Susan Alice McDonough UMBC (Baltimore, MD 21250-0001)
FEL-262628-19
Fellowships
Research Programs
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[Grant products]
Totals:
$60,000 (approved) $60,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2019 – 6/30/2020
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Migration and Prostitution in the Medieval Mediterranean World
Archival research and writing of a book-length study on the
legal and economic history of prostitutes and their migration patterns in major
port cities of the medieval Mediterranean basin, Barcelona, Marseille, and
Genoa.
My book project tells the story of medieval prostitutes in the port cities of the western Mediterranean. These women were migrants from all over the Mediterranean. By mapping the routes these women took and analyzing their strategies for integrating themselves into the cultures and economies of Barcelona, Marseille, and Genoa, this book challenges the idea that medieval prostitutes were marginal members of their communities. Importantly, this study of medieval prostitutes who advocated for themselves in court and brokered information as nodes in the local economy provides an important corrective to the current history of the medieval Mediterranean, which has been gendered male by default.
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