The Medieval Academy Blog

The 2019 Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Chris

The 2019 Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows will take up roles in the fields of arts management, communications, development, environmental conservation, international affairs, public policy, and publishing, and will work intensively on projects advancing equitable economic development, civic engagement, inclusive communities, and much more.

The 2019 hosting organizations and positions are:

Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA) – Community Engagement & Audience Development Manager
American Public Media (St. Paul, MN) – Senior Research Analyst
Center for Court Innovation (New York, NY) – Communications Project Manager
Chicago Humanities Festival (Chicago, IL) – Program Manager
Citizens’ Committee for the Children of New York (New York, NY) – Policy & Budget Analyst
Committee to Protect Journalists (New York, NY) – Research Manager
Community Change (Washington, DC) – Policy Advisor
Data & Society Research Institute (New York, NY) – Editor
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (Washington, DC) – Program Officer
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (Hartford, CT) – Grants Manager
Library of America (New York, NY) – Outreach Programs Manager
National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver, CO) – Legislative Policy Specialist
National Low Income Housing Coalition (Washington, DC) – Research Analyst
Natural Resources Defense Council (Washington, DC) – Campaign Advocate, Latin America Project
PEN America (New York, NY) – Festival Programs Manager
Public Books (New York, NY) – Associate Editor
Rare (Arlington, VA) – Community Engagement Manager
Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia, PA) – Policy Analyst
San Francisco Arts Commission (San Francisco, CA) – Community Impact Analyst
Seattle Office for Civil Rights (Seattle, WA) – Senior Researcher
World Justice Project (Washington, DC) – Program Manager

Applicants must have a PhD in the humanities or humanistic social sciences conferred between September 1, 2015, and June 21, 2019, and must have defended and deposited their dissertations no later than April 5, 2019. Further information about the eligibility criteria and full position descriptions are available at www.acls.org/programs/publicfellowscomp/. All applications must be submitted through ACLS’s online application system (ofa.acls.org) by 9pm EDT on March 13, 2019.

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2019 ASCSA Summer Seminars – Deadline Jan 15, 2019

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Chris

ASCSA SUMMER SEMINARS

DEADLINE: January 15, 2019

The Summer Seminars of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens are two 18-day sessions designed for those who wish to study specific topics in Greece and visit major monuments with exceptional scholars as study leaders, and to improve their understanding of the country’s landscape, history, literature, and culture.

Eligibility: Enrollment is open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students, as well as to high school and college instructors of classics and related subjects. Each seminar is limited to twenty participants. The language of instruction is English. Applicants who are not enrolled or teaching at English-speaking institutes, or schools, are required to supply evidence of proficiency in English. Internationally known scholars of Greek history, art, and archaeology will participate as guest lecturers in both seminars. Students are expected to give on-site reports, which they will prepare in their home libraries before the program begins. Committed to presenting a comprehensive view of Greece’s rich history, these seminars involve long days and extensive walking (and sailing!) in the hot Mediterranean climate, and participants should be prepared for a rigorous program of study.

Greece from the Sea (June 17 to July 5, 2019)
This seminar will introduce students to a variety of aspects of life in Greek waters from the Paleolithic to our own time. The experience involves sailing and hiking, lectures and readings, visits to sites and museums, presentations by scholars, student reports, and encounters with our Greek hosts. In particular, the nautical life will give participants a sense of maritime Greece as the Greeks saw it in an age before mechanized travel: from the sea in sailing vessels. Students will learn to sail and to live aboard a sailboat for two weeks. No previous boating experience is required, but applicants must be fit and agile enough to move about and work a vessel under sail. Taught by Professor Clayton Lehmann, University of South Dakota.

Finding the Spartans: History, Landscape, & Archaeology (July 11 to July 29, 2019)
In this seminar, participants will examine the Spartans and their dependent populations as inhabitants of a state that was for a time the most significant political and military force in Greece by means of the material culture and environment of the southern Peloponnese. The opportunity to engage directly with the texts, epigraphy, and archaeological evidence available on site will be of immense value to all students of antiquity. Taught by Professor Nigel Kennell, University of British Columbia.

Cost: Fees are $2,750. This includes tuition, room for the entire 18-day period, partial board in Athens, travel within Greece, and museum and site fees. International airfare, some meals, and incidental expenses are the participant’s responsibility. Financial aid is available in the form of ASCSA scholarships, awarded on the basis of academic merit, and many classical professional organizations have funding opportunities. More information at http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/programs/ss-scholarships. Inquire about course credit option.

Application: Applicants will complete an online application at: https://ascsa.submittable.com/submit/115820/ascsa-summer-seminar-application-18-day-sessions. Students are required to submit legible PDF scans of academic transcripts issued to the candidate as part of the application. Applicants arrange for the online submission of two letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are due by January 15.

Website for more information: http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/programs/summer-seminars
E-mail: ssapplication@ascsa.org

All applicants will be notified by mid-March.

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, religion, ethnic origin, or disability
when considering admission to any form of membership or application for employment

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DH Awards 2018 – Call For Nominations

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Chris

There are translations of this call are available in Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish (from the website).

The annual open DH Awards 2018 is now accepting nominations! Please nominate any Digital Humanities resource in any language that you feel deserves to win in any of this year’s categories. The open DH Awards 2018 are openly nominated by the community and openly voted for by the public as a DH awareness activity. Although the working language of DH Awards is English, nominations may be for any resource in any language. Awards are not specific to geography, language, conference, organization or field of humanities. There are no financial prizes, just the honour of having won and an icon for your website.

Nominations will be open until 2019-02-03. Voting will take place shortly after.

Please note that the nominations must be for projects/resources/sites that were launched/finished/update/created in 2018.

The categories for the open Digital Humanities Awards 2018 are:

Best Use of DH for Fun
Best DH Data Visualization
Best Exploration of DH Failure
Best DH Blog Post or Series of Posts
Best Use DH Public Engagement
Best DH tool or Suite of Tools

http://dhawards.org/dhawards2018/nominations/

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“Understanding the Medieval Book” IX with Christopher de Hamel application deadline 31 January

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Chris

The University of South Carolina will hold its ninth annual “Understanding the Medieval Book” seminar on Monday and Tuesday, 1-2 April 2019. The specialist will be Dr. Christopher de Hamel, formerly Gaylord Donnelley Fellow Librarian at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Christopher will interpret manuscripts from the University of South Carolina collection, not from Les Enluminures as previously announced. He will also deliver a public lecture on Monday 1 April on the subject of his prize-winning book, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts.

Students, scholars, and librarians are all invited to enroll. Because participants will use this elite collection of manuscripts, space is limited to 25 participants.DEADLINE: 31 January 2019.

Information and application materials can be found here.

Thank you!

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NEH Summer Programs at the Newberry

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Chris

Making Modernism: Literature and Culture in Chicago, 1893-1955

NEH Summer Institute for College and University Faculty at the Newberry Library

July 8- August 3, 2019
Stipend: $3,300

What is Chicago’s contribution to the modernist movement? This institute will explore Chicago’s distinct literary and artistic culture as well as the city’s connections to other modernist metropoles. We will consider the dominant styles and guiding aesthetics that characterize Chicago from the turn of the century through the aftermath of the Second World War, asking how Chicago’s cultural output during these decades is connected more broadly to transatlantic modernism. The institute will begin by studying the persistent cultural resonances of the 1893 World’s Fair, which gave rise to many of the city’s key cultural institutions, clubs, and smaller arts organizations. We will then explore what scholars have called the “Chicago literary renaissance” of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly the work of writers who challenged the subjects and styles of a genteel literary tradition. We will look at the interracial collaborations supported by the Works Progress Administration in Chicago during the Great Depression, considered the beginning of the Chicago Black Renaissance, a period from the 1930s through the early 1950s which has inspired a rapidly growing body of scholarship. An important goal of the institute is to develop an expansive understanding of literary history that brings together Modernist Studies and African American Studies. Faculty: Liesl Olson (director), Davarian Baldwin, Jacqueline Goldsby, Amy Mooney, Walter Benn Michaels, and Sarah Kelly Oehler.

For more information, please visit: https://makingmodernism.wordpress.com/

Application Deadline: March 1, 2019 (applicants will be notified on March 29, 2019)

Material Maps in the Digital Age

NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Faculty at the Newberry Library

June 13 – July 6, 2019
Stipend: $3,300

The Newberry Library’s Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography is pleased to announce its 2019 NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Faculty, “Material Maps in the Digital Age.” The four-week seminar, led by James Akerman (The Newberry Library) and Peter Nekola (Luther College), will focus on the practice of critically reading and teaching from original map documents, informed by the most recent cartographic scholarship. In many ways, reading historic maps is more productive in the digital age. However, the visual qualities of digital map documents do not displace the need to understand them as material objects. These issues will be at the heart of Material Maps in the Digital Age, a course of reading, discussion, map study, and research immersed in the Newberry’s extensive and renowned collection of historic map documents and other humanities materials. This seminar will be mindful of how map research in the humanities, and map literacy itself, is being transformed by the challenges and opportunities posed by the digital revolution.

For more information, please visit: https://readingmaterialmaps.wordpress.com/

Application Deadline: March 1, 2019 (applicants will be notified on March 29, 2019)

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Jobs for Medievalists

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Chris

Full Professor of Pre-Modern Studies

The Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California) invites applications for a tenured position in pre-modern (pre-1500) studies. The search is at the rank of Professor, and applications from all humanities disciplines are welcome. The successful candidate will bring a distinguished record of innovative research and publication, a record of leadership in the field, and must hold a Ph.D. degree in an appropriate field of study. Experience in organizing research initiatives, institutes, or centers is preferable. We expect that the successful candidate will take a leading role in the establishment of a new center for the study of the pre-modern world.

Interested candidates should provide a letter of application and a curriculum vitae. Application materials must be combined into and uploaded as one PDF document. In order to be considered for this position, applicants are required to submit an electronic USC application; follow this job link or paste in a browser: https://usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-angeles/full-professor-of-pre-modern-studies/1209/10236329 . Applications will begin to be reviewed on January 15, but the position will remain open until filled. Inquiries may be directed to the search chair, Professor Lisa Bitel (bitel@usc.edu).

USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance.

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in medias res: Convention, Conclusion, and the Performance of the Text, c. 1050-1500

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Chris

in medias res
Convention, Conclusion, and the Performance of the Text, c. 1050-1500
TORCH Oxford, 14 March 2019

This one-day symposium invites speakers to present on the theme of closure and non-closure in literature from the period, c. 1050-1500. The symposium will broadly consider the “performance” of the text, particularly exploring endings as pivotal sites in medieval conceptions of self, narrative, and reception. It will ask questions such as: Is a medieval text ever really “performed”? Are all textual revisions equal, and should they be valued as such? Do conventions of ars poetica inhibit or encourage narrative conclusion and individuation of the self? Indeed, is the medieval self “performable”? The conference will also include a workshop on textual performance.

While we will primarily be considering literary themes, paper proposals are welcome from medieval scholars of all disciplines and career stages, including literary studies, history, history of art, and archaeology.

We encourage papers which consider (but are not limited to) topics such as:

Textual/material production, revisions, and authority
Conventions: social, poetic, religious
Compilation
Tradition, transmission, and inheritance
Timelines: narrative and historical
Narrative theory, closure and endings
Eschatology and salvation
Individuality and communality

A symposium in association with Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)

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MAA News – Medieval Academy of America Professional Behavior Policy

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Chris

On 2 January, the Council of the Medieval Academy approved the MAA Professional Behavior Policy that lays out expectations for comportment during the Annual Meeting and establishes a structure for reporting and responding to violations of the Policy.

The policy on harassment begins, quite deliberately, with a vision of the kind of Medieval Academy we would like to see: one in which every member and attendee, of whatever academic degree or rank, whatever gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or age is treated with respect and professionalism. When we invited the membership to share their experiences and views with us, some of you indicated that you were not aware of an existing problem. Indeed, if you and your acquaintances have never been treated with anything but respect at conferences, congratulations on your good fortune. We hope that is the case for most medievalists, and we hope you will pass on the respect to other colleagues, particularly those who may be vulnerable because they are students, in precarious employment status, or members of underrepresented or historically disadvantaged groups. We urge everyone to think about how their actions and words may affect others; intentions do not always make a difference in how the recipient feels.

The policy provides a place for someone who thinks they have been harassed or bullied to turn. This is in addition to the policies of the host institution, which apply to the conference and which will be stated in the program. The Ad Hoc committee hopes, however, that the main usefulness of the policy will be not the provision of a remedy, but an awareness among the membership of these issues, which will lead to a situation where no one experiences harassment or bullying.

– Ad Hoc Committee on Harassment

Ruth Mazo Karras (Chair)
Theodore Chelis
Wan-Chuan Kao
Laura Morreale
Therese Martin
Michelle Sauer