Ann Zimo, Assistant Professor of Humanities, has been awarded the University of Minnesota Graduate School’s 2017 Best Dissertation Award for Arts & Humanities.
Her dissertation entitled “Muslims in the Landscape: A Social Map of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Thirteenth Century” explores how Muslims fit into the geographic, economic, legal, and political landscapes of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. By drawing together archaeological information and sources in Latin, Old French, and Arabic rarely used together, she demonstrates, contrary to the general assumption, that Muslims were fully integrated into society and played key roles in the economy and administration.
The Best Dissertation Award is granted to one graduate student from each of four groups – arts and humanities, biological and life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social sciences and education – chosen by faculty from the broad disciplinary area. Selections were based on the originality and importance of the research, as well as the potential for the students to make an unusually significant contribution to his or her field.
