Faculty

Western History
Religious, Cultural, and Intellectual History of Medieval Europe

Dr. Akae is a historian of medieval Europe and has studied the preaching of mendicant friars from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries as mass medium before print was introduced by Johannes Gutenberg. Dr. Akae trained as a medievalist at Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds, and his recent publications include an article on the sermons of Pope John XXII and an co-edited volume: Pastoral Care and Monasticism in Latin Christianity and Japanese Buddhism (ca. 800 - 1650).

Western History
Modern German History and History of Yugoslavia

My main research interest is the contemporary history of Germany and its relation to Southeast Europe (Serbia and Croatia) in the twentieth century. My particular focus is on racism and nationalism as well as ethnic formation and conflicts in the interwar period during the Second World War and the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. My book (in German) German Occupation of the Serbian Banat during 1941-1944 explored in the context of National Socialism the formative process which lead to the development of the ethnic groups. Further, I am interested in the treatment of these processes in the media and historiography.

Western History
Modern History of France, International History

My main research expertise is on the First World War and its aftermath. Through the action of the International Committee of the Red Cross based in Geneva, Switzerland, I work on humanitarianism in Europe during and after the First World War. I have also been considering the impact of the unprecedented scale of the war on various aspects of French society long after its end. More recently, I am interested in the history of emotions and aim to decipher the emotional transformation toward the pain of others in the context of the development of international humanitarian law and the expansion of the Red Cross movement since the late 19th century.

Western History
History of the Swiss Reformation, History of Rural Society in Switzerland

My special field of my research is the history of the Swiss Reformation, especially the history of rural society in Switzerland. To understand close interrelations between the Reformation and the German Peasants' War properly, I have analyzed the influence of the theological doctrines of the reformers upon European rural society during the first century of the Reformation in detail. I concentrated heavily on both the conjunction between religion and society and the various changes in the rural lives of the Common man. As primary sources, I have used many contemporary documents, particularly grievances and articles of the village commune over lordship, serfdom, tithe and heriot in the German Peasants' War. I attempted to reveal the essence of "the laws of God" for the Common man. More recently I have started research on religion and politics in the Swiss cities during the Reformation.

Western History
Roman History (Roman Economy and Society)

My major field of study is economic and social history of Roman Gaul and Germania. I am particularly interested in discovering what network merchants and artisans built throughout these regions of the Empire, by analyzing archaeological and geographical source material, chiefly inscriptions related to them.

Western History
Modern Spanish (Catalan) History

My current research theme covers the silk industry of Barcelona from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, in particular, the silk-stocking trade of that period. Through the systematic studies of historical documents such as testaments, inventories post-mortem and marriage settlements of such craftsmen and of their wives and widows, I seek to shed light on the changes to their lives and labor on the eve of the industrialization: how their working styles and family structures changed, how their lifestyle culture and mentality changed, and how they tried to survive that period of transformation.