University of York Open Lectures

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Chris

Talks presented by the University of York as part of its online autumn Open Lectures series. The programme covers a wide variety of topics and is aimed at a general audience. A selection of free events is listed below and the full programme is available at york.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/public-lectures.

England’s Hidden History
Friday 23 October, 7pm to 8pm

Among the glamour and intrigue that surrounds the Tudor period is the untold story of people of African descent who lived and worked throughout England – not as slaves but as members of society. Join pioneering and internationally recognised historian, writer and presenter Dr Onyeka Nubia.

An evening with Peter Brathwaite
Monday 26 October, 8pm to 9pm

Join opera singer Peter Brathwaite for an extraordinary evening detailing his passion for ‘degenerate music’, the ways in which his work has paid tribute to and been informed by Black histories in Britain, and his extraordinary lockdown project to discover Black portraiture.

Medieval hygiene
Monday 2 November, 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Everyone knows that medieval people were dirty, smelly and largely indifferent to their own filth – or were they? In fact, medieval physicians were well aware of the health benefits of good hygiene. Dr Katherine Harvey of Birkbeck, University of London, reveals how all the evidence suggests that medieval people, both rich and poor, were much cleaner than we assume.

How the Vikings “got Allah”
Thursday 5 November, 6.30pm to 8pm

Stephennie Mulder, Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, discusses How the Vikings “got Allah”: Toward an Integrated Medieval Studies in an Age of White Nationalism.

The emergence of the English
Friday 6 November, 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Susan Oosthuizen, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, reveals why the emergence of the English should be sought in the evolution, adaptation and innovations of late Romano-British communities to a post-imperial world.

Celebrating outstanding history: Wolfson History Prize 2020 panel online
Tuesday 24 November, 7pm to 8.15pm

From humankind’s relationship with the world’s oceans to Indian cricket, and from Chaucer to the kingdoms of West Africa, how can history shine a light on the big issues we face today?Join Wolfson History Prize 2020 winner David Abulafia and three of the shortlisted authors.

The rise of the valkyrie: Mythical and real women of the Viking world
Wednesday 25 November, 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Life and death in a Viking battle depended not on military prowess, but on the favour of the Valkyries, who took the warriors who died back to Asgard, the realm of the Norse gods. But why were these powerful beings female, and what do they tell us about the Vikings’ society? Join Dr Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir of the National Library of Norway.

Hidden in plain sight: The unexplored histories of the medieval north at the time of the Black Death
Friday 27 November, 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Professor Sarah Rees Jones of the University of York exposes and explores some of extensive medieval archives relating to the medieval north (and particularly to Yorkshire) which remain largely unpublished and unexplored. Discover how the impact of the Black Death from 1349 led to a remarkable increase in the creation and curation of written records documenting many aspects of daily life.

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Jobs for Medievalists

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Chris

Assistant or Associate Professor (Tenure-Track) in History of Medicine

Click here for more information.

The Department of the History of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine invites applications for tenure-track faculty at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor. The Department is committed to broadening the history of health and medicine, and seeks new colleagues who address areas not covered by existing faculty, specifically in the areas of pre-modern medicine, health, and healing before 1800, and in medicine, health and healing in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, or other geographical areas which would extend the reach of our Department. We seek scholars whose research is innovative and agenda-setting. Our teaching remit stretches across several divisions of the University, including PhD and online MA students within our department’s degree-granting programs, MD and MPH students within the broader schools of medicine and public health at Johns Hopkins, and undergraduates and graduate students through joint appointment in the Program of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. A successful candidate will bring energy and enthusiasm to this broad array of learners and be successful at reaching a range of audiences. In addition to excellence in historical scholarship and teaching they should also demonstrate the capacity to communicate the enduring relevance of historical analysis to potential audiences in clinical practice, health policy, and the general public. The Department of the History of Medicine is committed to diversity and equity; we seek candidates who will contribute to a climate that attracts and values students, faculty, and collaborators of all ethnicities, nationalities, and genders. Applicants must have defended a PhD by July 1, 2021; applications and related materials are due by Nov. 15, 2020.

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Important Notice re: MAA 2021 Annual Meeting

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Chris

To the Members of the Medieval Academy of America:

After taking into account the projections of how the pandemic is likely to play out in the coming months, the 2021 MAA Annual Meeting Program Committee, in consultation with the Executive Director and the President, has made the difficult decision to pivot the 2021 Annual Meeting to a virtual meeting. We hope that by making this decision early, everyone involved will be able to respond and prepare in a way that will maximize the opportunities afforded by the virtual format. We will be in touch in the coming months with more details.

We are all sorry that we will not be able to greet you in person in Bloomington next April, but we look forward to seeing you online.

Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, President
Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director
Jeremy Schott, Program Committee
Deborah Deliyannis, Program Committee
Diane Reilly, Program Committee

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Conference – Authorial publishing from the Carolingian period to the Renaissance

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Chris

Authorial publishing from the Carolingian period to the Renaissance  
October 29th and 30th, University of Helsinki 
Venue: Zoom (for the meeting ID and passcode, see below)    

Written transmission relies on the fact of ‘publication’, the step between the authorial process and reception. The papers in this colloquium ask what it meant for medieval and renaissance authors and their associates to publish. The contexts under scrutiny range from England to Italy, from hagiography to medicine, and from Carolingian monasteries to renaissance libraries.  

The programme is found below. The abstracts can be accessed in the Medieval Publishing website: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/medieval-publishing    

To obtain the Zoom meeting ID and passcode, please contact to Mr. Olli-Pekka Kasurinen (olli.kasurinen@helsinki.fi).   

The colloquium is organized by the projects Medieval Publishing from c.1000 to 1500 (ERC-716538) and Authorial Publication in the Early Medieval Period (Academy of Finland), and the University of Helsinki.

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Paul Szarmach Article Prize

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Chris

The Richard Rawlinson Center at Western Michigan University announces the fourth Paul E. Szarmach Prize, to be awarded in May 2021. It consists of an award of $500 to the author of a first article on a topic in the culture and history of early medieval England published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that is judged by the selection committee to be of outstanding quality.  To be eligible for the 2021 prize, the article must have appeared in a journal bearing a publication date of 2019. Application deadline: November 1.

https://wmich.edu/medieval/research/early-england/article-prize

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Ethiopian Studies Webinar

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Chris

The Beta Israel and Ethiopian Christian Views of Jews and Judaism

Nov 17, 2020 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

https://theias.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CifXZdD4Qpmujc3jwsX7lw

Ethiopia has a long and complex history with Jews and Judaism. Perhaps most constitutive of the connection between the two is an Ethiopian tradition according to which the favor of the God of Israel, along with the ark of the covenant, was transferred from Israel to Ethiopia during the days of the biblical Solomon as a result of his amorous relationship with the Queen of Sheba. Earlier scholars invoked this tradition to explain everything from an alleged “Judaic component” of Ethiopian Christianity to the existence of the Beta Israel, or as they are sometimes called “Ethiopian Jews,” who lived in northern and north-western Ethiopia until their large-scale emigration to Israel between 1977 and 1991. In the last several decades, scholars have adopted a more critical approach to investigating Ethiopia’s interconnectedness with Jews and Judaism. In the present webinar, Steven Kaplan and Sophia Dege-Müller will address the status quaestionis of the Beta Israel and their origins as well as signal new directions in this area of research. Then Marcia Kupfer and Aaron Butts will explore how Ethiopian Christians have viewed Jews and Judaism in art and text, respectively, asking in particular what connections can be drawn between Ethiopian Christian views of Jews and Judaism and the Beta Israel. The webinar will conclude with a discussion addressing these and related questions.

This is the first event of a webinar series IAS Ethiopian Studies

Convenors: Suzanne Akbari (IAS), Aaron Butts (CUA/IAS), Samantha L. Kelly (Rutgers U/IAS), Sabine Schmidtke (IAS)

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Call for Papers – 20th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Chris

20th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies
March 18-20th, 2021
Virtually at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

The 20th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies will be held virtually March 18–20th, 2020 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The conference will take place over Zoom and will include Vagantes SWAG boxes, virtual workshops, professional development, and interactive activities. Abstracts are due Monday, November 30th, 2020.

Abstracts of 300 words, paper title, and a 1-2 page CV in one PDF asre due Monday, November 30th, 2020 to vagantesboard@gmail.com.

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Jobs for Medievalists

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Chris

Later Medieval English Literature – Associate Professor (1200-1500)
University of Toronto (St. George Campus)

Description:
The Department of English and the Centre for Medieval Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto invite applications for a joint full-time tenure stream position (75% English & 25% Centre for Medieval Studies) in the field of Later Medieval English Literature (1200-1500). The appointment will be at the rank of Associate Professor, with an expected start date of July 1, 2021.

Click here for more information.

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2021 CAARI Fellowships

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Chris

Encourage your colleagues, students, and friends to apply for CAARI’s fellowships. Information about each grant, including application forms, stipends, and expectations, is available at: www.caari.org/fellowships .

The grants include:

  1. Three graduate student stipends offering support for travel to Cyprus and lodging at CAARI. Application deadline: December 7, 2020.
  2. Two CAARI/CAORC postdoctoral fellowships that fund a month’s research in Cyprus: Application deadline: January 12, 2021.
  3. The postdoctoral fellowship in honor of Professor Eddie Peltenburg, that can support a full academic year’s research time on Cyprus. Application deadline: January 12, 2021.
  4. Scholar in Residence: Application deadline: January 12, 2021.

Other relevant fellowship opportunities are listed on the Fellowships page, as well.

Browse the possibilities, and apply!

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Rare Book School Scholarship and Fellowship applications open!

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Chris

Rare Book School is now accepting applications for its 2020 scholarship and fellowship cycle. 

The deadline for RBS-awarded scholarships is Sunday, 1 November 2020. Scholarship applicants will be considered for all of the RBS-awarded scholarships for which they are eligible, including the new Access 2021 Scholarship. Created for use in the summer of 2021, this scholarship is intended to ensure that RBS courses are accessible to students who wish to attend, but whose usual professional development funds will be greatly limited or unavailable. More than 100 awards will be distributed for this scholarship!  For more information, visit https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/scholarships/. 

Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) invites applications for its 2021–23 cohort of Junior Fellows. The deadline is Monday, 2 November 2020. Continuing the work of the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Critical Bibliography (2012–17), this scholarly society works to advance the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects through capacious, interdisciplinary scholarship—and to enrich humanistic inquiry and education by identifying, mentoring, and training promising early-career scholars. Junior Fellows will be encouraged and supported in integrating the methods of critical bibliography into their teaching and research, fostering collegial conversations about historical and emerging media across disciplines and institutions, and sharing their knowledge with broader publics. For more information, visit https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/sofcb/. 

The M. C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources invites applications for its second cohort, due 30 November 2020. This fellowship is a two-year program designed to animate humanities teaching and equip educators (both library/curatorial staff and tenure or tenure-track faculty) to enlarge their students’ historical sensibilities through bibliographically informed instruction with original historical sources. Open to faculty and librarians at liberal arts colleges and small universities in the United States, this fellowship program will teach teachers how to discern and convey the human presences in original textual artifacts––and to inculcate wonder in their students through guided contact with original textual artifacts. For more information, visit https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/lang/. 

Applications for the second cohort of The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage are also due 30 November 2020. This three-year fellowship aims to advance multicultural collections through innovative and inclusive curatorial practice and leadership. Fifteen new fellows who identify with diverse racial or ethnic communities and/or who work primarily with collections that document minority, immigrant, and non-Western cultural traditions will be selected for the 2021–2023 cohort. The fellowship will seek to fulfill four core goals: 1) developing skills for documenting and interpreting visual and textual materials in special collections and archives; 2) raising awareness within professional communities about the significance of inclusive, multicultural collections, including their promotion, development, and stewardship; 3) building connections with diverse communities and publics through strategic programming, outreach, and advocacy; and 4) advancing careers for establishing new pathways and skills for professional growth. For more information, visit https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/mellon-diversity/. 

You can find more information about these scholarships and fellowships, including application instructions, by clicking on the links above. Please direct any questions to rbs_scholarships@virginia.edu. 

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