The 49th International Congress of Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
May 8-11, 2014
Three sessions at next year's International Congress of Medieval Studies - please note that different sessions are organized by different people, so please use the correct contact details if submitting abstracts.
Shock! Horror! Didacticism and Diversion in Medieval Biblical Narratives
This session will address the functions and effects of the amplification of “shock” and “horror” in medieval vernacular and visual adaptations of Old and New Testament narratives. They will ask where the opening up of the Word of God for the spiritual edification of the “lewd [common] man” meets up with the exploiting of the dramatic potential in biblical stories for diversion and entertainment – or even titillation. It has been appreciated that Latin works such as Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica (c. 1173) in a sense legitimized the Bible as an “entertaining narrative” (James Morey, 1993); however, assumptions concerning and/or emphases on the moralizing quality of biblical re-imaginings have arguably prevented scholars from considering in detail where vernacular and visual works may be located along what might be termed a “didacticism-diversion spectrum.” This somewhat neglected area of research calls for a multi-disciplinary engagement and dialogue. Papers are sought from across literary studies, art and visual studies, and drama and performance studies. The sessions will appeal to scholars interested in: textual and cultural transmission of biblical stories; the burgeoning study of emotion; the interrelationships of text, image and drama; and the development of popular theology. Papers addressing poetry, prose or drama in the English vernaculars – both Old and Middle English – are especially encouraged, though other vernacular languages will also be considered, particularly if the paper has a comparative approach. Papers addressing visual studies should focus on biblical narrative artwork from England (e.g. The Illustrated Old English Hexateuch; the Holkham Bible), though insular and European continental works may also be considered if they are addressed comparatively with English works. “Shock” and “horror” may be interpreted fairly broadly, but emphasis on the deployment of violence and/or sex will especially be appreciated.
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words together with a completed Participation Form (available here) to session organizer Chris Monk by September 15, 2013. Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract. Abstracts not accepted for this session will be forwarded to the Congress committee for consideration of inclusion in general sessions, as stipulated in Congress policy.
Monsters I: Monstrous Gender
Sponsored by MEARCSTAPA (Monsters: the Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory And Practical Application)
Recent trends in monster scholarship are developing a strong focus on the imbrications of monstrosity and gender. We are looking for papers that address the intersection of gender and monstrosity in interesting, unusual, provocative and meaningful ways. We especially encourage papers that seek to move beyond the more traditional uses of monster and gender theories in medieval studies to consider how these categories of thinking can intersect, challenge, problematize, corroborate, support, and inform one another. Interdisciplinary approaches including but not limited to the consideration of monstrous gender in literature, language, history, art history, architecture, philosophy, religion, politics, and/or cultural studies are highly welcome.
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words together with a completed Participant Information Form (available here) to session organizers Melissa Ridley Elmes or Asa Simon Mittman by September 15. Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract itself. Abstracts will be posted to the MEARCSTAPA blog, and all abstracts not accepted for the session will be forwarded to Congress administrators for consideration in general sessions, as per Congress regulations.
Monsters II: Parallel Worlds: Monstrous Voyages, Monstrous Visitors
Sponsored by MEARCSTAPA (Monsters: the Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory And Practical Application)
Refraction, reflection, intrusion, illusion, overlay, visitation, wandering, straying: parallel worlds double and haunt medieval landscapes, providing voyage destinations and otherworldly visitors. Medieval worlds are not unitary or univocal, as refugees seek Torelore and the Pays de Cocagne; as chroniclers record or imagine far-off Carthage and Jerusalem; as the secular world finds itself invaded by hellish demons or heavenly angels; as saints and mystics simultaneously inhabit this world and the next. What can other worlds, or other temporalities, tell us about how medieval cultures understood the quotidian or secular world? How does the ingress of or egress to various worlds beyond establish or erode the definition of the here-and-now? Are all such intrusions monstrous? Does monstrosity necessitate intrusion from beyond? We invite papers from all disciplines and national traditions, on topics that might include the double presence of life and death, profane and sacred, self and other, animal and human, native and foreigner, male and female, straight and queer, past, future, and present.
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words together with a completed Participant Information Form (available here) to session organizers Stefanie Goyette or Asa Simon Mittman by September 15. Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract itself. Abstracts will be posted to the MEARCSTAPA blog, and all abstracts not accepted for the session will be forwarded to Congress administrators for consideration in general sessions, as per Congress regulations.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
CFP: DigiPal One-Day Symposium
Date: Monday 16th September 2013
Venue: King's College London, Strand
Co-sponsor: Centre for Late Antique & Medieval studies, KCL
It is with great delight that the DigiPal team at the Department of Digital Humanities (King's College London) announce their third Symposium.
We've built up a scholarly camaraderie over the last two years and much look forward to our annual opportunity to discuss and debate the computer-assisted study of medieval handwriting and manuscripts.
How to propose a paper
Papers of 20 minutes in length are invited on any aspect of digital approaches to the study of medieval handwriting and manuscripts.
The topics below might help guide potential submissions:
* terminology for describing handwriting
* visualisation of manuscript evidence and data
* meaning and mining in palaeography
* automatic letter-form identification
* methods for dating/localising script
* crowd-sourcing in palaeography
* the practical and theoretical consequences of the use of digital images
* examples of research that would benefit from a Digital Humanities (or DigiPal) approach
The above are only serving suggestions, so please don't feel limited to these topics.
To propose a paper, please email a brief abstract (250 words max.) to the symposium organizers.
The deadline for the receipt of submissions is 10.23pm on Wednesday 3rd July 2013
What is DigiPal?
For more information, please visit our website or dive in at the deep end.
Venue: King's College London, Strand
Co-sponsor: Centre for Late Antique & Medieval studies, KCL
It is with great delight that the DigiPal team at the Department of Digital Humanities (King's College London) announce their third Symposium.
We've built up a scholarly camaraderie over the last two years and much look forward to our annual opportunity to discuss and debate the computer-assisted study of medieval handwriting and manuscripts.
How to propose a paper
Papers of 20 minutes in length are invited on any aspect of digital approaches to the study of medieval handwriting and manuscripts.
The topics below might help guide potential submissions:
* terminology for describing handwriting
* visualisation of manuscript evidence and data
* meaning and mining in palaeography
* automatic letter-form identification
* methods for dating/localising script
* crowd-sourcing in palaeography
* the practical and theoretical consequences of the use of digital images
* examples of research that would benefit from a Digital Humanities (or DigiPal) approach
The above are only serving suggestions, so please don't feel limited to these topics.
To propose a paper, please email a brief abstract (250 words max.) to the symposium organizers.
The deadline for the receipt of submissions is 10.23pm on Wednesday 3rd July 2013
What is DigiPal?
For more information, please visit our website or dive in at the deep end.
Medieval and Early Modern Student Association Postgraduate Conference - The Mutilated Body
8-9 July 2013 at St John's College, Durham University
MEMSA is proud to announce its seventh annual postgraduate conference, an event designed to bring together postgraduate and early career researchers in interdisciplinary dialogue. This year's topic is the Mutilated Body, where delegates will explore aspects of destruction, disability, and personhood in the medieval and Early Modern periods, investigating medical humanities and hagiography, as well as interpretations of the conceptualisation of mutilated corporeality, as typified by books, the nation-state and kingship, or Christendom. Keynote speakers will be Professor Faith Wallis (McGill University) and Professor Charlotte Roberts (Durham University). Delegates will also have the option to tour the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition, following a talk by Professor Richard Gameson (Durham University).
Please click here to register online.
MEMSA is proud to announce its seventh annual postgraduate conference, an event designed to bring together postgraduate and early career researchers in interdisciplinary dialogue. This year's topic is the Mutilated Body, where delegates will explore aspects of destruction, disability, and personhood in the medieval and Early Modern periods, investigating medical humanities and hagiography, as well as interpretations of the conceptualisation of mutilated corporeality, as typified by books, the nation-state and kingship, or Christendom. Keynote speakers will be Professor Faith Wallis (McGill University) and Professor Charlotte Roberts (Durham University). Delegates will also have the option to tour the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition, following a talk by Professor Richard Gameson (Durham University).
Please click here to register online.
Liturgy in History: International Study Day
Call for Participants
We are delighted to announce a call for participants for Liturgy in History, an international study day for graduate students and early career researchers at Queen Mary’s Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies.
Liturgy in History: a full-day workshop exploring liturgy in practice in the medieval and early-modern periods.
When: Tuesday 19th November, 9:30 – 17:00 (lunch provided)
Where: Queen Mary, Mile End Campus, room tbc
One of the most exciting developments in medieval, renaissance and early modern studies over the past decade has been a renewed historical appreciation of liturgical sources. Liturgies, so crucial to understanding the lived experiences of religion, were seedbeds for cultural production across Europe, and were deeply contested in the changing confessional landscapes of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Liturgy in History will provide a unique opportunity to engage with liturgical sources and access the expertise of researchers in the field.
Three speakers – Professor Nils Holger Petersen (University of Copenhagen), Professor Emma Dillon (King’s College London) and Dr. Beth Williamson (University of Bristol) – will guide participants through the structure and formulae of liturgical sources. The musical, visual, architectural and performative aspects of the liturgy will all be carefully considered and approaches to liturgy re-interrogated. The day will culminate in a trip to a nearby renaissance church which will help situate them in their context. We would be delighted to welcome international participants and students from diverse disciplines, to reflect the multidisciplinary focus of the day itself.
Participants will not only have the opportunity to learn more about the current state of liturgical research but will also be given the chance to offer their own insights into this pivotal aspect of medieval and early modern studies.
Please see below for a provisional schedule of the day.
If you would like to join us please email Hetta Howes. Attendance will be free of charge, but places are limited to ensure discussion and participation, so it is essential that you book your place.
Liturgy in History International Study Day, 19 November 2013
9:30–10:00 – Registration, tea and coffee
10:00–11:15 Professor Nils Holger Petersen (University of Copenhagen): An introduction to the structure and formulae of liturgical sources in the Christian West
11:15–11:25 – Coffee break
11:25–12:30 Professor Emma Dillon (King’s College London): Sung components of liturgy – how was liturgy was presented and experienced in medieval and early modern Europe?
12:30–13:10 – Lunch
13:10–14:25 – Dr. Beth Williamson (University of Bristol): Space and Sight in the Liturgy
14:25–14:35 – Coffee break
14:35–15:25 – Prof. Miri Rubin: Round Table discussion
15:25–17.00 – Visit to an historic church to consider liturgy within a church, how religious changes affected ritual, and to experience liturgical music from across the period
We are delighted to announce a call for participants for Liturgy in History, an international study day for graduate students and early career researchers at Queen Mary’s Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies.
Liturgy in History: a full-day workshop exploring liturgy in practice in the medieval and early-modern periods.
When: Tuesday 19th November, 9:30 – 17:00 (lunch provided)
Where: Queen Mary, Mile End Campus, room tbc
One of the most exciting developments in medieval, renaissance and early modern studies over the past decade has been a renewed historical appreciation of liturgical sources. Liturgies, so crucial to understanding the lived experiences of religion, were seedbeds for cultural production across Europe, and were deeply contested in the changing confessional landscapes of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Liturgy in History will provide a unique opportunity to engage with liturgical sources and access the expertise of researchers in the field.
Three speakers – Professor Nils Holger Petersen (University of Copenhagen), Professor Emma Dillon (King’s College London) and Dr. Beth Williamson (University of Bristol) – will guide participants through the structure and formulae of liturgical sources. The musical, visual, architectural and performative aspects of the liturgy will all be carefully considered and approaches to liturgy re-interrogated. The day will culminate in a trip to a nearby renaissance church which will help situate them in their context. We would be delighted to welcome international participants and students from diverse disciplines, to reflect the multidisciplinary focus of the day itself.
Participants will not only have the opportunity to learn more about the current state of liturgical research but will also be given the chance to offer their own insights into this pivotal aspect of medieval and early modern studies.
Please see below for a provisional schedule of the day.
If you would like to join us please email Hetta Howes. Attendance will be free of charge, but places are limited to ensure discussion and participation, so it is essential that you book your place.
Liturgy in History International Study Day, 19 November 2013
9:30–10:00 – Registration, tea and coffee
10:00–11:15 Professor Nils Holger Petersen (University of Copenhagen): An introduction to the structure and formulae of liturgical sources in the Christian West
11:15–11:25 – Coffee break
11:25–12:30 Professor Emma Dillon (King’s College London): Sung components of liturgy – how was liturgy was presented and experienced in medieval and early modern Europe?
12:30–13:10 – Lunch
13:10–14:25 – Dr. Beth Williamson (University of Bristol): Space and Sight in the Liturgy
14:25–14:35 – Coffee break
14:35–15:25 – Prof. Miri Rubin: Round Table discussion
15:25–17.00 – Visit to an historic church to consider liturgy within a church, how religious changes affected ritual, and to experience liturgical music from across the period
Impossible Spaces Book Launch
Details of a book launch in Manchester - a new collection of short stories including pieces by two of the medievalists at the University of Manchester (Dr. Hannah Priest, writing as Hannah Kate, and PhD student Daisy Black).
Friday 19 July, 7.00-9.00pm
Free entry
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
3 Cambridge Street
Manchester M1 5BY
United Kingdom
Join us at the launch of Impossible Spaces, a new collection of short stories from Hic Dragones.
Sometimes the rules can change. Sometimes things aren't how they appear. Sometimes you can just slip through the cracks and end up... somewhere else. What else is there? Is there somewhere else, right beside you, if you could only reach out and touch it? Or is it waiting to reach out and touch you?
Don't trust what you see. Don't trust what you hear. Don't trust what you remember. It isn't what you think.
A new collection of twenty-one dark, unsettling and weird short stories that explore the spaces at the edge of possibility. Stories by: Ramsey Campbell, Simon Bestwick, Hannah Kate, Jeanette Greaves, Richard Freeman, Almira Holmes, Arpa Mukhopadhyay, Chris Galvin Nguyen, Christos Callow Jr., Daisy Black, Douglas Thompson, Jessica George, Keris McDonald, Laura Brown, Maree Kimberley, Margret Helgadottir, Nancy Schumann, Rachel Yelding, Steven K. Beattie, Tej Turner and Tracy Fahey.
Free event, with wine reception from 7pm. Readings from Douglas Thompson, Rachel Yelding, Tracy Fahey, Jeanette Greaves, Nancy Schumann, Jessica George and Hannah Kate. Launch party discount on book sales and competition/giveaways.
Friday 19 July, 7.00-9.00pm
Free entry
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
3 Cambridge Street
Manchester M1 5BY
United Kingdom
Join us at the launch of Impossible Spaces, a new collection of short stories from Hic Dragones.
Sometimes the rules can change. Sometimes things aren't how they appear. Sometimes you can just slip through the cracks and end up... somewhere else. What else is there? Is there somewhere else, right beside you, if you could only reach out and touch it? Or is it waiting to reach out and touch you?
Don't trust what you see. Don't trust what you hear. Don't trust what you remember. It isn't what you think.
A new collection of twenty-one dark, unsettling and weird short stories that explore the spaces at the edge of possibility. Stories by: Ramsey Campbell, Simon Bestwick, Hannah Kate, Jeanette Greaves, Richard Freeman, Almira Holmes, Arpa Mukhopadhyay, Chris Galvin Nguyen, Christos Callow Jr., Daisy Black, Douglas Thompson, Jessica George, Keris McDonald, Laura Brown, Maree Kimberley, Margret Helgadottir, Nancy Schumann, Rachel Yelding, Steven K. Beattie, Tej Turner and Tracy Fahey.
Free event, with wine reception from 7pm. Readings from Douglas Thompson, Rachel Yelding, Tracy Fahey, Jeanette Greaves, Nancy Schumann, Jessica George and Hannah Kate. Launch party discount on book sales and competition/giveaways.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Recent Publications by Members
A round-up of recent publications by members of the Manchester Medieval Society.
Gale R. Owen-Crocker
The
Bayeux Tapestry: Collected Papers, Variorum Collected Studies Series (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012)
(with Elizabeth
Coatsworth) ‘Textiles’, in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Medieval Studies, ed. Paul Szarmach (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2012)
(as editor with Elizabeth Coatsworth
and Maria Hayward), Encyclopedia of Dress and Textiles in the
British Isles c. 450-1450 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012)
‘Hunger for England: ambition and appetite
in the Bayeux Tapestry’, in Holy and Unholy Appetites
in Anglo-Saxon England: a Collection of Studies in Honour of Hugh Magennis, ed. Marilina Cesario and Kathrin Prietzel, English Studies, 93:5 (2012): 540-549
‘Image Making: Portraits of Anglo-Saxon
Church Leaders’, in Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon
Church, ed. Alexander R. Rumble, Publications of the Manchester Centre for
Anglo-Saxon Studies (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012), pp. 109-127
‘Anglo-Saxon Woman: Fame, Anonymity,
Identity and Clothing’, in Dress and
Identity in the Past, ed. Mary Harlow (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2012), pp.
85-96
Elizabeth Coatsworth
(with Gale R. Owen-Crocker),
‘Textiles’, in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Medieval Studies, ed. Paul Szarmach (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2012)
(as editor with Gale R. Owen-Crocker and Maria Hayward), Encyclopedia of Dress
and Textiles in the British Isles c. 450-1450 (Leiden and Boston:
Brill, 2012)
Alexander R. Rumble
(as editor) Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church, Publications of the Manchester
Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012)
Hannah
Priest
‘Review of The Jacqueline Rose Reader, ed. Justin Clemens and Ben Naparstek
(Durham, 2011)’, Feminism and Psychology,
22:4 (November 2012)
‘Unravelling Constance’, in Dark Chaucer: An Assortment, ed. Myra
Seaman, Eileen Joy and Nicola Masciandaro (Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books, 2012)
‘“Hell! Was I Becoming a Vampyre Slut?’:
Sex, Sexuality and Morality in Young Adult Vampire Fiction’, in The Modern Vampire and Human Identity,
ed. Deborah Mutch (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
CFP: Romance in Medieval Britain
14th Biennial Conference
12-14th April 2014
Clifton Hill House, Bristol
Papers are invited on all aspects of medieval romance. The conference marks the conclusion of an AHRC-sponsored research project on the Verse Forms of Middle English Romance, and papers that address questions of verse form are particularly welcome.
To propose a paper, please send a brief abstract to one of the two conference organizers, before 31 September 2013:
Dr Judith Jefferson, English Department
Prof. Ad Putter, English Department
Further information about the conference will be made available on the website.
12-14th April 2014
Clifton Hill House, Bristol
Papers are invited on all aspects of medieval romance. The conference marks the conclusion of an AHRC-sponsored research project on the Verse Forms of Middle English Romance, and papers that address questions of verse form are particularly welcome.
To propose a paper, please send a brief abstract to one of the two conference organizers, before 31 September 2013:
Dr Judith Jefferson, English Department
Prof. Ad Putter, English Department
Further information about the conference will be made available on the website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)