Steven A. Epstein

Contact Information Phone: (785) 864-2146 Office: 3622 Wescoe Hall Email: sae@ku.edu

Ahmanson-Murphy Distinguished Professor of Medieval History (Ph.D. Harvard 1981, MA Cambridge 1980, BA Swarthmore College 1974) medieval Europe, economic and social history, labor, slavery, Italy.

Professor Epstein is the author of various books on medieval history, including Speaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity, and Human Bondage in Italy (2001) and Genoa and the Genoese 958-1528 (1996), and articles on diverse topics in the broad field of the medieval Mediterranean world. He teaches a general survey of medieval Europe, as well as more specialized courses on the Mediterranean, Venice and Florence, slavery, and economic history.

"My current research includes a few small projects on city government in the Middle Ages, slavery in Italy, and family life in urban medieval Italy. The book in progress concerns the broad subject of ethnogenesis in the eastern Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. I am looking at the wide area stretching from the Black Sea down to Egypt with an eye toward explaining how the various peoples living there defined themselves in contrast to their neighbors. I am studying treaty and contract making, colonies, slavery, physiognomy, and ethnic identity as ways to explore how people crossed the boundaries of culture, language, and creed to form relationships with others."