Professor Tom Cohen (“Thomas” only when in print) works on Renaissance Italy, Rome especially, and that city’s rural hinterland. His take is a mix of cultural and political anthropology. He studies gestures and symbols and decodes actions. As a writer, he often uses microhistory, telling fine-grained stories about the lives of ordinary Romans. He looks to coalitions, conspiracies, trades, bluffs, dares, and wily dodges. A devotee of style and vividness in scholarly writing, he tells stories about seductions, betrayals, conspiracies, murders, and poisonings, not just for the tales themselves, but for the clues they offer about the culture of negotiation and the habits of coalition that made a distant world work. As a social historian with a Humanities inclination, employs close reading to extract the hidden esthetics of everyday language. His current main project is a book on a rebellious village high in mountains east of Rome. Meanwhile he also finds himself entangled in the history of orality in both Italy and elsewhere and he has a side project on reciprocity, trust, and entanglement in a weakly governed world.

Research Interests

Professor Tom Cohen (“Thomas” only when in print) works on Renaissance Italy, Rome especially, and that city’s rural hinterland. His take is a mix of cultural and political anthropology. He studies gestures and symbols and decodes actions. As a writer, he often uses microhistory, telling fine-grained stories about the lives of ordinary Romans. He looks to coalitions, conspiracies, trades, bluffs, dares, and wily dodges. A devotee of style and vividness in scholarly writing, he tells stories about seductions, betrayals, conspiracies, murders, and poisonings, not just for the tales themselves, but for the clues they offer about the culture of negotiation and the habits of coalition that made a distant world work. As a social historian with a Humanities inclination, employs close reading to extract the hidden esthetics of everyday language. His current main project is a book on a rebellious village high in mountains east of Rome. Meanwhile he also finds himself entangled in the history of orality in both Italy and elsewhere and he has a side project on reciprocity, trust, and entanglement in a weakly governed world.

As for teaching, Tom Cohen tells students “to expect the unexpected.” He uses drama, as orator and ham (he has a frightful wig good for Descartes, and an accent to prove ‘zat he tinks and zerefore he exists’), and hauls students down front in lecture to be Saint Francis and the Terrible Wolf of Gubbio, or sets one half a lecture hall to be angels for the prosecution against a crusader who sacked Christian Constantinople – should he go to Hell or Purgatory, or straight to Heaven for good intentions gone awry? He sometimes lectures utter nonsense, mixed with sense, and then asks students to find his errors. Behind the foolery and fun is serious purpose: students should step outside their daily selves, stretch mind and imagination, let loose a bit, and think with every corner of their brains.

Tom has spent six years as a member of the board of Toronto Zoo, and ran the speakers' series for the membership. It is a rare historian who learns about dentistry for giraffes (no, not up a ladder!) and the mating habits of cheetahs, who lose interest when there is no competition. Most other service, neighborhood services aside, is focused on the community of scholars, where Tom mentors, provides writing, publishing and networking advice, deals with hiring and tenure and, above all, on how to teach well.

Degrees

Professional Leadership

Leadership? Hard to say. I seem to mentor a lot, not quite the same as leading. More a conversation than a gallop.

Community Contributions

University Service For the President: Commission on the Colleges (1976-7) For Senate: SCARSA (1986-7) For Arts: special committees: Dean’s task force to review Computer Science CAPP Commission on General Education (1974-5) Much speaking at recruitment fairs and sessions, over many years regular committees: Curriculum Development Committee (1979-81, chair second year) Executive Committee (1982-3) Merit Pay Committee Petitions Committee (1985-7 and again more recently) Research Committee (1989-90, chair) Tenure and Promotions, (2000-1 and 2002-4) chair for one and half terms (2002-3, to Christmas,) larger tasks: Coordinator of Individualized Studies (1988-91) CCAO, 2005-7 Chair CCAP, 2006-7 Gen Ed Review committee, chair, 2006-7 For Vanier: Senior Tutor (1970-2) Master's advisory committee (ca. 1998) For History: Committees and routine positions: Curriculum Committee Promotion and Tenure Committee Medieval hire chair, 2005-6 Course Evaluation Committee (1970) Executive Committee Chair of Council (1981-2, 1989-90) Computer Co-coordinator (1979-83) Bookstore and Library Liaison (1990-1) Representative to Arts Council (1995-6, 2001-2) Prize Committee TA Liaison (1997-8, 2002-4, 2005-6) Affirmative action officer Outside committees, bigger jobs: Recruitment/retention officer (1999-2001, 2002-4) Director of Undergraduate Studies (1993-5) For Humanities: Curriculum committee (1977-9, chair 2002-4) Promotion and Tenure Committee (1988-90, chair second year, 2005-8, chair: 2005-7) Premodern hire, chair, 2005-6 Committee on the Major (1886-7) Committee on Teaching (1988-9) Executive Committee Nominating Committee Research Coordinator (1996-8) Recruitment and Student Relations officer (2000-1) Misc. Six years on the Board of the Metro Toronto Zoo, where I ran the education programme for the membership.

Research Interests