@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

eharlitzkern

@eharlitzkern@historians.social

Historian and freelance writer. I teach historiography, epistemology, and ancient, medieval, and early-modern history at FIU. I blog on The Boomerang. I write on a book about the Codex Gigas (the Devil's Bible). Pro-wrestling fan. Exophonic. 🇸🇪🇺🇸

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

eharlitzkern, to movies
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Saw THE BEEKEEPER (2024) last night. I, of course, loved this movie. I will watch anything with Jason Statham (I'm not the only one as it turned out after the movie was over last night. 😆).

I also got a kick out of the movie as a medievalist. Apparently, there is a secret society of assassins called Beekeepers, who protect human civilization based on the idea that it is like a beehive.

@histodons @medievodons

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

In my course The History of History, the students do research on the Pulitzers in History and Biography. One consistent result is an increase of books on Black history, while the authors' ethnicity remains the same.
The winner and the runners up of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for History are about Black history. All three authors are White. The Pulitzer for Biography shared between two books on Black history. One author is White, one Asian-American.

@histodons
https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2024

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

A photo a student sent me.

Greetings from Aarhus, Denmark.

@histodons

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Executioner Johan Olofsson's receipt for the cost of executing Gertrud Jonsdotter, aged 50, and Sigrid Eriksdotter, aged 70, for witchcraft in Sveg's parish, Härjedalen, Sweden. The receipt is dated January 12, 1674.

@histodons @tag@relay.fedi.buzz @academia @history @academicchatter

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

The Honors College has given me an office. In an interesting turn of events, I am back where I started. This space used to be the adjuncts' office before the Dept of History moved out. I have no idea how the Dept of History squeezed in four desks, a bookcase, overhead cabinets, and desk chairs while up to three people could be working here at the same time. Either way, I'm grateful to the Honors College for giving me a space.

@histodons @academicchatter

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Fantastic new volume out now from Routledge: "Viking Heritage and History in Europe. Practices and Recreations," edited by Sara Ellis Nilsson (Linneaus University) and Stefan Nyzell (Malmö University).
@histodons
https://www.routledge.com/Viking-Heritage-and-History-in-Europe-Practices-and-Re-creations/Ellis-Nilsson-Nyzell/p/book/9780367628628#

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Something that struck me when I watched THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING was how Tilda Swinton's character was content because her life was dedicated entirely to her scholarship. It was her romantic love. I recognize the feeling of a life centered on scholarship as a good life, but haven't felt it in a long time. But it's also a dangerous feeling because if you're not careful you will end up isolated, like Swinton's character, and only be able to relate to a djinn. @histodons

AbandonedAmerica, to random
@AbandonedAmerica@mastodon.social avatar

Abandoned farm. I learned two fun facts on this trip. The first is that stinging nettles were mixed in with the weeds surrounding the barn. The second fun fact is that even if you just brush against them, stinging nettles are surprisingly painful. Anyway, here's more abandoned houses and farms if you are interested: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/abandoned-homes

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@AbandonedAmerica I visited a lot of abandoned homes when I traveled through the MS Delta. What fascinated me the most were the things people left behind, especially the many pianos.

eharlitzkern, to Florida
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

This week on The Boomerang. My review of Rebecca Renner's stellar non-fiction debut, GATOR COUNTRY.

"Gator Country takes seriously what Floridians already know, and few people outside the state understand, that living in Florida is living on the edge–of the swamp, of the North American continent, of life. "
@bookstodon https://ehkern.com/2024/02/23/poachers-alligators-and-the-sublime-beauty-of-the-florida-swamps/

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

When studying the Viking Age, one decision that needs to be made is how to relate to the sagas. Are they historical sources and can be used? Or are they literature and can't be used? Usually, my students land on the side of yes, despite all their problems, the sagas can be used. But this time around, through critical analysis, my students declared that the sagas can't be used. This is great. But, this also means that the students have declared one of our textbooks useless.
@histodons

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@VolkerBach @histodons The debate is old but it is still a binary choice among medievalists and scholars of the Viking Age. Reading the sagas for information about the Viking Age is like reading Outlander for information about the 18th century, to be blunt.

Yes, classicists read Homer all the damn time. But historians don't.

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@smagnussen @VolkerBach @histodons And on top of that, the Christian influence, and to a certain extent a Greek influence as well, muddles the content further.

What really bothers me, though, is when historians only include a brief mention buried in the introduction of their problems as sources, and then write an entire book using them as if they are equal to other historical documents.

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@annavirrpanna @histodons The way I see it, the confusion comes from the fact that medievalists outside of Scandinavia incorporate the Viking Age into the Middle Ages, although Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia are different societies. In Sweden, e.g., which is where I got my degree, I didn't do any work on Vikings b/c that is the purview of archaeologists, mainly. Viking Age information about Vikings comes from runic inscriptions, artifacts, and testimonies from those who encountered them.

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@peterbrown @annavirrpanna @VolkerBach @histodons Wow! That's the complete opposite of what I remember from being in Scotland during the Braveheart craze. 😁

But you make a very good point about Outlander. And this is why it is such a good analogy when talking about the Icelandic sagas. If Outlander were the last books left in the world about the 18th century, we would be forced to decide whether or not they should be used as historical sources.

AbandonedAmerica, to random
@AbandonedAmerica@mastodon.social avatar

The control room in an abandoned power plant

See the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/richmond-power-station

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@AbandonedAmerica I love the 360-image. I did not expect the roof to look like that. It's like an industrial Crystal Palace.

eharlitzkern, to academia
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Submitted a work order to Facilities because there is a loud white noise in one of my classrooms. I am now being CC'd on every email as my work order is being passed around among people and departments and no one wants to do the job. And for every email, more and more people are being CC'd. 😁

I mean, who needs entertainment? Also, this explains SO MUCH about what is going on (or not going on) at this university.

@academicchatter

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@moritz_negwer @academicchatter I have no expectations that this problem will actually be solved, at this point. Especially after reading one of the emails where the person literally said that they had never heard this complaint before and as far as they know no changes had been done to the classroom. And then they mentioned a random department as the one responsible.

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

"The strength of HOW TO BE lies exactly here, in the acknowledgment of new ideas and new developments happening in the encounters, the borderlands, and on the peripheries."

This week on The Boomerang, I discuss Adam Nicolson's new book HOW TO BE. LIFE LESSONS FROM THE EARLY GREEKS (FSG, 2023). Enjoy!

@bookstodon @antiquidons @histodons

https://ehkern.com/2024/01/19/greek-philosophy-and-the-mediterranean-system/

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark abdicated today. Denmark has a new head of state in King Frederik X and a new queen in Mary. Although different dynasties have sat on the Danish throne through the centuries, the Danish monarchy can be traced in an unbroken line to the Viking Age and the reign of Harold Bluetooth (911–985), making the Danish monarchy one of the oldest monarchies in the world.
@histodons @histodon @medievodons

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/14/europe/denmark-royals-frederik-mary-proclamation-king-queen-intl/index.html

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

This looks to be an amazing conference. Women of the Viking World, University of Liverpool, August 27–28, 2024. CfP is happening now. Deadline: March 2, 2024.

http://www.vikingagewomen.com/

@academicchatter @histodons @histodon

eharlitzkern, to random
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Chocolate Maccabees! The Maccabees fought and died for what they believed in so that 2,100 (-ish) years later we could eat them in the form of yummy milk chocolate. Happy Fourth Night of Hanukkah!

Eight pieces of chocolate on a white tray wrapped in tin foil to make them look like Maccabees.

eharlitzkern, to science
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

This is excellent science. Interdisciplinarity for the good of mankind. @academicchatter

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/12/06/coffee-grinding-science-static-droplet/

eharlitzkern, to fediverse
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Today is my Mastodon anniversary! Happy 1 year in the Fediverse to me! 🥳

I'm glad to be here. Glad to be among so many birdwatchers, chattering academics, medievodons, histodons, and other awesome people doing awesome stuff.

Thank you to the creators and moderators of historians.social for creating this space.

@histodons @histodon @academicchatter @medievodons

eharlitzkern, to history
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

This is 🍌🍌🍌🍌. A grave field from the Viking Age has been discovered in the middle of the city of Gothenburg. Right in between Sweden's largest outdoor stadium and the public bath with the Olympic pool. There is so much city activity at this location that it's hard to comprehend that these graves were somehow overlooked...? (Article in Swedish)

@histodons @histodon @academicchatter @medievodons

https://fof.se/artikel/vikingagravar-i-goteborg-overraskar-arkeologerna/

eharlitzkern,
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

@garius @histodons @histodon @academicchatter @medievodons You might be on to something. I mean, the stadium is called Ullevi Stadium and the public bath house is called the Valhalla Bath. The graves were pretty much hiding in plain sight, weren't they? 😁

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • thenastyranch
  • magazineikmin
  • vwfavf
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • ngwrru68w68
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • cisconetworking
  • tacticalgear
  • rosin
  • provamag3
  • everett
  • cubers
  • khanakhh
  • osvaldo12
  • mdbf
  • ethstaker
  • normalnudes
  • modclub
  • Leos
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tester
  • anitta
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •