Celia Chazelle
Professor of History
The College of New Jersey
Contact
When I was a high school student outside Boston at the time of Kent State, I immersed myself in the anti-war movement and — inspired by a terrific teacher — the study of US history. I thought at the time that I was headed for a career in public service, possibly law and government. Then I went to the University of Toronto, discovered the Middle Ages, and... the subsequent chapters in my professional life are pretty clear from my curriculum vitae.
In the last several years, however, my dismay at the growing social inequalities in this country and at the impact of American foreign policy on the rest of the world has led my scholarly interests back to something akin to their starting point. I am still of course fascinated by medieval history pure and simple, in particular the amazing history of the Early Middle Ages — a vastly underappreciated and misunderstood era. The latter point is discussed in the volume of essays I have co-edited with Felice Lifshitz, just published by Palgrave MacMillan: Paradigms and Methods in Early Medieval Studies. As part of my continuing effort to encourage early medieval studies see, too, the website of my listserv, the Early Medieval Forum. But more overtly than my past research, my next projects concern the contribution I think medievalists of all stripes — though perhaps especially early medievalists — can make to our understanding today of social justice, human rights, and how best to promote peace.
Closely tied to my interest in matters of social justice is my work, with fellow faculty, to promote teaching and scholarship on religion at the College of New Jersey. Visit our website for more information. Click here for the Religion Compass website, on whose editorial board I serve.
The online essays by my husband Bernard eloquently express a perspective on current events matching my own. His website also has great pics of our two kids: Anna, whose interests lie in the theater, ecology, and animal rights, and Damien, drummer (rock and jazz) and film-maker; and of our cat, Mistie.
On the human and financial costs of the war in Iraq, click here
Teaching
Most of my courses investigate different aspects of the social, political, cultural, and religious history of western Eurasia
and the Mediterranean, including North Africa, from the Roman Empire to the late Middle Ages.
I have also taught the department survey course, “World History I” (prehistory to 1500) and the college’s former freshman
humanities survey seminar, “Athens to New York.” Other seminars offered in the past have examined religion in antiquity,
themes in ancient and medieval Christianity, the Merovingians
and Carolingians, the Middle Ages in modern film, and the
mythology of “Star Wars.”
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STUDENTS: click here for SOCS website