Tuesday 20 March 2012, 5-6.30pm, in Arts 2, room 3.20
Special Delivery: Performing Model Letters in Medieval English Classrooms
Professor Martin Camargo (Professor of English, Medieval Studies, and Classics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
The talk will be followed by questions and discussion, and an informal wine reception in Arts Two, room 3.17.
QM contacts:
Professor Julia Boffey, English (j.boffey@qmul.ac.uk)
Professor Miri Rubin, History (m.e.rubin@qmul.ac.uk)
Studieren im Rom der Renaissance. Studientag / Studiare nella Roma del Rinascimento. Giornata di studi (Roma, Deutsches Historisches Institut). – http://www.dhi-roma.it/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf-dateien/Veranstaltungsprogramme/2012/programma_2012_02_23.pdf
‘Borderlines’ is an annual postgraduate conference in medieval and early modern studies, which aims to bring together researchers in a variety of disciplines, at MA, PhD and postdoctoral level, from across Ireland, Britain, Europe and around the world. The theme of this year’s conference will be ‘Site & Sound’. Amongst our many inheritances from the medieval and early modern ages, perhaps the most apparent and accessible are the streets, churches and landscapes we share with our ancestors. Along with these sites we have inherited a host of cultural assumptions about our spaces – big and small – from the home, through the city and the country, to our nations and the wider world around us.
While echoes persist in the spaces we inhabit, the languages we speak and the music we enjoy today, the sounds of the medieval and early modern ages are often obscured by the signal to noise ratio of the past to the present. In this conference, we hope to explore the sites and sounds of the past as the framework for an open and interdisciplinary consideration of current research in medieval and early modern studies. We welcome papers from researchers in the fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Codicology, Drama, Film Studies, Folklore, Geography, History, History of Art, Languages, Literature, Music, Paleography, Philosophy and Theology. Topics may include (but are not limited to):
– Architecture and landscapes in the past and through time.
– Spatial dichotomies: urban/rural, public/private, male/female.
– The acoustics of space.
– The archaeological site and the idea(s) of excavation.
– The space of the page, the painting or the statue.
– The spaces and sounds of the text.
– Oral tradition.
– Drama on the stage and the page. Its spaces, sounds and spectacles.
– Art music, popular music and folkmusic in the past and in modern revivals.
– Music and space in the past and the present.
– Religious spaces, sounds and silences.
– Space, sound and the senses.
– (Re)creations of medieval and early modern spaces and sounds in film and television.
Please submit proposals of 250 words to borderlinesxvi@gmail.com by 1st March 2012.
On the Edge: Medieval Margins and the Margins of Academic Life
Symposium, Wednesday May 9th, 2012
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Deadline: March 12th, 2012
The On the Edge committee seeks papers for a symposium accompanying the May 9th preview of the exhibit On the Edge: Medieval Margins and the Margins of Academic Life. We invite papers from graduate students and faculty that consider questions and problems related to the margins, either medieval or modern. Lucy Freeman Sandler, Professor of Art History Emerita, New York University will be the keynote speaker for the symposium.
Honoring the twentieth anniversary of Michael Camille’s Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art, the On the Edge exhibit will pair marginalia in illuminated manuscripts with photographs of life at the University of Chicago. Camille’s groundbreaking work brought light to the confluence of the serious and the playful, the sacred and the profane in medieval manuscripts and architecture. The serious and the playful also converge at the university. University life is defined not only by cutting edge research, but also by superstitions, protests, scavenger hunts, streakers in sneakers, social groups, and dance marathons. The On the Edge exhibit and symposium will explore the symmetry between the margins of academic life and medieval margins.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Architecture
Alterity
Center and periphery
The betwixt
Manuscripts: marginal imagery, textual emendations and notes
Margins of the university
Marginalized academic disciplines
Parody and play
Queering the middle ages
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words for a 20 minute talk to kLwood@uchicago.edu by March 12th, 2012 if you are interested in presenting at the symposium. Attending ICMS the next day? Kalamazoo is just a short train ride from Chicago.
On the Edge will be on view from May 19 – August 10, 2012 at the Special Collections Research Center Exhibition Gallery.
Medieval Section within the GNEL/ASNEL Annual Conference, Berne, May 18 – 20, 2012, on “Post-Empire Imaginaries? Anglophone Literature, History and the Demise of Empires” (http://www.gnel2012.ens.unibe.ch)
Call for Papers
In the past decade, postcolonial theory has increasingly been applied to studies of
the Middle Ages, re-examining a range of canonical works, such as Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales, and rethinking the hitherto clearly demarcated temporal
boundaries between the modern and the medieval. While the first momentum of what
has become postcolonial medievalism struggled with questions of anachronism,
scholars like Jeffrey Jerome Cohen have since shown that rather than being
inherently different and having become obsolete, the very mediacy of the Middle
Ages makes room for transhistorical intersections between the medieval and the
modern.
Within the context of the GNEL/ASNEL conference on post-empire imaginaries, we
invite papers on all aspects of medieval literature and culture that revolve around
premodern imaginations of both a distant other and/or a local self. In a world in which
there are vast areas of terra incognita, imaginaries step in to fill the void of the
unknown. Medieval histories, chronicles and stories of pilgrimage and peregrination
shape and negotiate fictions of alterity just as they create ideas of sameness and
identity. History here does not merely form the backdrop against which these stories
are told but it is part of the meaning they construct. The historicity of both ideological
and geographical mapping of familiar and alien spaces, therefore, will form a
common ground for discussion, linking our section on the Middle Ages to the wider
framework of the conference as a whole. By investigating both cross-cultural and –
temporal imaginaries, we will be looking beyond traditionally demarcated boundaries
of empire(s) and re-examine Medieval Europe as pre- and post-empire at the same
time. Medieval fictions of alterity and sameness not only gave rise to modern notions
of empire but were already concerned with a certain post-empire nostalgia expressed
in such works as Gildas’s Concerning the Ruin of Britain.
Topics for papers may include, but are not limited to:
* premodern colonialism/imperialism
* medieval Orientalism
* geographical/ideological mapping
* medieval Christianity and Islam
* translating culture
* Anglo-Saxon England as postcolony of the Roman Empire
* medieval (literary) hybridity and alterity
* medievalism and historical trauma
Confirmed keynote speaker:
Alfred Hiatt, Reader in Medieval Literature and Culture, Queen Mary, University of London, U.K.
Papers are restricted to 20 mins. Please submit your abstract (max 200 words) and a short bio before 1 March 2012 to:
Prof. Dr. Annette Kern-Stähler
Chair of Medieval English Studies
English Department
University of Bern
Länggass-Strasse 49
CH-3012 Bern
Switzerland
annette.kern-staehler@ens.unibe.ch
Conference Website: http://www.gnel2012.ens.unibe.ch
As part of its international research collaboration, ARC Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800) (CHE) will fund outstanding international scholars in the field to visit Australian universities and to work with members of the Centre on a research program of their choice.
Visiting fellowships normally last between four weeks and three months. The Distinguished Visiting Fellow will be based at one of the five Australian universities hosting nodes of the Centre (University of Western Australia, University of Adelaide, Melbourne University, Sydney University and University of Queensland), but will normally visit other nodes of the Centre in the course of their stay.
Since the object of the Visiting Fellowships is primarily to promote collaborative research, the Visiting Fellows will not be required to undertake any undergraduate teaching, but will
be required to deliver at least one paper or lecture, and might run graduate masterclasses, attend seminars and symposia or deliver other papers.
The Fellowship will fund the Visiting Fellow’s return airfare to Australia, accommodation in Australia, and travel between Australian nodes of the Centre. Some living expenses may be negotiated.
CHE is now issuing a call for applications for Distinguished international Visiting Fellowships, to be taken over the period 1 January 2013 to December 2014.
Applicants should provide:
1. An up-to-date academic CV.
2. A description, no longer than one A4 page, of the proposed research to be undertaken during the Fellowship, including a statement of how the research relates to the Centre’s overall research into the history of emotions in Europe 1100-1800, and the proposed outcomes of the research (eg., part of a monograph draft, draft of an article jointly authored with one or more CHE member(s), development of further research interchange
and collaboration programs, and so on). Note: it is expected that ARCCHE support would be acknowledged in any publication deriving from the Fellowship.
3. The name(s) of CHE staff with whom the applicant wishes to collaborate, the preferred dates of the fellowship, and the preferred ‘home’ university for the duration of the visit.
For further information on the Centre’s research programs and projects, see: http://www.emotions.uwa.edu.au/research, or contact the Centre Director: Professor Philippa Maddern (philippa.maddern@uwa.edu.au).
Applications should be sent via email to:
Dr. Tanya Tuffrey,
Centre Manager, ARC CoE for the History of Emotions (Europe
1100-1800)
M201, Faculty of Arts
University of Western Australia,
CRAWLEY, 6009
Email: tanya.tuffrey@uwa.edu.au
Closing date: 14 March 2012
THE SCRIPTORIUM
NATURE – FUNCTION – SPECIFICS
The holding of the conference in the setting of the ancient abbey of Saint-Gall, whose famous ninth-century plan is one of the few witnesses to the physical existence of a scriptorium, provides an opportunity to engage upon consideration of the meaning cloaked by this word.
The term was introduced into the scholarly vocabulary only relatively recently, at the
beginning of the twentieth century, when it replaced other expressions that have appreciably different connotations (‘école calligraphique’, for instance). The publication of Albert Bruckner’s pioneering work, Scriptoria Medii Aevi Helvetica (1935-1974, 12 vols) and the founding of the journal Scriptorium by Camille Gaspar, Frédéric Lyna and François Masai in 1946, contributed greatly to the popularity of the term.
Its meaning, however, has remained rather vague. Some would extend it to any kind of
centre of manuscript production, and are happy to refer to lay scriptoria, or even private
scriptoria. Others, by contrast, use it in only a very restricted sense to apply just to those
centres that are famous for the quality and quantity of their production. In most cases it
remains an abstraction, failing adequately to shed light upon the practical realities to which it refers.
Some closer definition is therefore required.
One possibility is to define a scriptorium as a unit of production (possibly just a
group of individuals) operating at the heart of an ecclesiastical institution and intended to
fulfill its need for books, completely independent of any commercial context. But is such
a definition satisfactory or adequate? What are its implications?
The list of issues set out below are intended to elicit various kinds of response to these
questions, whether based upon the analysis of a body of evidence or drawn from especially
significant examples.
1. The word and its meaning
a) The use and usage of the word scriptorium (and its synonyms); the evidence of
different kinds of source (literary, iconographic, etc.) for its existence as an institutional
entity.
b) In what ways have scholars and writers of the classical, post-medieval and
contemporary periods used the term or expressed the same concept?
2. Practice
a) Ecclesiastical requirements with regard to books for study, the liturgy and archives.
b) The location of scribal activity within monastic, conventual, university and any
other communal settings.
c) The personnel and organisation of copying in scriptoria.
d) Collaborative production within the centralised orders (Cluniac, Cistercian, etc.).
e) The production of books in relation to teaching activity.
f) The copying of texts as a spiritual exercise.
g) The production of charters and other forms of administrative or diplomatic
document (cartularies, etc.) within scriptoria.
h) Other forms of writing (inscriptions, in particular) that might be related to the
activity of a scriptorium.
i) The coexistence of scriptoria and other forms of scribal organisation of a
commerical kind (writing-offices, workshops)
3. Interpretation
a) How can one prove the existence of a scriptorium?
b) How can one demonstrate the attribution of a manuscript to a particular scriptorium?
c) How might the products of a scriptorium be evaluated quantitatively and
qualitatively?
d) What factors (institutional, economic, political, social, cultural) shape the
development or decline of a scriptorium?
e) What combination of historical factors are required to sustain the productivity of
scriptoria?
f) What changes can be observed in the nature and function of scriptoria across the
medieval period?
g) To what extent have palaeographical, codicological and art-historical typologies
been based upon the assumed existence of scriptoria?
Proposals for papers, with details of current position and/or status, should be sent to D.
Muzerelle, General Secretary of the Comité (dm2@palaeographica.org) before June 1, 2012, together with a synopsis of between 1000 and 2500 characters (not counting spaces).
Proposals and papers should be given in one of the approved languages of the Comité:
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castillian).
Prospective contributors are invited to indicate which issue or issues itemized above will be
addressed. Preference will be given to papers that intend to examine one or two issues in
depth rather than to surveys of a large number of them. Some indication of the visual material that authors intend to support their papers is also desirable.
Prospective contributors will be informed whether their proposals have been accepted on or after July 1, 2012.
The deadline for the John Leyerle-CARA an annual prize has been extended until 29 February 2012. This prize, in the amount of $1,000, supports the doctoral research of a Medieval Academy member who needs to consult materials available in Toronto collections. These include the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library, the collections of the Dictionary of Old English and the Records of Early English Drama projects, and the library of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
The new deadline for 2012 applications is 29 February 2012 for travel in the period between 1 May 2012 and 30 April 2013.
For more information visit this webpage.
Schedule for 2012 ICMA Harvey Stahl Memorial Lectures at University of New Mexico and Utah State University: Guest Lecturer Dr. Jaroslav Folda, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Monday February 27
Public Lecture “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Christian Multiculturalism in the Levant” host: Justine Andrews
5:30 pm Science and Math Learning Center Room 102 Reception to follow
Tuesday February 28
UNM Institute for Medieval Studies – Work-in-Progress series “Chrysography on the Drapery of the Virgin — Icon to Altarpiece in the 13th Century” host: Justine Andrews
12:30 pm History Commons
Guest Lecture in ARTH 432/532 Islamic Art and Architecture “Crusader Holy Places and 12th century Pilgrimage Art in the Holy Land”
2pm Center for the Arts, Room 1020
Utah State University, Logan, Ut
THURSDAY March 1
9 AM: pre-recorded interview with Dr. Folda to air on Utah Public Radio’s “Access Utah” morning program
10:30-11:45 AM: Guest lecturer, ARTH 4720: Renaissance Art, host, Dr. Alexa Sand
“Chrysography on the Drapery of the Virgin — Icon to Altarpiece in the 13th Century”
Fine Arts Visual 264
5 PM: Public Lecture, co-sponsored by the Caine College of the Arts and the program in Religious Studies at Utah State University, hosts, Drs. Alexa Sand and Laura Gelfand, Department of Art and Design
“The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Christian Multiculturalism in the Levant”
Merrill Cazier Library Room 101
6:30-8 PM: Reception by invitation only, Caine Family Home
Friday March 2
9 AM: Breakfast round-table discussion with Dr. Folda and interested students and faculty from the programs in art, religious studies, and medieval and early modern studies. Host: Department of Art and Design Outstanding Senior, Megan Evans
Twain Tippetts Gallery Balcony, Chase Fine Arts Center
11:30-12:20: Guest Lecturer HISTORY 1100 Ancient to Medieval Western Civilization, host, Professor Susan Cogan
“Crusader Holy Places and 12th century Pilgrimage Art in the Holy Land”
Engineering 103
The Morton W. Bloomfield Fund at Harvard University, in conjunction with the Medieval Doctoral Conference of the Department of English, invites applications to the Bloomfield Visiting Scholar Program. The program is intended to assist scholars wishing to conduct research at Harvard over approximately a four-week period during the regular academic year, in any of the fields associated with Morton W. Bloomfield: particularly Old and Middle English, the history of English, the history of Christian thought, and medieval Jewish studies. We offer $3000 in travel and accommodation subsidy for one or more selected scholars in these fields; we may be able to offer a further travel subsidy for fellows traveling from outside North America. Bloomfield fellows will give a presentation of their work at the Medieval Doctoral Conference and might also be asked to meet with graduate students or attend a student seminar as a temporary member of our community. Harvard’s academic year runs from early September to early December, and from early February to the end of April. Although applications are open to anyone, preference will be given to younger scholars who might benefit from access to Harvard’s resources. To apply, please send a brief curriculum vitae, the title of a possible talk, a one-page project description, and a covering note detailing your proposed travel plans (offering alternative sets of dates if possible) to Daniel Donoghue, Department of English, Harvard University, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. by March 30, 2012.
