Prof. em. Dr. Susanna Burghartz
Professor of Early Modern History
Institute for European Global Studies,
University of Basel
Riehenstrasse 154
CH-4058 Basel
Office 02.004

Tel: +41 (0)61 207 46 48
Twitter: @BurghartzCH

  • History of urban societies during the renaissance and the early modern period (15th to 17th centuries)
  • Early European expansion
  • Women’s history and the history of gender
  • The History of Switzerland
  • Material culture history
  • Materialized Identities: Objects – Affects – Effects – Milieus in Early Modern Culture, 1450-1750
    www.materializedidentities.com
  • ProDoc "Sites of Mediation: Europäische Verflechtungsgeschichte 1350-1650"
    A joint interdisciplinary graduate program of the universities of Basel (Prof. S. Burghartz, Prof. L. Burkart) and Bern (Prof. Chr. Göttler). The SNSF-funded graduate addresses the interactions between local and supra-regional processes in the formative phase of a globalizing Europe.
    www.sitesofmediation.ch

Education:

Susanna Burghartz studied history, philosophy, economics and auxiliary sciences of history at the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau, Bonn, and Basel. In 1988, she received her doctoral degree for a thesis on crime in the Late Middle Ages. A study on marriage and sexuality in Basel during the early modern period qualified her as a professor in 1997.

Professional Career:

To date, Susanna Burghartz has taught at the universities of Basel, Berne, Lucerne, and Bielefeld. In 2016, she was a Beauford Visiting Scholar at St. John’s College in Cambridge.

Since 2005, Susanna Burghartz has been full professor of the history of the renaissance and the early modern period at the Department of History of Basel University. Since March 2017, she holds a 50%-professorship at the Institute for European Global Studies and simultaneously continues her work at the Department of History in part-time.

  • Urfehdebücher der Stadt Basel – digitale Edition, Basel/Graz 2017
  • Sites of Mediation Connected Histories of Places, Processes, and Objects in Europe and Beyond, 1450-1650, ed. By Susanna Burghartz, Lucas Burkart, Christine Göttler, Leiden 2016
  • Competing Logics of Public Order: Matrimony and the Fight against Illicit Sexuality in Germany and Switzerland from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, in: Marriage in Europe 1400-1800, ed. By Silvana Seidel Menchi, Toronto 2016, 176-200
  • Die «durchgehende» Reformation – Basler Mandate von 1529 bis 1780, in Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 116, 2016, 89-111
  • Jahrrechnungen der Stadt Basel 1535-1610 — digital, Basel/Graz 2015
  • Covered Women? Veiling in Early Modern Europe, in: History Workshop Journal, 80/1 (2015), 1-32.
  • Vom offenen Bündnissystem zur selbstbewussten Eidgenossenschaft. Das 14. und 15. Jahrhundert, in: Die Geschichte der Schweiz, hg. von Georg Kreis, Basel 2014, 136-183.

All Publications

Editorial Boards

University of Basel

  • Member of the IVIT conference
  • Member of the commission at the Museum der Kulturen (Museum of Cultures)
  • Member of the commission at the Historisches Museum (Historical Museum)
  • HS 2009-FS 2011: Director of the Department of History
  • HS 2009-FS 2012: Member of the strategy panel (Planungskommission) of the University of Basel
  • 2007-2009: Head of the departement "Historische Wissenschaften" (historical sciences)
  • 2005-2009: Member of the Senate Committee (‘Regenz’)

Professional Associations

  • Since 2012: Member of the National Research Council of the SNSF
  • 2006-2010: Fellow of the Advisory Committee of the Center for the Research of the Early Modern Period (Renaissance Institute) at Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main
  • 2008-2010: Chairwoman of the commission of “infoclio.ch” , Affiliated Company of the Swiss Academy of the Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW)
  • 2001-2009: „Gesellschaftsrätin“ of the Swiss Historical Society (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte (SGG)
  • Co-founder of the international work group on women’s and gender history of the early modern period ("Arbeitskreis Frauen- und Geschlechtergeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit"), Co-leadership 1994-2002

Memberships

  • Renaissance Society of America (RSA)
  • Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte (SGG)
  • Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte (SGWSG)
  • Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung/Gender Studies (SGFGF)
  • Historische und Antiquarische Gesellschaft zu Basel
  • Verein Feministische Wissenschaft

Fellowships

Regarding the supervision of Master Theses in European Global Studies, I am happy to consider enquiries from students with a historical perspective. I am particularly interested in the following fields and topics:

  • Early globalization, entangled history and European expansion 15th to 18th centuries
  • Premodern European history in a global perspective
  • (premodern) Swiss History
  • Premodern Urban Societies
  • Travel narratives and identity construction
  • Material culture
  • History of fashion and dress
  • History of crime

You are also encouraged to read the information on on-going research in the research area Global History of Europe.