Reading Medieval Ruins by Morgan Pitelka Book Launch

The Carolina Asia Center is proud to host a book launch for the release of the paperback edition of

Reading Medieval Ruins: Urban Life and Destruction in Sixteenth Century Japan

by Morgan Pitelka, Bernard L. Herman Distinguished Professor and Chair in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

The Japanese provincial city of Ichijōdani was destroyed in the civil wars of the late sixteenth century but never rebuilt. Archaeological excavations have since uncovered the most detailed late medieval urban site in the country. Drawing on analysis of specific excavated objects and decades of archaeological evidence to study daily life in Ichijōdani, Reading Medieval Ruins in Sixteenth-Century Japan illuminates the city’s layout, the possessions and houses of its residents, its politics and experience of war, and religious and cultural networks. Morgan Pitelka demonstrates how provincial centers could be dynamic and vibrant nodes of industrial, cultural, economic, and political entrepreneurship and sophistication. In this study a new and vital understanding of late medieval society is revealed, one in which Ichijôdani played a central role in the vibrant age of Japan’s sixteenth century.

In this book launch, Prof. Simon Partner of Duke University will provide a brief reflection on the book, followed by a response by Prof. Pitelka, and discussion by those gathered.

This event will be held in-person in the FedEx Global Education Center, on the 4th floor. However, those who wish to join the event remotely via Zoom can register by clicking this link.