The Medieval Academy Blog

Villes/Cities
12th Annual Symposium of the International Medieval Society, Paris
Dates: 25 -27 June 2015, Paris, France

CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline for Abstracts: 30 January 2015

Keynote Speakers: Emma Dillon (King’s College, London), Carol Symes (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), and Boris Bove (Université Paris VIII).

The International Medieval Society, Paris (IMS-Paris) invites abstracts and session proposals for our 2015 symposium on the theme of cities in Medieval France.  After the decline of late-antique cities in the course of the fifth and sixth centuries, a revival of cities began in the course of the eleventh century.  This phenomenon, which profoundly transformed the dynamics of the West to our day, is a field of research that has been enriched in pace with archeological discoveries and by new technologies that offer original perspectives and approaches.  This symposium will approach new lines of investigation that will deepen our knowledge of medieval cities (11th – 15th centuries) not only in their cartographic and monumental dimensions, but also political and cultural ones.

The question of the construction of urban space could be explored in a variety of ways:

– Through its material dimensions, consisting of different forms of cityscapes, its urbanism, and its architecture.

– Through uses of space and their performative function.  For instance, the role of rituals and urban processions, how music and theater contribute to the establishment of urban space in its practical use and representations.

We also wish to explore urban culture, which consists of material, intellectual, or spiritual culture, including:

– The role of writing in the development of a literate, mercantile culture, and new modes of government
– The daily lives of city dwellers:  their lifestyles and patterns of consumption, their culinary tastes, etc.
– The development of practices related to the rise of intellectual institutions (schools, universities, patronage, mendicants, etc.)

Finally, we wish to explore the question of visual representations of the city and in the city, notably:
– The ways in which cities were represented in the Middle Ages, and how medieval cities are represented now
– Models for cities and the role of imaginary cities in the construction of urban spaces

Proposals should focus on France between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, but do not need to be exclusively limited to this period and geographical area.  We encourage proposals and papers from all areas of medieval studies, such as anthropology, archeology, history, economic and social history, art history, gender studies, literary studies, musicology, philosophy, etc.

Proposals of 300 words or less (in English or French) for a 20-minute paper should be e-mailed to communications.ims.paris@gmail.com no later than 30 January 2015. Each should be accompanied by full contact information, a CV, and a list of audiovisual equipment you require.

Please be aware that the IMS-Paris submissions review process is highly competitive and is carried out on a strictly blind basis. The selection committee will notify applicants of its decision by e-mail by February 26th 2014.

Titles of accepted papers will be made available on the IMS-Paris web site. Authors of accepted papers will be responsible for their own travel costs and conference registration fee (35 euros, reduced for students, free for IMS- Paris members).

The IMS-Paris is an interdisciplinary, bilingual (French/English) organization that fosters exchanges between French and foreign scholars. For the past ten years, the IMS has served as a center for medievalists who travel to France to conduct research, work, or study. For more information about the IMS-Paris and the program of last year’s symposium, please visit our website:  www.ims-paris.org.

IMS-Paris Graduate Student Prize:

The IMS-Paris is pleased to offer one prize for the best paper proposal by a graduate student. Applications should consist of:

1) symposium paper abstract/proposal
2) current research project (Ph.D. dissertation research)
3) names and contact information of two academic references

The prizewinner will be selected by the board and a committee of honorary members, and will be notified upon acceptance to the Symposium. An award of 350 euros to support international travel/accommodations (within France, 150 euros) will be paid at the Symposium.

Second call for papers
*Please note new dates and extended submission deadline.

The Gregorian Institute of Canada and The University of British Columbia’s Medieval Studies Committee

invite paper and session proposals for

THE 43rd UBC MEDIEVAL WORKSHOP / THE 10th GIC COLLOQUIUM, a joint interdisciplinary research conference:

Liturgical and Secular Drama in Medieval Europe: Text, Music, Image (c. 1000-1500)

Taking place at Green College, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, on OCTOBER 9-10, 2015.

This conference will focus on the Medieval segment of the long history of European theatre. One objective will be to analyze aspects of the great repertoire of liturgical drama, from its supposed modest beginnings in the Gregorian liturgy of Easter, through its various developments in Latin and the vernaculars, into liturgical, semi-liturgical and secular plays.  Just as importantly we recognize the fact that European drama did not begin in the Medieval church. When one considers the secular themes appearing in semi-religious plays then in comic genres of the late Middle Ages, such as the farce, it often becomes necessary to study the direct or indirect influence of secular sources such as Latin comedies, Medieval French fabliaux, or the troubadours’ satirical dialogues. Beyond this intertextuality, combined in many cases with musical exchanges, Medieval drama gradually acquired visual components including manuscript illuminations, props, theatrical machines, sets, and different approaches to spatial organization in relation to the audience.  The transformations in drama over the period 1000-1500 are connected to evolving attitudes toward music in the church, music in theatre, spoken vs. sung plays, the place of the actor in society, religious and secular themes, interactions with other genres, and the manuscript tradition (notations, text transmission, stage directions and commentaries).

Given the diverse aspects of this conference theme, we hope to receive paper and session proposals in: historical musicology, theatre studies, history, performance studies, philosophy, religious studies, translation studies, art history, palaeography and edition. We particularly invite contributions involving two or more of these disciplines.

Proposals for 20-minute papers or 3-paper sessions, in English or in French, should be submitted by FEBRUARY 15, 2015, addressed to

James Blasina and Chantal Phan
2015 GIC/UBCMW

and sent by email to:

jblasina@fas.harvard.edu and chantal.phan@ubc.ca

or by mail or fax to:

Prof. Chantal Phan (Medieval Studies), FHIS, 797-1873 East Mall, VANCOUVER, BC V6T 1Z1, CANADA. Fax: (1)-604-822-6675

Boston College, 27-30 July, 2015

An international conference organised under the aegis of the International Association for Anselm Studies, the Institute for Liberal  Arts, Boston College, with sponsorship from Fairfield University, the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Durham University, and the Philosophy and Theology Departments at Boston College.

Keynote Speakers

William Aird (Edinburgh)
Marcia Colish (Yale)
Burcht Pranger (Amsterdam)
Denys Turner (Yale)
Nicholas Watson (Harvard)

Call for Papers

The International Association for Anselm Studies invites proposals for its upcoming conference, to be held in Boston College, July 27-30, 2015.

The conference takes as its theme the wide variety of responses to Anselm’s life, and work, across many different periods, and in many different fields. At the same time it will ground the reception of Anselm with consideration of the context in which he lived, wrote and acted. Moving between his life and his reception, will allow fresh insight into the mechanisms and measures of his celebrity and influence.

The Association invites submissions in areas including but not limited to literature, history, art history, philosophy, and theology. It would especially welcome papers on Anselm’s sources; Anselm’s pupils; Anselm and church reform; the wider world of religious politics in the 11th and 12th centuries; Anselm in the vernacular; Reformation and Counter-Reformation views on Anselm; and Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox discussions.

The conference will receive an update on the new edition of Anselm’s letter collection under preparation by Dr Samu Niskanen. Papers connected to the letter collections, the Memorials of St. Anselm and historiographical readings of Anselm also are encouraged.

Proposals/abstracts

Please send proposed titles, with an abstract of 300 words for a twenty-minute paper together with your contact details (with academic affiliation, address and e-mail), by e-mail attachment to conference@anselmstudies.org.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is March 1, 2015.

Graduate stipends

A number of graduate student stipends are available on a competitive basis to cover housing at Boston College and the conference registration fee. Graduate students submitting a proposal and wishing to be considered for funding should send their proposal and information detailing their student status (i.e., what institution they are attending and what year in the program) to John Slotemaker at johnslotemaker@gmail.com.

Applicants will be notified about the graduate student stipends along with their paper proposal (priority will be given to those who are in the process of writing their dissertation and who are traveling from greater distances).

For regular updates on the conference, including details of registration and accommodation, please visit:
http://www.anselm2015.blogspot.com/

Please note that conference registration and booking of Boston College accommodation will open in February 2015.

The Ninth International Conference of the Taiwan Association of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies 

23-24 October 2015
National Taiwan University

Call for Papers

Madness: Sacred and Profane

Madness, as one of the most intriguing of all cultural questions, has challenged thinkers since antiquity. For instance, Plato in Phaedrus pointed out that divine madness can be associated with creative insanity of seers and poets. In Greek tragedies, madness at times was perceived as the form of divine punishment to drive heroes mad. While Cicero stated that virtue is the only medicine for the diseased mind, Galen’s humoral theory construed the body as the main cause of madness. In courtly poetry, “fol’amor” (mad love) indicated unbridled passion. Thomas Hoccleve lived his madness as divine possession and a humoral imbalance. Hieronymus Bosch’s 1480 painting depicts a doctor cutting the stone of folly from the forehead of a madman. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s madness is demonstrated through sexual deviance.

To explore madness as an important question, this conference welcomes papers from scholars working in all fields within Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance studies. We are especially interested in papers that investigate ways in which madness, in all its forms, has been conceived, presented, and interpreted. We also encourage new theoretical frameworks within which to consider madness.

Topics for consideration may include (but are not limited to):

Critical explorations of madness/sanity/insanity
Politics of madness (the subversive/prophetic/unrestrained)
Boundaries of madness/normality/rationality
Visualization of madness
Sacred forms of madness
Madness and art
Madness and creativity
Madness and the emotion
Madness and gender
Madness and language
Madness and medicine
Madness and the moralistic/legislative
Madness and obsessions
Madness and sexuality
Madness and society
Madness and wizardry

TACMRS warmly invites papers that reach beyond the traditional chronological and disciplinary borders of Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Please submit proposals (250 words) along with a one-page CV to tacmrs.ntu@gmail.com by 1 February 2015.

The Conference will take place on 23-24 October 2015 at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, featuring keynote speakers: Prof. William V. Harris, Prof. Ruth Evans, and Prof. Peter Holbrook. The conference will provide accommodation for all selected speakers from outside the Taipei area. The Conference is sponsored and administered by the Taiwan Association of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies (TACMRS).

TACMRS Official Website: http://tacmrs.org.tw/main.php
TACMRS Call for Paper (PDF)

Important Dates
Paper proposal due: February 1, 2015
The full paper due: September 20, 2015
Conference Date: October 23-24, 2015

Contact 
Ms. Annie Cheng
Email: tacmrs.ntu@gmail.com