By examining periodization together with the two controversial categories of feudalism and secularization, Kathleen Davis exposes the relationship between the constitution of "the Middle Ages" and the history of sovereignty, slavery, and colonialism.

Periodization and Sovereignty
How Ideas of Feudalism and Secularization Govern the Politics of Time

Kathleen Davis

2008 | 200 pages | Cloth $49.95
History
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Table of Contents

Introduction

PART I. FEUDALISM
1. Sovereign Subjects, Feudal Law, and the Writing of History
2. Feudal Law and Colonial Property

PART II. SECULARIZATION
3. The Sense of an Epoch: Secularization, Sovereign Futures, and the "Middle Ages"
4. A Political Theology of Time: The Venerable Bede and Amitav Ghosh

Epilogue

Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments