The Medieval Academy Blog

Postgraduate Medieval Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
20th Annual Postgraduate Medieval Studies Conference
21-22 February, 2014
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, UK

DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE

Keynote address by Dr. Alastair Macdonald (University of Aberdeen)

The University of Bristol hosts the longest-running international medieval postgraduate conference in the UK. This annual event offers medievalists the opportunity to present their research and discuss ideas in an interdisciplinary setting. This year, the conference will celebrate its 20^th anniversary, and proposals are invited for papers from postgraduates and early career scholars on the theme of “Dependence/Independence”.

The aim of this year’s conference is to consider the connections and relationships between people, entities, and institutions in the medieval world. We are interested in the way ideas of dependence and independence existed in the political sphere, the personal realm, the religious institutions, and beyond, as well as the influence of region, socio-economic status, gender and/or other factors upon these concepts. We welcome a wide range of discussion from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, from the literary and historic to the visual arts and the performative to explore how perception and practice of dependence/ independence influenced the medieval world and our understanding of it.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Political connections- local, national, and international
• Private relationships, public relationships
• Community connections
• Dependence and independence in monastic communities
• Trade and the economy
• Intellectual in/dependencies: schools and universities, scholars and students
• Patronage in the arts
• Performers and audiences
• Text and oral traditions

Papers must be no more than 20 minutes long. Papers welcome from current postgraduates and early career researchers.

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be sent by email (by preference) to Jenny Markey (jm8585@bris.ac.uk)

or by post:

Jenny Markey
103 Queen’s Road
Clifton, Bristol     BS8 1LL
UK

Deadline for applications: Friday 6^th December 2013

Final Call for Papers

Othello’s Island Conference of Medieval and Renaissance History and Culture

Larnaca, Cyprus, April 2014
Deadline for proposals: 31 October 2013
For a list of current confirmed speakers click here

On behalf of the Academic Board of the 2014 Mediaeval and Renaissance Conference “Othello’s Island” I would like to inform you of our second annual conference taking place in Cyprus in 2014.

We would welcome submissions from academics and research students wishing to give papers at the Conference, which takes place in Larnaca in Cyprus next April (2014).

The conference is organised by academics from the Cornaro Institute, University of Sheffield School of English and the University of Leeds School of Fine Art. It will be an opportunity to discuss diverse aspects of this fascinating period in Mediterranean and Levantine history with colleagues and reserach students from around the world. As a multi-disciplinary conference, art, literature and other culture are all welcome topics, as are historical studies, archaeology, cultural and material history, social history and other topics.

Although based in Cyprus the aim of the second conference is to expand our investigations into the wider Mediterranean and Levantine region, and to also encompass aspects of Byzantine, Crusader State and Muslim cultural and social histories, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

A major strand is Cyprus and/or the Mediterranean in art, literature and other culture in the period, including their presence in the work of Shakespeare and other writers. Cyprus is, after all, the island of Othello (in a manner of speaking).

We hope you will have an interest in attending this event yourself, but also please do circulate this information to your colleagues and students, whether undergraduate, postgraduate or at research level.

Full current information is available at:

http://enqui7024.wix.com/copy-of-cypruscolleg#!othellosisland/c19ye