The Medieval Academy Blog

Workshop “Using Large-Scale Text Collections for Research: Status and Needs”, 21 November 2012, The Hague, cf. http://blogdurmblf.blogspot.fr/2012/08/appel-contribution-using-large-scale.html (a pre-conference workshop to : http://www.textualscholarship.eu/conference-2012.html ).

Putting England in Its Place:
Cultural Production and Cultural Relations in the High Middle Ages

33rd Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval Studies
Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, Manhattan
March 9-10 2013

The rich culture of England’s mid-eleventh to thirteenth centuries is central to some disciplinary narratives for the High Middle Ages (for example, the political history of its ruling dynasties, analyses of visual and material culture and of Latin historiography), but omitted from others (the period is often assumed, for instance, to have little to do with the history of English literature). This interdisciplinary conference aims to look in a fresh and integrated way at cultural production and cultural relations within England and between England and other locales in order to explore what kind of place England as a region, a changing political entity, and a culture or set of cultures might occupy in our accounts of the High Middle Ages. We welcome papers dealing with England`s cultures (local, regional, general) in themselves and in their many connections (diplomatic, economic, artistic, etc…) with further areas of the British Isles and other medieval regions. We also invite ‘flash’ presentations on “Canterbury in the High Middle Ages” and on “Space and Place, Real and Imagined,” i.e. on a particular kind of space (e.g. marketplace, church, castle), place (a specific locale or region), or the representation of such sites from the High Middle Ages. Flash presentations should be 5-7 minutes long.

The Deadline for Submissions is September 5, 2012

Please send an abstract and cover letter with contact information to Center for Medieval Studies, FMH 405, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458, or by email to medievals@fordham.edu or by fax to (718) 817-3987.
See also the conference website at http://www.fordham.edu/mvst/conference13/England/

The Medieval Association of the Pacific is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the 2013 MAP conference, hosted by the University of San Diego, in San Diego, CA on March 21-23, 2013. The Program Committee invites proposals for individual 20-minute papers in any area of medieval studies, as well as organized sessions of three 20-minute papers. Submissions can be made through the MAP web site: http://www.csun.edu/english/map/, and the deadline is 15 October 2012.

Call for Papers: Beyond the Western Mediterranean: Trade and Exchange of Materials, Techniques and Artistic Production, 650–1500 • 20 April 2013 • Courtauld Institute of Art,

The notion of a shared Mediterranean culture has become a central tenet in the study of medieval art history. Growing out of the Roman mare nostrum, the Mediterranean as a conduit of communication, dissemination, and transmission throughout the Middle Ages is shaping the scope of our discipline. Yet the investigation into the Mediterranean remains unbalanced, and while the northern and eastern edges of the basin are well investigated, historiographical and political considerations have limited the study of the sea’s southern shores, not to mention the exchanges across that other sea – the sea of sand – that lies beyond those territories’ southern borders.

This one-day workshop at the Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum takes as its topic the broader sphere of influence of the Western Mediterranean. Focusing primarily on inter-connections in the Western Mediterranean basin, from the Maghreb to Italy, from Ifrīqiya to Iberia, we will also investigate how this north-south axis extended well beyond the littoral regions to encompass sub-Saharan kingdoms, the Atlantic Ocean, and even the British Isles. The day’s proceedings are primarily intended to implicate art historians in this discussion about a global middle ages, and we will draw from interdisciplinary discoveries in recent years, especially the wealth of archaeological work accomplished by colleagues around London. The material culture of these regions, including such luxurious materials as ivory, gold, ceramics, pigments and textiles, augments the limited offerings of historical texts in delineating the complex interactions across geographical boundaries. In this way we hope to probe the foundations of a world artistic culture not only through shared materials and techniques, but also through the yearnings and desires such interactions engendered.

We seek papers that address evidence touching on connections between at least two regions, for example the transfer of technologies from one region to another, the trade in raw materials, or the emulation of artistic forms.

Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to sarah.guerin@courtauld.ac.uk or m.rosserowen@vam.ac.uk by 3rd September 2012.

Organised by Sarah Guerin (The Courtauld Institute of Art) and Mariam Rosser Owen (Victoria and Albert Museum)
The Courtauld Institute of Art,
Somerset House, Strand,
London WC2R 0RN
tel +44 207 848 2785/2909
web http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/index.shtml