic archives along with the results from a survey on Lesvos and Lemnos to reconstruct family structures and changes in those islands. The present volume is very valuable for the study of the Byzantine family. The papers combine careful analysis of sources (both textual and archaeological) with current scholarly knowledge. Textual sources are the most analysed, with hagiographical sources featuring heavily (Vuolanto, Vasileiou, Howard, Constantinou, Kaplan). Archaeological material is the least represented (Ellis, Kondyli), and essays on iconographic sources (mainly art historical) are also limited (Brubaker, Hennessy). Geographically, the area covered is even more restricted: there are no contributions dealing with families in areas such as Sicily (under Byzantine occupation until the ninth century), the Balkans outside of Greece, or Cyprus. The book is well produced and well edited. Each chapter is followed by extensive primary and secondary bibliographies. This volume will become an important resource for students and scholars of the Byzantine family, and a standard reference point for any future explorations of Byzantine and medieval families.

Persecution, Past and Present: Memorialising Martyrdom in Late Antique and Early Medieval Córdoba

Abstract The Christian martyr movement of 850s Córdoba has received considerable scholarly attention over the decades, yet the movement has often been seen as anomalous. The martyrs’ apologists were responsible for a huge spike in evidence, but analysis of their work has shown that they likely represented a minority “rigorist” position within the Christian community and reacted against the increasing accommodation of many Mozarabic Christians to the realities of Muslim rule. This article seeks to place the apologists, and therefore the martyrs, in a longer-term perspective by demonstrating that martyr memories were cultivated in the city and surrounding region throughout late antiquity, from at least the late fourth century. The Cordoban apologists made active use of this tradition in their presentation of the events of the mid-ninth century. The article closes by suggesting that the martyr movement of the 850s drew strength from churches dedicated to earlier martyrs from the city and that the memories of the martyrs of the mid-ninth century were used to reinforce communal bonds at Córdoba and beyond in the following years. Memories and memorials of martyrdom were thus powerful means of forging connections across time and space in early medieval Iberia.

Individual and collective salvation in late Visigothic Spain

Bishop Julian of Toledo is remembered primarily as a key actor in the processes of king-making and -unmaking that went on in the Visigothic kingdom of the 670s. In the early part of the decade Julian’s Historia Wambae Regis legitimated King Wamba’s hold on the throne in opposition to a rebellion. The text also provides us with the first reference to unction in the early medieval West, while Julian’s actions in putting the same king through penance when he appeared to be on the brink of death in 680 and then insisting that the king could not resume his royal duties when he recovered have long attracted the attention of scholars of penance and conspiracy theorists alike. As the Bishop of Toledo, capital of the Visigothic kingdom, Julian was the main ecclesiastic in Visigothic Spain, presiding over four councils of Toledo (from the twelfth in 681 to the fifteenth in 687). Perhaps as a result of his historical significance in a poorly documented era, Julian’s plentiful writings about the end of time have largely been ignored; after all, they seem not to deal with ‘historical’ events. This is a shame, since Julian’s Prognosticum futuri saeculi was the most widely disseminated work of late seventh-century Spain: hundreds of manuscripts survive and there are well over one hundred references to the work in medieval library catalogues. The great success of the Prognosticum can be attributed to the contents of the three books, which deal with the origins of human death, the fate of the soul after death and the fate of the body at the resurrection, and thus address a series of theoretical and practical issues connected to death and its aftermath. The text was so popular because it was very easy to use, briefly summarizing a wide range of patristic opinions on death, the second coming of Christ and its aftermath.

Borders, Centres and Peripheries in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia

Abstract This article surveys scholarship on the evolving provincial organization of the Iberian Peninsula in the late and immediately post-Roman periods (fourth to early eighth centuries CE), when the region moved gradually from the control of the Western Roman Empire to that of the kingdom of the Visigoths, a “barbarian” group who had gradually integrated themselves into the late Roman order in the fourth and fifth centuries. My analysis of this issue over a long time frame suggests that the internal divisions and external boundaries of the late antique Iberian Peninsula (Roman Hispania) were highly fluid and liable to change in response to economic, military, religious and, above all, political factors. The exact make up of Hispania in this period was largely dependent on an ongoing dialogue – sometimes peaceful, sometimes conflictual – between central sources of authority, whether imperial or royal, and more regionally-based powers.

The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands

̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a would contract marriages during his stay in a given place and divorce his wives once he decided to travel to his next destination. Waines illustrates how Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a revelled in the fact that marriage in the Maldives “is really a sort of temporary marriage” (p. 163). While acting as a judge on the islands, he tried to force women to wear Islamic dress, but without success. In another example of his flexible attitudes, Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a chastised others for the immoral act of buying Greek slave girls for prostitution, but continuously purchased slave girls throughout his travels when he could afford it. Waines also points out that Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a was scandalised by the fact that he came across matrilineal societies in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and men had platonic relationships. In the second half of the fifth chapter, Waines discusses Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s relationship with religious and racial “others”. He outlines a number of encounters between Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a and practitioners of Islamic legal schools other than his own Mālikı̄ school and also includes a section on Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s interaction with Shiʿite Muslims. Following the practice of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a, Waines uses the terms “dissidents” and “Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s” (lit. rejectionists) to describe Shiʿites. In all, Waines suggests that, although Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a detested the “extreme Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s”, he admired their piety and hospitality. The Odyssey is a must-read for Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a enthusiasts, especially those who happen to be foodies and enjoy fantastical stories. The discerning reader is left wondering, though, whether the tales presented by Waines are a true window on the medieval world or simply a product of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s imagination. Either way, Waines has written a fascinating study of one of history’s most renowned world travellers.

Elites and Baptism: Religious ‘Strategies of Distinction’ in Visigothic Spain

The political connotations of godparenthood and baptismal sponsorship in creating both vertical and horizontal bonds between individuals and groups in early medieval Europe have long been recognized. What follows offers a case study of sixth- and early seventh-century Visigothic Spain, asking whether the baptismal process could also serve to bring elite and popular together. Elites sought to mobilize those lower down the scale than themselves in opposition to other elites at the same time as having constantly to negotiate the elite position from which they gained their authority. In sixth-century Spain the definition and redefinition of baptismal practice in church council legislation by both Catholics and Arians was an important method for achieving this dual aim of distinction and control.

Isidore of Seville and his Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge

Isidore of Seville (560—636) was a crucial figure in the preservation and sharing of classical and early Christian knowledge. His compilations of the works of earlier authorities formed an essential part of monastic education for centuries. Due to the vast amount of information he gathered and its wide dissemination in the Middle Ages, Pope John Paul II even named Isidore the patron saint of the Internet in 1997. This volume represents a cross section of the various approaches scholars have taken toward Isidore’s writings. The essays explore his sources, how he selected and arranged them for posterity, and how his legacy was reflected in later generations’ work across the early medieval West. Rich in archival detail, this collection provides a wealth of interdisciplinary expertise on one of history’s greatest intellectuals.

Vikings in the South: Voyages to Iberia and the Mediterranean

pluralistic inclusive approach should be applied and create the character of each case. The hidden assumption of almost all the chapters in the book is that the three monotheistic religions can share a tolerant and even a pluralistic attitude toward their sacred places and toward other religions. This is its added value, but at the same time is its weakness. It almost ignores the geopolitical aspects of the question, and even the “purely” religious conflicts around shared sacred places like the Cave of the Patriarchs / Sanctuary of Abraham in Hebron or the Temple Mount / al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf in Jerusalem. Thus, even though the legal parts in this book do mention debates and clashes (over, for example, the right of entry, conflicting rights of worship, etc.), they are almost never cited as severe problems that call for harsh laws, tough enforcement or international intervention. The assumption is that one can isolate the purely religious practice of a community from questions of sovereignty, religious supremacy and even clashes of civilisation. But the reality of the Middle East defies the assumption that we canmake those separations. In conflicts such as those over the Temple Mount / al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf, the impression is that religious parties are not looking for protection from attack but are interpreting their religious right or duty as freedom to attack. Thus, it is dangerous to visit the monastery of St Katherine today; thus Jerusalem – the holy city of peace for the threemonotheistic religions – is now again in themidst of bloodshed because of incitement. Interreligious dialogue and soft law will not do the work. This does not mean in any way that this book is worthless. On the contrary, it demonstrates a noble alternative that exists in every one of the three religions. Yahya Pallavicini writes beautifully about the sacred places in Islamic tradition: “In the symbolism of the mosque... a Muslim shares moments in time and experiences with other beings of other faiths, who in their different ways, all contribute to the growth of knowledge and to working together for the good of all humanity”. This book points the way to such a pluralistic approach and may serve as an important educational tool for researchers, students and believers from all denominations.

Introduction: History-writing and Violence in the Medieval Mediterranean

History-writing has often been preoccupied with the multiple shapes, forms and expressions of violence as a subject, while in some cases the rhetorical violence of some kinds of historical writing has been used as an instrument for the cultivation of power and authority. The deeds of great men and their conflicts, as well as divine intervention in the form of retribution and punishment and the moral lessons that could be drawn from such episodes were defining features of historical writing from its earliest days. The transformation of episodes of physical violence in the world into written form, not to mention visual and material representations, has had a formative impact on individual and collective memories and identities throughout history. An exploration of the rhetoric and forms of violence, as applied to different modes and processes of history-writing, can thus help us to understand the narrative and social functions of such a ubiquitous phenomenon. In this special issue of Al-MAsaq, co-edited by Dr Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo and Dr Jamie Wood, these idea are explored in depth within the context of the Medieval Mediterranean.