The Medieval Academy Blog

We are very pleased to announce that the inaugural Inclusivity & Diversity Research Grant has been awarded to Sourav Ghosh (University of California at Berkeley) to support his project, “Ideology, Infrastructure, and Taxonomy: Archiving and the Origin of Medieval Indian Historiography in Late Colonial India.” In his words, the project “…shows how late colonial aesthetics, archival practices, and ideologies informed and regulated historical research on medieval India. This is both the study of the medieval historiography and the archive that shapes it. By focusing on a private archive (Shree Natnagar Shodh Samsthan: The Raghubir Singh Library and Research Institute) in modern-day central India, I illustrate how infrastructure, material culture, colonial knowledge, collection practices, and categorization undergird and dictate the scholarship on medieval Indian history. Thus, my research on the development of medieval historiography in the modern era complicates our existing understating of medieval studies as a field of inquiry.” In selecting Ghosh, the Prize Committee noted that “This is a strong project on the colonial archive in India that opens up another, little explored, aspect of the uses of the Middle Ages but in a non-Western context. It is both a project of Indian historiography and the influence of global empire. Ghosh has the impressive research and language skills to do this multifaceted research at a focus locale.” More information about this program is available here.

The 97th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The meeting is jointly hosted by the Medieval Academy of America and the Program in Medieval Studies at the University of Virginia, with the generous support and collaboration of colleagues from Virginia Tech, the College of William & Mary, and Washington and Lee University. The conference program will feature a diverse range of sessions highlighting innovative scholarship across the many disciplines contributing to medieval studies.

The Program Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies and medievalism studies. Any member of the Medieval Academy may submit a paper proposal; others may submit proposals as well but must become members in order to present papers at the meeting. Special consideration will be given to individuals whose field would not normally involve membership in the Medieval Academy. We are particularly interested in receiving submissions from those working outside of traditional academic positions, including independent scholars, emeritus or adjunct faculty, university administrators, those working in academic-adjacent institutions (libraries, archives, museums, scholarly societies, or cultural research centers), editors and publishers, and other fellow medievalists.

Plenary addresses will be delivered by Roland Betancourt, Professor of Art History, University of California, Irvine; Seeta Chaganti, Professor of English, University of California, Davis; and Thomas E. A. Dale, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and incoming president of the Academy.

Click here for the full Call for Papers

A Speculum Webinar: Meet the Editors
26 March 2021 from 12:00-1:30 PM EDT via Zoom

Aimed particularly at early career scholars, this webinar brings together the editors of Speculum, along with members of the Editorial and Review Boards, to demystify the process of publishing an article or book review in the journal. We will take you step-by-step through the process. Panelists will make brief presentations to be followed by a Q&A session. The webinar, held via Zoom, is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

Click here to register.

Even though we won’t be able to greet you in person this year at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, the Medieval Academy of America will have a strong presence at the virtual conference, with lectures, sessions, and roundtables focusing on the Global Middle Ages, DEI, and Anti-Racism (May 10-15).

1) The MAA plenary will be delivered by Sharon Kinoshita (Univ. of California–Santa Cruz), “Marco Polo and the Diversity of the Global Middle Ages” (pre-recorded and available to registrants May 10–15 and May 17–29). Two related sessions organized by Prof. Kinoshita on “Diversity in/and the Global Middle Ages” will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday at 11 AM (Sessions 124 and 179 respectively).

2) The Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) roundtable on “Diversifying the Medieval Studies Syllabus” will take place Thursday at 3 PM (Session 291).

3) The Medieval Academy Graduate Student Committee roundtable on “Teaching the Middle Ages with Inclusivity and Diversity” will take place on Friday at 7 PM (Session 391).

4) With the Material Collective, the MAA is sponsoring a workshop titled “Race and the Medieval Academy of America,” led by Jax Gardner, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College. The workshop will take place on Saturday, at 3 PM (Session 436). Attendance will be limited to 20 participants.

All times are EDT. Click here for more information.

The MAA/CARA Summer Scholarships support graduate students and especially promising undergraduate students participating in summer courses in medieval languages or manuscript studies. Applicants must be members of the Medieval Academy in good standing with at least one year of graduate school remaining and must demonstrate both the importance of the summer course to their program of study and their home institution’s inability to offer analogous coursework. Click here for more information.

Applicants for this and other MAA programs must be members in good standing of the Medieval Academy. Please contact the Executive Director for more information about these and other MAA programs.

The Medieval Academy Book Subvention Program provides grants of up to $2,500 to university or other non-profit scholarly presses to support the publication of first books by Medieval Academy members. Click here for more information.

NEW: The Medieval Academy Inclusivity and Diversity Book Subvention Program provides subventions of up to $5,000 to university or other non-profit scholarly presses to support the publication of books concerning the study of inclusivity and diversity in the Middle Ages (broadly conceived) by Medieval Academy members. Click here for more information.

Applications for subventions will be accepted only from the publisher and only for books that have already been approved for publication. Eligible Academy members who wish to have their books considered for a subvention should ask their publishers to apply directly to the Academy, following the guidelines outlined on the relevant webpage. The deadline for proposals is 1 May 2021.

Alexandre Roberts, University of Southern California, has been awarded an NEH Fellowship to support his project, “Matter Redeemed: Physics and Alchemy in Byzantium and the Islamic World” (research and writing leading to a book on physics and alchemy in the medieval Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East).

Congratulations! If you have good news to share, please send it to Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis.