The Medieval Academy Blog

CALL FOR PAPERS
Gothic Ivory Sculpture: Old Questions, New Directions
Friday 23^rd March 2012, Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum

Proposals are invited for papers to be presented at this one-day conference, jointly organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Courtauld Gothic Ivories Project, to be held at the V&A in 2012. The papers will be presented in three sessions, each composed of three speakers, with papers lasting twenty minutes.

The conference takes as its starting point the observation that in recent years there has been an unprecedented revival of scholarly activity in the study of Gothic ivory carvings, a class of object which survives in large numbers (nearly 4,000 known examples), but which has largely been regarded as an area of minor interest by medieval art historians. In recent years, led by such scholars as Danielle Gaborit-Chopin and Charles Little, much new work has been carried out on these artworks, ranging from the re-dating of accepted groupings, to detailed analysis of individual pieces. A particular impetus has been given to the field thanks to the inception of the Gothic Ivories Project (www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk) at the Courtauld Institute of Art, which aims to provide catalogue records and images of the majority of the surviving works scattered around the world. In parallel, the V&A will shortly issue a comprehensive new scholarly catalogue of its holdings in this area, one of the most important collections in the world.

Papers are invited on a wide variety of themes and topics emerging from the study of gothic ivory carving. These may range from the focused study of individual objects or groups from a physical, iconographic or stylistic standpoint, to more synthetic approaches seeking to contextualise ivory carving in terms of its relationships to other media, ownership or use. A further issue for discussion will be the afterlives (nachleben) of gothic ivory carvings, both in private collections and in museums. Any discussion of gothic ivories also raises the issue of authenticity, restoration and forgeries, and proposals for papers on these topics would also be welcomed.

Proposals should take the form of a short text of one or two paragraphs, outlining the paper’s title, the main themes to be considered, and the objects on which the study will concentrate. Some indication of where the research sits within the historiography would also be of use.

The deadline for submissions is Monday, 7^th November. Potential speakers should be contacted about whether or not their paper has been accepted by the first week of December.

Contacts: Glyn Davies (g.davies@vam.ac.uk) and Catherine Yvard (catherine.yvard@courtauld.ac.uk).

The committee representing Imbas 2011 is delighted to announce the call for papers. Imbas is an interdisciplinary postgraduate conference hosted annually by NUI Galway. The conference gives postgraduate students the opportunity to present ongoing work and discuss their research with peers in an informal, interdisciplinary setting. The theme of the conference this year is ‘Identity: individual, society and realm’, and it will run from the 11th -13th of November in the Moore Institute of NUI Galway. We are thrilled to have Dr. Alan Murray from the University of Leeds as our keynote speaker.

We accept papers from all disciplines, with a focus on any topic from Late Antiquity to the end of the Medieval period. Interested postgraduates are invited to submit a title and abstract of 250-300 words, for a research paper of 20 minutes, to the Imbas committee at imbasnuig@gmail.com by 30th September, 2011.

Selected proceedings from the conference will be published in our peer-reviewed journal.

Kindest Regards
Imbas Committee 2011

Call for Papers

Medieval Sessions at

Northeast Modern Language Association 43^rd Annual Convention

Rochester, New York

March 15-18, 2012

Deadline for abstracts Sept. 30, 2011

Please consider submitting an abstract for NeMLA 2012 in Rochester.  In addition to the sessions below, the Russell Hope Robbins library at the University of Rochester is rapidly becoming one of the most acclaimed research libraries for medievalists and is one of the headquarters of the TEAMS project.  The Robbins Library has recently acquired a significant stained glass and research collection as well.

Continuities in English Literature between the Norman Conquest and Reformation Too often, students of medieval English literature unnecessarily categorize Old and Middle English as completely disconnected, highlighting Beowulf and Chaucer as the exemplary markers, with little in between. This panel seeks instead to explore moments of interaction across the spectrum of earlier and later medieval English literature. Send paper abstracts to Pamela Longo (pamela.longo@uconn.edu) or Brandon Hawk (brandon.hawk@uconn.edu).

New Approaches to Old Texts: Studying Medieval and Early Modern Women and Gender This panel seeks to elicit new interpretations and approaches to studying women and gender in medieval and early modern Europe. Submissions on how to re-evaluate new or existing texts about/by/for medieval and early modern European women are especially welcome as are works that intend to use new technologies such as the internet. Please submit abstracts to Lyn Blanchfield, Department of History, SUNY Oswego, Oswego NY 13126 or lyn.blanchfield@oswego.edu.

Representing Identity and Power in Medieval and Early Modern Spain This panel will explore the construction of identity and its relationship to power in medieval and early modern Spanish literary texts. Submissions are invited that interrogate both the representation of different subject positions and their connection with the constantly shifting discourses of power that characterize the socio-cultural landscape of these periods. Send 250-300 word proposals to Ryan Prendergast, University of Rochester (pdst@mail.rochester.edu).

Teaching Medieval German Literature and Culture Share successful models of undergraduate courses that focus on medieval German topics (e.g., from Hero to Knight, medieval heroes/ heroines and villains), of courses that approach modern themes from a medieval perspective (e.g., gender studies), or that offer a major German medieval component (Crossroads of Medieval Cultures and Literatures) for crosslisted courses. Abstracts to Rosemarie Morewedge at rmorewed@binghamton.edu

The Notion of Friendship in Dante and Medieval Italian Writers The representation of friendship and its theoretical background (as found in works by Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine and others) has not yet been sufficiently probed in the field of Italian literature. This panel seeks to foster critical discussion on friendship in Dante and other medieval authors. Abstracts to Francesco Ciabattoni fc237@georgetown.edu

Using and [Re]Fusing The Bible: Revision and Parody in Medieval Britain What was the value of The Bible in medieval Britain? The study of biblical paraphrase, expansion of biblical narrative, and the creation of literary parodies of biblical material provide possibilities for understanding how cultural context shaped the uses of this text, the decentralization of political or religious power, public and private performance of devotion, and the development of notions about artistic ownership. Please submit 250-500 word abstracts about the uses of The Bible in medieval Britain to David Pecan at david.pecan@ncc.edu.

Representations of the Wound in French and Francophone Literature This panel seeks papers on the representation of wounds and physical injury in French/Francophone literature and film. From the Middle Ages to the present day, this topos has challenged the limits of representation. To what degree can the wound qua corporeal inscription be read as a master metaphor for text? What are its implications for our understanding of the relationship between the artwork and its audience? Please send inquiries or abstracts to Kathryn Rose (kgrose@fas.harvard.edu) and Ian Thomas Fleishman (ifleishm@fas.harvard.edu).

For more information on the Convention, visit www.nemla.org and VisitRochester.org

CALL FOR PAPERS

18th Annual Postgraduate Medieval Studies Conference

24th-25th February, 2012

Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, UK

Identity and Image

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. The conference is now in its 18th year, and proposals are invited for papers from postgraduates and early career scholars on the theme of Identity and Image.

The aim of this year’s conference is to explore how identity was formed, expressed and understood in the Middle Ages. We are interested in the way individuals and groups constructed images of themselves and others, and how identity was affected by religious, racial, political and other social factors on an international, national or local scale. The theme ‘Identity and Image’ invites consideration of how, and if, we can interpret medieval notions of identity from the textual, visual, musical and material sources that have survived to the present day. We welcome a wide range of discussion from issues of religious and artistic patronage, devotional practice, language choice and material culture to considerations of how the self or the other is presented in literary and visual culture.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Religious identities
• National identity
• Linguistic choice or identity
• Autobiography and biography
• Representation of outsiders
• Artistic and religious patronage
• Architecture
• Material culture
• Images of the self and others

Papers must be no more than 20 minutes long
Abstracts of 250-300 words should be sent by email (by preference) to:

Hannah Walters (hannah.walters@bristol.ac.uk)
Or to Hannah Walters, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, Graduate
School of Arts and Humanities, 7 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB, UK

Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 10th December, 2012
Registration deadline: 21st January, 2012
For further information please visit our website:

www.bristol.ac.uk/medievalcentre/postgraduate-conference

Bursaries may be available for travel.