(same as REL_ST 4535; cross-leveled with MDVL_REN 7535, REL_ST 7535). Monastic Worlds is an experiential learning course designed to serve as a Humanities Field School in medieval and early modern studies. It will be taught by faculty from UMKC and UMC through the Intercampus Course Sharing initiative. The class introduces students to humanities research methodology and the religious history and culture of premodern Europe and the contemporary Midwest by using the monastic communities as a focal point to learn about musicology, history, art history, literature, and religion. Following two weeks of online course modules, students will travel to the Benedictine communities of Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri and Mount Saint Scholastica’s in Atchison, Kansas, for additional face-to-face classes and research projects. On-site, students will participate in communal living and attend face-to-face classes on the historical and cultural worlds of medieval and early modern Europe. They will practice ethnography through observation of and participation in communal life of prayer, study, book production, and labor. Students will also have the opportunity to work with the manuscripts and rare books owned by these communities and visit the largest reliquary collection in North America, housed at the nearby Benedictine community of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, MO. This course has an associated fee. Contact teaching faculty for this year’s fee details. Graded on A-F basis only.