Considered in turn, dark and monstrous or glorious and global, the Middle Ages (500-1500) continue to be redefined with each generation of scholars. This graduate level seminar embraces the relatively recent global turn in the humanities to examine thematically select medieval visual cultures of Eurasia and Africa. Selected themes include: experiencing the divine order, the social order, the world of the private self, elites and commoners, the making of others, and globalism.