Call for Papers – Decolonizing the Medieval Studies Syllabus (a roundtable)

Call for Papers
56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, May 2021

Decolonizing the Medieval Studies Syllabus (a roundtable)

This session is sponsored by the CARA Committee of the Medieval Academy of America. In the effort to help decolonize the field, some medievalists have turned to a Global Middle Ages to challenge the assumptions of their own scholarship and of traditional canons. Not all teachers have the opportunity to design brand-new courses, however. This roundtable seeks participants willing to share their own experiences of broadening the Medieval Studies syllabus, with the goal of offering sample assignments and texts from a range of disciplines to help teachers integrate non-Eurocentric material into their current Medieval Studies classes, as well as suggestions for reframing canonical texts. It is designed to continue pedagogical themes from the Medieval Academy meeting scheduled for April 2021. We encourage submissions from instructors in any field, especially those who teach outside of a research university setting.

Please submit a proposal of 250 words or less via the Congress website (https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) by September 15, 2020. For any questions, feel free to contact Renée Trilling at trilling@illinois.edu.

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Upcoming MAA Webinars Reminder

Reminder to Register now for these upcoming MAA Webinars:

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Race, Racism, and Teaching the Middle Ages
20 July, 3-5 PM EDT

In the wake of recent events and ongoing racially motivated violence, there have been many institutional responses to raise awareness of race and racism in the U.S. and beyond. This is one such response. Since many of us are educators who will return to the classroom in one form or another in the coming year, this webinar is focused on pedagogy and concrete strategies for teaching race and racism in their medieval forms and as they appear in medieval studies. Our four speakers will discuss what they do in the classroom and library to approach this complex topic with the goal of engendering ideas and texts that can be put in place as soon as this fall.

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information.

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Online Teaching for Medieval Studies: Philosophies, Learning Plans, and Promising Tools, Part II

This two-part webinar focuses on approaches to teaching the Middle Ages for online learning. The webinars are designed to help medievalists of all disciplines adopt and adapt existing strategies, platforms, and tools for teaching online in the fall of 2020 and beyond. Understanding that most institutions have their own required training sessions and online learning platforms, these webinars showcase ideas behind critical pedagogies for online learning with tools and applications specifically designed by and oriented for use by medievalists. The goal of these webinars is to bring together scholars proficient in online learning and design to give an overview of best practices and how medievalists can use and maximize the many DH offerings for learning and research that currently exist. Each webinar will reserve half of the allotted time (1 hour) to address the pedagogical philosophies of teaching and learning online, followed by a series of ‘Tool Talks’ (1.5 hours), featuring a selection of medievalist-friendly digital tools for use with students. We will reserve time to address questions after each section to foster a scholarly exchange about approaches to teaching and learning.

Both webinars will be recorded and made available through the MAA YouTube Channel. In addition, we will also partner with the Middle Ages for Educators site to embed the shorter ‘Tool Talks,’ accompanied by linked materials which might include further readings, suggestions for assessment, or relevant online resources. We anticipate adding to these throughout the summer, even after the conclusion of this webinar series.

Webinar II: Techniques and Tools for Teaching, Learning, and Researching Online: Manuscripts, Mapping, and Modeling
21 July, 2 – 5 PM EDT

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information and to register.

The presentations from the first webinar, “Thinking and Teaching Online: Best-Practices and Inspired Learning at a Distance,” and their associated online resources, are online here.

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MAA Council update

To the Members of the Medieval Academy of America,

I am writing to inform you that third-year Councilor Kathryn A. Smith has stepped down from the Council for personal reasons. In accordance with our bylaws (paragraphs 7 and 11), the Council has approved the following changes effective immediately:

1) Second-year Councilor Anne Latowsky will fill Prof. Smith’s position on the Executive Committee;
2) Prof. Latowsky’s position on the Committee on Committees and as a second-year Councilor will be filled by MAA member Elina Gertsman (Case Western Univ.), who was nominated for this position by the Executive Committee;
3) Prof. Gertsman will serve until the end of Prof. Smith’s term in April 2021.

We are very grateful to Prof. Smith for her service and to Prof. Gertsman for her willingness to take on this temporary role.

Lisa Fagin Davis
Executive Director, Medieval Academy of America

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Reminder to Register now for these upcoming MAA Webinars:

Race, Racism, and Teaching the Middle Ages
20 July, 3-5 PM EDT
In the wake of recent events and ongoing racially motivated violence, there have been many institutional responses to raise awareness of race and racism in the U.S. and beyond. This is one such response. Since many of us are educators who will return to the classroom in one form or another in the coming year, this webinar is focused on pedagogy and concrete strategies for teaching race and racism in their medieval forms and as they appear in medieval studies. Our four speakers will discuss what they do in the classroom and library to approach this complex topic with the goal of engendering ideas and texts that can be put in place as soon as this fall.

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information.
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Online Teaching for Medieval Studies: Philosophies, Learning Plans, and Promising Tools
This two-part webinar focuses on approaches to teaching the Middle Ages for online learning. The webinars are designed to help medievalists of all disciplines adopt and adapt existing strategies, platforms, and tools for teaching online in the fall of 2020 and beyond. Understanding that most institutions have their own required training sessions and online learning platforms, these webinars showcase ideas behind critical pedagogies for online learning with tools and applications specifically designed by and oriented for use by medievalists. The goal of these webinars is to bring together scholars proficient in online learning and design to give an overview of best practices and how medievalists can use and maximize the many DH offerings for learning and research that currently exist. Each webinar will reserve half of the allotted time (1 hour) to address the pedagogical philosophies of teaching and learning online, followed by a series of ‘Tool Talks’ (1.5 hours), featuring a selection of medievalist-friendly digital tools for use with students. We will reserve time to address questions after each section to foster a scholarly exchange about approaches to teaching and learning.

Both webinars will be recorded and made available through the MAA YouTube Channel. In addition, we will also partner with the Middle Ages for Educators site to embed the shorter ‘Tool Talks,’ accompanied by linked materials which might include further readings, suggestions for assessment, or relevant online resources. We anticipate adding to these throughout the summer, even after the conclusion of this webinar series.

Webinar I: Thinking and Teaching Online: Best-Practices and Inspired Learning at a Distance
14 July, Noon – 3 PM EDT

Webinar II: Techniques and Tools for Teaching, Learning, and Researching Online: Manuscripts, Mapping, and Modeling
21 July, 2 – 5 PM EDT

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information about these webinars.

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MAA News – Upcoming MAA Webinars

Race, Racism, and Teaching the Middle Ages
20 July, 3-5 PM EDT

In the wake of recent events and ongoing racially motivated violence, there have been many institutional responses to raise awareness of race and racism in the U.S. and beyond. This is one such response. Since many of us are educators who will return to the classroom in one form or another in the coming year, this webinar is focused on pedagogy and concrete strategies for teaching race and racism in their medieval forms and as they appear in medieval studies. Our four speakers will discuss what they do in the classroom and library to approach this complex topic with the goal of engendering ideas and texts that can be put in place as soon as this fall.

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information.

Online Teaching for Medieval Studies: Philosophies, Learning Plans, and Promising Tools

This two-part webinar focuses on approaches to teaching the Middle Ages for online learning. The webinars are designed to help medievalists of all disciplines adopt and adapt existing strategies, platforms, and tools for teaching online in the fall of 2020 and beyond. Understanding that most institutions have their own required training sessions and online learning platforms, these webinars showcase ideas behind critical pedagogies for online learning with tools and applications specifically designed by and oriented for use by medievalists. The goal of these webinars is to bring together scholars proficient in online learning and design to give an overview of best practices and how medievalists can use and maximize the many DH offerings for learning and research that currently exist. Each webinar will reserve half of the allotted time (1 hour) to address the pedagogical philosophies of teaching and learning online, followed by a series of ‘Tool Talks’ (1.5 hours), featuring a selection of medievalist-friendly digital tools for use with students. We will reserve time to address questions after each section to foster a scholarly exchange about approaches to teaching and learning.

Both webinars will be recorded and made available through the MAA YouTube Channel. In addition, we will also partner with the Middle Ages for Educators site to embed the shorter ‘Tool Talks,’ accompanied by linked materials which might include further readings, suggestions for assessment, or relevant online resources. We anticipate adding to these throughout the summer, even after the conclusion of this webinar series.

Webinar I: Thinking and Teaching Online: Best-Practices and Inspired Learning at a Distance
14 July, Noon – 3 PM EDT

Webinar II: Techniques and Tools for Teaching, Learning, and Researching Online: Manuscripts, Mapping, and Modeling
21 July, 2 – 5 PM EDT

Pre-registration is required. Click here for more information about these webinars.

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MAA News – New Grant Program for Graduate Students

The Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America is pleased to announce a new, one-time grant program: the MAA-GSC New Horizons Graduate Student Research Grant.

The MAA-GSC is calling for applications for grants of up to $500 to support graduate student research projects that uniquely engage with the current research environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as medievalist graduate students have lost access to much of our primary research material because of restrictions on travel and access to collections, we have also been inspired to develop inventive solutions to continue conducting dynamic and innovative research. Proposed projects might creatively use the digital resources available when physical resources are not, or might consider how the middle ages illuminates our understanding of the current social, cultural, and economic environment. Applications will be evaluated on the originality of how the proposed project engages with the current environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its potential to contribute to medieval studies. This is a special one-time grant program. Up to four will be awarded for outstanding applications selected by the MAA Graduate Student Committee.

The application deadline is September 1. Applicants must be members of the Medieval Academy of America. Click here for more information.

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MAA News – MAA@vIMC

MAA@vIMC
7 July, 3 – 4PM EDT (20:00 IMC time)

If you’ve registered for the vIMC, you will have the opportunity to join the MAA@vIMC event on Tuesday, July 7, from 3 – 4PM EDT (20:00 IMC time). MAA President Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Speculum Editor Katherine Jansen, and Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis will deliver brief updates and take questions. This event replaces our annual IMC Lecture, which has been postponed until 2021. Refer to the vIMC programme for more information about how to join this special session.

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MAA News – Coming Soon: July Issue of Speculum

The latest issue of Speculum will be available later this month.

Speculum, Volume 95, Number 3 (July 2020)

Articles:
Joel Anderson, “Bishop Guðmundr’s Roman Redemption:  Imagining and Suspending Papal Government in Medieval Iceland”

Justine Firnhaber-Baker, “The Social Constituency of the Jacquerie Revolt of 1358”

Anna Wilson, “Petrarch’s Queer History”

Michael Johnston,  “Copying and Reading The Prick of Conscience in Late Medieval England”

Book Reviews
This issue of Speculum features more than 80 book reviews.

This issue also contains:

* Books Received
* Brief Notices
* Notes from the Annual Meeting of the MAA
* Annual Contributors to the Medieval Academy of America

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MAA News – Upcoming Deadlines

The Medieval Academy of America invites applications for the following grants. Please note that applicants must be members in good standing as of September 15 in order to be eligible for Medieval Academy awards.

Schallek Fellowship
The Schallek Fellowship provides a one-year grant of $30,000 to support Ph.D. dissertation research in any relevant discipline dealing with late-medieval Britain (ca. 1350-1500). (Deadline 15 October 2020)

Travel Grants
The Medieval Academy provides travel grants to help Academy members who hold doctorates but are not in full-time faculty positions, or are contingent faculty without access to institutional funding, attend conferences to present their work. (Deadline 1 November 2020 for meetings to be held between 16 February and 31 August 2021)

MAA/CARA Conference Grant
The MAA/CARA Conference Grant for Regional Associations and Programs awards $1,000 to help support a regional or consortial conference taking place in 2021. (Deadline 15 October 2019)

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MAA News – Call for Prize Submissions

Photo: The Haskins Medal. The Medieval Academy of America

The Medieval Academy of America invites submissions for the following prizes to be awarded at the 2021 MAA Annual Meeting (University of Indiana at Bloomington, 15-18 April). Submission instructions vary, but all dossiers must complete by 15 October 2020.

PLEASE NOTE: because of the ongoing MAA office closure, PDF review copies of nominated books may be submitted instead of hardcopies (PDfs should be emailed to the Executive Director). In addition, the residency restrictions limiting eligibility for some book prizes to residents of North America have been lifted.

Haskins Medal
Awarded to a distinguished monograph in the field of medieval studies.

Digital Humanities Prize
Awarded to an outstanding digital research project or resource in the field of medieval studies.

Karen Gould Prize
Awarded to a monograph of outstanding quality in medieval art history.

John Nicholas Brown Prize
Awarded to a first monograph of outstanding quality in the field of medieval studies.

Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize
Awarded to a first article of outstanding quality in the field of medieval studies.

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