Jobs for Medievalists

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Chris

Position/Title Rank:  Assistant Professor – Tenure Stream (Medieval History)
Faculty/Division:  Arts & Science
Departments:  Centre for Medieval Studies and the Department of History, University of Toronto
Campus: St. George (downtown Toronto)
Deadline / Closing Date for Application: November 15, 2015

The Centre for Medieval Studies and the Department of History, University of Toronto, invite applications for a tenure-stream appointment in the field of Medieval History. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant Professor, to be held in the Centre for Medieval Studies (75%) and the Department of History (25%), and will begin on July 1, 2016.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated research and teaching expertise in the field of Medieval History, and there will be a strong preference for applicants who focus on northern European history, 1000-1400. The successful candidate will also be able to teach medieval Latin language at the graduate level, and will be able to teach a graduate seminar on Diplomatics (critical analysis of historical documents). Candidates are expected to have outstanding research records, with refereed publications, and to have demonstrated evidence of excellence in teaching.

The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. in a discipline relevant to the requirements of the position, an established record of excellence in scholarly research and publication, and evidence of excellence in both undergraduate and graduate teaching. Evidence of excellence in teaching can be demonstrated through teaching evaluations, a strong statement of teaching philosophy, and endorsements from referees; previous university teaching experience is preferred. Candidates must also provide evidence of research of an internationally competitive calibre, as demonstrated by publications in leading journals in the field, presentations at significant conferences, and strong endorsements by referees.

Medieval Studies at Toronto is a broadly interdisciplinary enterprise that offers the opportunity to work in collaboration with a wide range of departments and academic disciplines.  The successful candidate will hold a joint appointment between the Centre for Medieval Studies (75%) and the Department of History (25%).  Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.  The University of Toronto offers the opportunity to teach and conduct research in one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant universities in the world.

All qualified candidates are invited to apply online by visiting www.uoftcareers.utoronto.ca. See job #1501220. Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement outlining current and future research interests, representative writing sample, and teaching dossier (including a statement of teaching philosophy).

Applicants should also ask three referees to email letters directly to Prof. Suzanne Akbari, Search Committee Chair, at director.medieval@utoronto.ca by the closing date of November 15, 2015.

Submission guidelines can be found at http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. We recommend combining documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format.

For more information about the Centre for Medieval Studies or the Department of History, please visit our respective homepages at http://www.medieval.utoronto.ca and http://history.utoronto.ca/.

The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to further diversification of ideas.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Posted in Jobs for Medievalists | Leave a comment

Paul Meyvaert Obituary and Memorial Fund

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Chris

To the Members of the Medieval Academy,

Paul Meyvaert’s obituary appeared in today’s Boston Globe and can be found online here:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?pid=176073042

The burial will be private. Prof. Meyvaert’s family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Paul J. Meyvaert Memorial Fund at the Medieval Academy of America. Donations may be made online here:

http://medievalacademy.org/donations

Donations by check should be made out to “Medieval Academy of America,” with a note on the memo line reading “Paul J. Meyvaert Memorial Fund,” and sent to:

Meyvaert Fund
Medieval Academy of America
17 Dunster St., Suite 202
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
USA

It is our hope that the fund will raise at least $50,000, sufficient funds to endow an award in Prof. Meyvaert’s name.

Lisa Fagin Davis
Executive Director

Posted in Announcements, MAA | Leave a comment

Our Friend and Colleague, Paul Meyvaert

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

To the Members of the Medieval Academy,

It is with deepest sadness that I write to report the death of Paul Meyvaert on 6 October, at age 93. An important and impactful scholar and mentor in multiple fields, he also served the Academy for decades in various capacities, including Executive Director, Editor of Speculum, President, and Fellow. Prof. Meyvaert was a friend to everyone who passed through this office over the last fifty years. His life story was a testament to his capacity for kindness and generosity, and he will be greatly missed.

Lisa Fagin Davis
Executive Director

Posted in MAA | Leave a comment

Call for Papers – The Pre-Modern Book in a Global Context: Materiality and Visuality

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Binghamton University
The Pre-Modern Book in a Global Context: Materiality and Visuality
October 21 and 22, 2016

The twenty-first century has witnessed the transformation of the study of the history of the book. Technology has given us new methods for the study of papyri, manuscripts, and early printed books: everything from x-rays to DNA analysis now provides data regarding the production and use of the book in the pre-modern era. In addition, digital humanities now allows for the precise capture and reproduction of texts in all their visual specificity as well as the compilation of vast databases for “distant reading.”  Yet, as any scholar of the book recognizes, these artifacts retain an aura that technology cannot duplicate or fully explain: an encounter with a pre-modern book is an encounter with a textual presence in all its ineffable alterity.

The year 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) at Binghamton University; in celebration of fifty years of research in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, CEMERS will host a conference on the materiality and visuality of the pre-modern book (from late antiquity until 1600). Papers are invited on all aspects of the book as artifact.  The conference aims to bring together the sub-disciplines currently involved in the history of the book in order to facilitate inter-disciplinary dialogue.

Papers should be twenty minutes in length.  Send abstracts (with a brief cv) to cemers@binghamton.edu (with subject line History of the Book).  For further information, contact Marilynn Desmond, Director, CEMERS, mdesmon@binghamton.edu. Deadline: April 15, 2016.

Posted in Call for Papers | Leave a comment

Call for Papers – Greek and Roman Military Manuals: Genre, Theory, Influence

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

Greek and Roman Military Manuals: Genre, Theory, Influence
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
21 & 22 October 2016

While scholars acknowledge the ubiquity of military manuals in antiquity, systematic study of this genre has yet to be undertaken.  To be sure, military manuals are enigmatic and at the same time intrinsically fascinating texts.  This workshop seeks to provide a forum for scholars to reflect upon ancient Greek and Roman military manuals as a genre, with a view to exploring and demonstrating their utility in ancient historical research.  Moreover, military manuals ought to be seen not as existing entirely as a separate genre, as has been largely the case heretofore, but rather as texts deliberately constructed to engage with other genres in which warfare plays a central role (for example, epic poetry and historical narrative).

Abstracts for papers of approximately 30 minutes (to be followed by 15 minutes of discussion) are invited.  Possible topics of discussion include:

The ethical context(s) of military manuals;

The utility of military manuals as historical sources;

The role of the reader in the genre;

The relationship(s) between military manuals and other literary genres;

Narrative and structure of military manuals;

The political context(s) of military manuals;

The influence of ancient military manuals in the post-Classical world.

Papers may focus on a particular author or text, or may offer a genre-wide analysis.  Proposals for papers on Byzantine and Mediaeval military manuals are also welcome.

Interested participants are invited to contact the workshop organisers: James T. Chlup (james.chlup@umanitoba.ca) and Conor Whately (c.whately@uwinnipeg.ca).  The organisers ask that proposals be submitted no later than 31 January 2016.

Posted in Call for Papers | Leave a comment

Studies in Iconography

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

STUDIES IN ICONOGRAPHY

We are pleased to announce a new editorial team and board for the journal Studies in Iconography. The new co-editors are Richard Emmerson (Florida State, emeritus), Pamela Patton (Index of Christian Art, Princeton University), and Kathryn A. Smith (New York University). Dale Kinney (Bryn Mawr College) continues as Book Review editor. The editorial board includes Charles Barber (Princeton), Adelaide Bennett Hagens (Princeton), Annemarie Weyl Carr (Southern Methodist University, emerita), Mark Cruse (Arizona State University),  William Diebold (Reed College), Elina Gertsman (Case Western Reserve University), Eva Hoffman (Tufts University), Dale Kinney (Bryn Mawr), Katrin Kogman-Appel (Ben Gurion University of the Negev and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster), Mitchell Merback (The Johns Hopkins University), Eric Palazzo (Université de Poitiers), and Beth Williamson (University of Bristol). We extend our sincere thanks to Michael Curschmann, Lucy Freeman Sandler, and Adelaide Bennet Hagens and the most recent editorial board for their excellent management of the journal through the forthcoming volume 37 (2016).

Studies in Iconography remains housed at the Index of Christian Art in Princeton, as it has since 1999; it is published in partnership with Medieval Institute Publications. The journal is dedicated to publishing innovative work on iconography and every aspect of visual culture of the period up to 1600. Submissions for volume 38 are still being accepted in the short term and should be sent as digital files to fionab@princeton.edu. Editorial guidelines can be found on the Index website:

ica.princeton.edu/editorial.php

Posted in Announcements | Leave a comment

2016 Fellowship Program Announcement

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

The Bibliographical Society of America
2016 Fellowship Program Announcement
http://bibsocamer.org/awards/fellowships/

The Society invites applications for its ninth annual Katharine Pantzer Senior Fellowship in Bibliography and the British Book Trades as well as its annual short-term fellowships, all of which support bibliographical inquiry and research in the history of the book trades and in publishing history. Eligible topics may concentrate on books and documents in any field, but should focus on the book or manuscript (the physical object) as historical evidence. Such topics may include establishing a text or studying the history of book production, publication, distribution, collecting, or reading. Thanks to the generosity of donors, certain special fellowships support research in particular areas of study. Applicants should therefore read the fellowship titles and guidelines here to determine project eligibility and fit. Please note: these fellowships do not support enumerative bibliography (i.e. the preparation of lists). Individuals who have not received support in the previous five years will be given preference. All fellowships require a project report within one year of receipt of the award, and a copy of any subsequent publications resulting from the project, to be sent to the BSA.

Fellowships:

NEW: The BSA-Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Fellowship in Bibliography (two awards at $3,000 each) supports the bibliographical study of early modern books and manuscripts, 1455-1700, held in the Ransom Center’s Pforzheimer Library and in related collections of early printed books and manuscripts, including the Pforzheimer Gutenberg Bible.

NEW: The BSA-Pine Tree Foundation Fellowship in Culinary Bibliography ($3,000) supports the bibliographical study of printed and manuscript cookbooks (once commonly known as receipt books); medical recipe books that also contain culinary recipes; other types of books, manuscript, and printed material that include a substantial body of culinary recipes; treatises on and studies of gastronomy; or memoirs, diary accounts, or descriptions of food and cooking. Projects may cover any period or country.

The Katharine Pantzer Senior Fellowship in Bibliography and the British Book Trades ($6,000) supports research in topics relating to book production and distribution in Britain during the hand-press period as well as studies of authorship, reading and collecting based on the examination of British books published in that period, with a special emphasis on descriptive bibliography.

The BSA-ASECS Fellowship for Bibliographical Studies in the Eighteenth Century ($3,000). Recipients must be a member of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies at the time of the award.

The Charles J. Tanenbaum Fellowship in Cartographical Bibliography ($3,000) supports projects dealing with all aspects of the history, presentation, printing, design, distribution and reception of cartographical documents from Renaissance times to the present, with a special emphasis on eighteenth-century cartography. Funded by the Pine Tree Foundation of New York.

The BSA-Mercantile Library Fellowship in North American Bibliography ($3,000) supports scholarship in North American bibliography, including studies in the North American book trade, production and distribution of North American books, North American book illustration and design, North American collecting and connoisseurship and North American bibliographical history in general.

The Katharine Pantzer Fellowship in the British Book Trades ($3,000) supports bibliographical inquiry as well as research in the history of the book trades and publishing history in Britain.

The McCorison Fellowship for the History and Bibliography of Printing in Canada and the United States ($3,000). Funded by a gift of Donald Oresman.

The Reese Fellowship for American Bibliography and the History of the Book in the Americas ($3,000). The fellowship may be awarded to any scholar, whether academic or independent, whose project explores the history of print culture in the Western Hemisphere.

BSA Short-term Fellowships ($3,000). The Society also offers a number of unnamed, short-term fellowships supporting bibliographical research as described above.

Application Guidelines:
http://www.bsafellowships.org/bsa/application_form.php

Applications are due 1 December of each year. Applications should include the following components:

–Application form

–Project proposal of no more than 1000 words

–Applicant curriculum vitae

–Two signed letters of recommendation on official letterhead submitted independently by referees. Letters submitted electronically as a signed PDF via e-mail are preferable, although postal submissions will be accepted. We ask that recommenders use the subject line Recommendation for [Applicant Name], that is, Recommendation for Chris Smith.

Complete all application components (including an attached Project proposal and curriculum vitae), save them in a recent version of Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or PDF (preferable), and e-mail the full package to the chair of the Fellowship Committee at bsafellowships@bibsocamer.org. It is preferable to submit the application package as a single file with the subject line [Applicant Name]: BSA Fellowship, that is, Chris Smith: BSA Fellowship. This application package and two supporting letters of recommendation must be received by 1 December. We regret that we cannot consider late or incomplete applications. Applicants are advised to request recommendation letters well in advance and to direct referees to the BSA site (http://www.bibsocamer.org/fellows.htm) for guidance. NOTE: This year the Society has introduced an on-line application form as a simpler alternative to e-mail or postal submission: http://www.bsafellowships.org/bsa/application_form.php. This page features fill-in fields for all the information contained in the traditional application form as well as buttons for electronically submitting curriculum vitae and Project Description files. For more information, contact the chair of the Fellowship Committee at bsafellowships@bibsocamer.org

Posted in Fellowships | Leave a comment

Call for Papers – “Insider or Outsider? The State of Medieval Iceland”

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

“Insider or Outsider? The State of Medieval Iceland”

Special session, The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 2016 Conference: “Marginal Figures in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance.” February 4-6, 2016.

Organizers: Daniel Najork (Arizona State University) and Sarah M. Anderson (Princeton University)

Iceland is notable for the continuity of its literary traditions, examples of which are extant from about the twelfth century onwards – not too long after the beginning of continuous settlement of the island in the early Middle Ages. The Icelandic language is renowned for its morphological and lexical conservatism, for the nearly complete lack of dialectal variation in the nine-hundred-year-long record of Icelandic (cf., e.g., the substantial dialectical variation found in Icelandic’s closest linguistic kin, Norwegian, through the same period), and for the success of its modern program of “language purism”. Until Norwegian overlordship commenced in 1262 CE, the island is also singular during the early medieval period (i.e., during the period of the Icelandic “commonwealth”, 930-1262 CE) for its kinglessness and for other cultural features not exampled elsewhere in the West. Both the linguistic and the literary continuity are crucial to the collective memory of Icelanders, and both emphasize Iceland’s special medieval legacy in the formation of Icelandic national identity. Yet, this identity can also seem frozen, monolithic, and fundamentally separated, island-like, from ideas that constitute the “medieval” elsewhere in the West, as if Iceland were, in fact, a real cultural ultimate Thule, not an imagined one.

This session raises the question of how medieval Iceland saw itself and of how it was – and is –  seen in relation to “mainland” Western medieval cultures and ideas. Is Iceland on the margins, even marginal, if rich cultural phenomena like chivalry and kingship sign what constitutes the medieval? Or is medieval Iceland a different but exceptional place, a society that produced mind-blowingly cerebral skaldic poetry and that extraordinary narrative form, the saga? Did this country start the gender-equality that we are just catching up with? Is Iceland the ultimate outsider during the Middle Ages, or the definitive insider, the place that produced an astute critique of, and alternative to, the medieval West? This session invites papers that put these and similar questions about Iceland’s outside / inside state into circulation.

Please send abstracts of 250-500 words to Daniel.Najork@asu.edu and sma@princeton.edu by November 23 at 4 PM EST.

Posted in Call for Papers | Leave a comment

2016 UCLA Library Special Collections Short-term Research Fellowships

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Chris

2016 UCLA Library Special Collections Short-term Research Fellowships

The UCLA Library Special Collections Short-Term Library Research Fellowship Program supports the use of special collections materials by visiting scholars and UCLA graduate students. Collections that are administered by UCLA Library Special Collections and available for fellowship-supported research include materials in the humanities and social sciences, medicine, life and physical sciences, visual and performing arts, and UCLA history.

The Fellowships

James and Sylvia Thayer Short-Term Research Fellowships

Thayer fellowships provide support for research in any collections administered by UCLA Library Special Collections. Stipends range from $500 to $2,500 and vary yearly; grants in 2014 averaged $1,530 and in 2015 averaged $1,300. Awards are funded by an endowment established by longtime UCLA benefactors James and Sylvia Thayer.

Barbara Rootenberg Library Research Fellowship in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences

Rootenberg fellowships promotes the use of materials in History & Special Collections for the Sciences in UCLA Library Special Collections. One annual fellowship is awarded in the amount of $1,000. The award is named for Barbara Rootenberg, an alumna of the UCLA School of Library Science and an internationally-renowned antiquarian bookseller.

Ahmanson Research Fellowships for the Study of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Books

Ahmanson Fellowships support the use of medieval and Renaissance monographic and manuscript holdings in UCLA Library Special Collections: the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection of the Aldine Press; the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection of Early Italian Printing; the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana; the Orsini Family Papers; the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Collection; the Richard and Mary Rouse Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Early Printed Books; and the Medieval and Renaissance Arabic and Persian Medical Manuscripts. The fellowships provide $2,500 per month for up to three months. Administered by the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, this program requires an application separate from that for Thayer and Rootenberg fellowships; information is available on the Center for Medieval Renaissance Studies website.

Eligibility

Thayer and Rootenberg Fellowships: United States citizens and permanent residents with the legal right to work in the U.S. who are engaged in graduate-level, post-doctoral, or independent research are invited to apply. Research residencies may last up to three months between February 1 and December 11, 2016.

Ahmanson Fellowships: United States and international graduate students or scholars holding a PhD (or the foreign equivalent) who are engaged in graduate-level, postdoctoral, or independent research are invited to apply. Research residencies may last up to three months between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017.

Click here to apply.

Posted in Fellowships | Leave a comment

MAA News – Medievalists in the Public Sphere

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Chris

From the ED: The populist obsession with the Middle Ages seems to demand that professional medievalists engage in discussions of Medieval Studies in the public sphere, be it through monographs and articles (in print or online), media interviews, online forums, blogs, Twitter, fiction, or public programming. At Kalamazoo and Leeds this summer, the question of what it means to BE a “public medievalist” was discussed in several different sessions. How can students and faculty leverage the public interest in all things medieval to the benefit of our scholarly and pedagogical pursuits? Is it incumbent upon us to challenge public misperceptions about the Middle Ages and ensure that medieval exempla are being appropriately applied and interpreted? Is it good for our careers to step out of academia and into the agora? Not everyone agrees that it is, although Richard Utz recently made a compelling argument in favor of public engagement in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Medieval Academy Graduate Student Committee roundtable on this topic at Leeds was wide-ranging and informative, generating much discussion during the session and at the reception afterwards. These conversations reverberated for weeks in the blogosphere and Twitterverse. We hope to continue this important discussion in other venues. Here is a field report from session chair Sanne Frequin (PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam):

#S406 #IMC2015, THE PUBLIC MEDIEVALIST

At the IMC Leeds 2015, the Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America sponsored a round table session about ‘the public medievalist’. The speakers – Matthew Gabriele (Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University), Andrew James Johnston  (Freie Universität Berlin), and Erik Kwakkel (Universiteit Leiden) – are all medievalists who model a number of ways of combining scholarship with public engagement. They addressed some of the ways in which they have engaged with medieval topics in the public sphere and what opportunities and challenges that presented for them. The session complemented a roundtable on a similar topic – what it means for medievalists to be public intellectuals today – that was held at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo this past May. In Leeds, the roundtable attracted a crowd of seventy-five attendees, many ultimately sitting on the floor and in window frames. The question of what it means for medievalists to be public intellectuals today is obviously a pressing question for early-career scholars.

The speakers all started with a short introduction, speaking about why they thought of themselves as public medievalists. Gabriele highlighted the political side of being a medievalist. Kwakkel talked about his social media experience. Johnston said that he didn’t consider himself to be a public medievalist at all and questioned the need to become one.

There thus were many different angles to start the discussion. The moderator asked the audience, after the introductions, if any of them considered themselves to be a ‘public medievalist’. There were only a couple of hands that went up. The discussion started with practical issues, for example, a discussion of video-blogs. Kwakkel warned the audience that video-blogs require significant amounts of time, but he did recommend blogging itself. The discussion also touched the political role of the public medievalist. Gabriele gave an example of the discussion about the Confederate flag and his response to this issue in his blog. That provoked a reaction from Johnston who argued that history should not necessarily be used as an explanation for current events. Another subject was the issue of career development. A young scholar asked if presenting our research on social media (for example Twitter) could be harmful for an early-career scholar. Erik Kwakkel advised listeners to stay close to their research. He suggested writing only about what you know, keeping it low-key and, most important, sticking with what fits you as a person and as a scholar. Twitter can be helpful, according to Kwakkel, but only if you enjoy it and if it works for your research. The last major topic was the general public. A member of the audience stated that, when sending our message as public medievalists, we tend to primarily target a highly-educated public. She stated that we should also work on translating our research to a broader audience. There were some heritage specialists in the audience who pointed out the importance of museums in this mission. The discussion turned to the responsibility of scholars in spreading our research to a public audience.

An important point that was raised during the discussion and that sparked the online discussion on Twitter (#s406 was trending during the discussion) was the composition of the panel. The panel consisted of three male scholars (on Twitter a so-called #manel). A female member of the audience remarked that it wasn’t quite an accurate representation of the scholarly field. In this particular case, a more diverse panel was originally constituted by the organizers. Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool) had to drop out  and was replaced by Kwakkel. Although there unfortunately wasn’t enough time to delve into this issue during this discussion, it clearly is a topic that deserves more attention.

As the moderator of the session I enjoyed the very lively debate during this round table. I would like to thank the panelists, the audience and the “Tweeps” for their input. When I asked the audience at the end of the session if any of them would like to become a ‘public medievalist,’ many hands were raised. In my opinion a very promising prospect for the future of medieval studies. I hope to meet you all online!

Sanne Frequin
PhD candidate University of Amsterdam
Twitter: @a_tomb_a_day

Posted in MAA Newsletter | Leave a comment