Recent Trends in the Study of Western Medieval History (2021-2022)

Abstract

This article aims to review the academic writings on medieval European history published by Korean scholars in 2021 and 2022. We can find two major trends that are noticeable in this academic period. The first is the emergence of new generation of researchers, and the second is the increase in research in Italian and medical histories. As new researchers who completed their doctoral degrees in Italy participated in domestic academic activities, research on Italian history has increased. The increase in medical history seems to be related to the impact of Covid - 19.BR This article tries to comment on topics such as politics and war, culture, society, economy and exchange, and religion. Some encouraging trends that can be found in the research achievement of 2021 and 2022 include an “increase in new researchers”, “expanding research horizons into new topics such as medical history and women’s history”, and an “increased balance of research topics”.BR On the other hand, this article finds that the tendency toward articleoriented research is a structural factor that prevents academic researchers from having communication with the public. This lack of communication is one cause of crisis in the human sciences including history. Another problem is the absence of a book talk culture. This article therefore suggests that it will be necessary to activate academic debates among researchers through book reviews and book talks, and to share research achievements with the public.