The Premodern Cultures and Communities certificate provides graduate students with advanced training in the methods and questions unique to the field of premodern studies (loosely conceived as stretching from 500 to 1700).

The curriculum offers students skills and knowledge in content and methods necessary to identify, develop, conduct, and present comparative and cross-cultural analysis of the premodern and its legacy from theoretical, literary, cultural, material and historical perspectives. Elective coursework in this certificate encourages multidisciplinary and global scholarship that is reflective of the rich array of areas of study offered in the College, including religions of the premodern, cross-cultural trade and exchange, history of science, reading cultures, intellectual history, literary and cultural studies, material culture, and gender and race studies.