Dr. Maria R. Boes
Professor
205 Reynolds Hall,
610-738-0332
mboes@wcupa.edu

Background:

Equipped with language degrees, I first embarked on a corporate career as an industrial/commercial translator in Germany, progressed to a market research analyst in Paris, London, and New York, only to change course to pursue an academic career, earning a Ph.D. at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York.

As a professor of history, I specialize in the Early Modern European period, focusing predominantly on social issues, in particular the judicial-legal and socio-economic treatment of minorities such as Jews, Gypsies, Gays, and Women - frequently in comparative perspectives. My teaching and research/publications reflect these concerns as well.

Teaching:

I introduced and have been teaching such theme-related courses as:

Outcasts in Early Modern Europe
Crime and Punishment in Europe from 1450 to 1789
History of Family and Women in Europe from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution
Everyday Life in Early Modern Europe
History of Spain

Publications and Scholarly Conferences:

My national and international publications and paper presentations mirror the same concerns, as some select topical examples demonstrate:

Select Publications:

"Unwanted Travellers: Tightening of City Borders in Early Modern Germany," in Borders and Travellers in Early Modern Europe, Tom Betteridge, (ed.) Ashgate, UK, 2007.
“Zweifach im Visier. Jüdische Opfer von Straftaten und Rechtsprechung im Römisch-Deutschen Reich der Frühen Neuzeit,” in Andreas Gotzmann-Stephan Wendehorst (eds.), Juden im Recht. Neue Zugänge zur Rechtsgeschichte der Judem im Alten Reich. Sonderdruck 39 – Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, Germany, 2007.
"'Dishonourable' youth, guilds, and the changed world view of sex, illegitimacy, and women in late sixteenth-century Germany," Continuity and Change, Cambridge University Press, England, 18(3), 2003.
"On Trial for Sodomy in Early Modern Germany," in Sodomy in Early Modern Germany, Tom Betteridge, (ed.) Manchester University Press, England, 2002.
"Jews in the Criminal Justice System of Early Modern Germany," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, MIT Press, XXX:III (Winter, 1999).
"Public Appearance and Criminal Judicial Practices in Early Modern Germany," Social Science History, Duke University Press, 20:2 (1996).
"Women and the Penal System in Early Modern Germany," in Criminal Justice History: An International Annual, Vol. XIII, 1992.

Select Book Reviews:

Amy Leonard's Nails in the Wall. Nuns in Reformation Germany. University of Chicago Press, 2005, in Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. LX/3 (2007).
Dominik Sieber's Jesuitische Missionierung. Priesterliche Liebe, Sakramentale Magie: Volkskulturen in Luzern, 1563-1614, Basel, 2005, in Renaissance Quarterly, VOL LIX/4 (2006).
Sheilagh Ogilvie's A Bitter Living: Women, Markets and Social Capital in Early Modern Germany, Oxford University Press, 2003, in Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. LVIII1 (2005).
Ulinka Rublack's (ed.) Gender in Early Modern Germany, Cambridge University Press, 2002, in Renaissance Quarterly, LVII/1 (2004).

Select Paper Presentations:

"Suicides by Unwed Mothers in Early Modern Germany," European Social Science Conference, Amsterdam, Holland, 2006;
"Judicial Dialogues: A Historical/Cultural Perspective," Fourth International Conference on the Dialogical Self, University of Minho, Portugal, 2006;
"Gypsies on Trial in Early Modern Germany," Social Science History Association, Portland, Oregon, 2005;
Invited to and participated in conference "From Legal Norms to Legal Practice: A New Approach to the Legal History of the Jews in the Holy Roman Empire," sponsored by the Simon-Dubnow-Institute for Jewish History and Culture, Leipzig, Germany, 2003.
"It Ain't Necessarily So: Language and Historical Representation in American Textbooks," Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Berlin, Germany, 2002.
"Selective Memories, Selective Transmissions: The Forgotten Jewish Neighbor," XI International Oral History Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, 2000.

Department Home Page

	Department of History 500 Main Hall West Chester, Pennsylvania 19383	(610)436-2201 http://www.wcupa.edu/