Educational Background
- B.A., University of Chicago, 2006
- M.A., University of Virginia, 2008
- Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2012
Danny Wasserman is a historian of the Spanish world during its "Golden Age" (c. 1450-1650), with general teaching interests in the history of Europe, the Mediterranean, and Latin America until about 1800. In 2012-13, he is teaching the following courses at Oberlin:
101 Medieval and Early Modern Europe
299 Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, c. 1600-1800
399 European Missions in a Global Age, c. 1500-1700
474 Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Mediterranean, c. 1100-1650
475 Inquisitions: Medieval and Early Modern, c. 1200-1800
His current research examines religious conversion in Spain and Mexico, focusing on the language policies that Spanish officials developed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the "Reconquista", and the conquest of America. Governing an empire of multiple cultures and languages, Spanish monarchs and Catholic clerics had to find ways to communicate doctrine to a range of peoples. The project investigates the justifications for using Arabic, Castilian, Latin, and Nahuatl to convey Catholic teachings to common people. Recent publications include the following:
“La mala algarabía: Church, Monarchy, and the Arabic Language in 16th-Century Spain,” Medieval History Journal 14:2 (2011). Co-author with Patricia Giménez-Eguibar.
“Language and Communication in the Spanish Conquest of America,” History Compass 8:6 (2010): 491-502.
