Western Medieval Studies Course

The Keio University Graduate School of Letters launched the Western Medieval Studies Course within its master's program in the 2021 academic year. This course is designed for graduate students who wish to pursue interdisciplinary research on the Middle Ages (Europe and adjacent Islamic cultures from late antiquity to the 16th century). It is meant to provide students with a research and teaching environment that best suits their research theme, regardless of the department to which they belong.

While graduate students can always specialize in the study of Western medieval philosophy, art, history, and literature in their own department, medieval studies, by its very nature, has always been an interdisciplinary field. The research topic that spans multiple disciplines, is not uncommon. The purpose of the Western Medieval Studies Course is to encourage innovative research under a flexible guidance system suited to the development of such interests. In principle, students are supervised by more than one faculty member according to their research theme. In addition to the principal advisor in their field of study, full-time faculty members in other fields act as co-advisors to students writing their master's thesis. By taking interdisciplinary seminar courses, students can also interact with other students interested in the Middle Ages and acquire methodologies and expertise to enrich their research. Upon completion of the master's program and fulfillment of course requirements, students will be awarded a certificate of course completion with their master's degree.

Participation in the course is decided through individual consultation with the student's academic advisor and relevant course instructors after admission to the graduate school. (There is no course-specific entrance exam.) We will hold an orientation after admission, so interested students are encouraged to attend.

Enrollment in the Western Medieval Studies course is open to master's students who plan to enroll for at least two years in a major eligible for the course. Majors eligible for the course in the 2021 academic year are Philosophy and Ethics, Aesthetics and Art History, History (Western History), and British & American Literature. The majors eligible for the course will be updated on an annual basis as academic faculty circumstances may change.

The following faculty members are scheduled for class instruction and thesis advisement in the Western Medieval Studies Course for 2025. (For more information and contact details, please visit the Faculty and Graduate School of Letters website.)

UEEDA, Yoshinori (Philosophy, Professor)

Western Medieval Philosophy

KONDO, Tomohiko (Philosophy, Professor)

Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, Greek and Roman Classics

KANAYAMA, Hiromasa (Aesthetics and Science of Arts, Professor)

Western Art History

NONOSE, Koji (Western History, Professor)

History of the Swiss Reformation, History of Rural Society in Switzerland

AKAE, Yuichi (Western History, Professor)

Religious, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Medieval Europe

TOKUNAGA, Satoko (English and American Literature, Professor)

Medieval English Literature, History of the Book, Bibliography

HOTTA, Ryuichi (English and American Literature, Professor)

History of English and Historical Linguistics

IGUCHI, Atsushi (English and American Literature, Associate Professor)

Middle English Literature (Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Religious Prose in English and Latin)