MAA News – Renew Your MAA Membership

Don’t forget to renew your MAA Membership for 2025! You must renew by June 30 to avoid an interruption of benefits. Your MAA membership provides you with numerous exclusive benefits, including:

• A subscription to Speculum – the premier journal of Medieval Studies – and electronic access to the entire run from 1926 to the present;
• Eligibility for our many grants and fellowships, totalling more than $117,000 annually;
• Eligibility for our publication prizes;
• Eligibility to serve on one of our dozens of volunteer committees or elected governance;
• Participation in our Annual Meeting;
• and more!

Your membership dues also help others in the field, providing mentoring and financial support for graduate students, junior scholars, and medievalists outside the tenure track. As scholarship increasingly recognizes a more expansive Middle Ages, your dues work to build a more inclusive Medieval Studies.

Your membership dues support the highest-quality research in all fields of Medieval Studies, and we sincerely hope that you will renew your valued membership in the Academy as we continue this work in 2024. You can easily renew your membership online or by returning this form. Thank you for your support.

Peggy McCracken (University of Michigan), President
Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

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MAA News – Good News From Our Members

2025 Guggenheim Fellowships have been awarded to several MAA members: Thomas Burman (Univ. of Notre Dame), Cecilia Gaposchkin (Dartmouth College), Katherine Jansen (Catholic Univ. of America, and Editor of Speculum).

John Mulhall (Purdue Univ.) has been awarded the 2025-2026 Paul Mellon Rome Prize in Medieval Studies to work on his book project, The Republic of Translators: Latin, Greek, Arabic, and a New Age of Science, Philosophy, and Theology in the Twelfth Century.

Congratulations! if you have good news to share, please send it to Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis.

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MAA to Host Community Discussion on Cuts to Federal Funding

MAA to Host Community
Discussion on Cuts to Federal Funding
Tuesday May 6th, 1 pm EDT

Many of us have been shocked and appalled by the recent termination of research funding and humanities programming through the IMLS, NEH, NSF, NIH and other federal bodies. So far the Medieval Academy is aware of ten members directly affected by these cancellations, involving over $2 million in funding. There will inevitably be many more who are indirectly affected—those receiving funding through state humanities councils, for example, or those who planned to apply for NEH funding this year.

The Medieval Academy Council is naturally concerned, and has been discussing the effects of these actions on our members and field. Any MAA member whose funding, research plans, or position has been affected is encouraged to use this form to send us more information.

The Medieval Academy has also co-signed several statements by its partner organizations (the AHA/American Historical Association, the NHA/National Humanities Alliance, and the ACLS/American Council of Learned Societies), and the Executive Director has endorsed the recent AAC&U Call for Constructive Engagement.

On Tuesday, May 6th, the MAA is sponsoring a Premodernist Community Hour for scholars affected by these terminations. This informal Zoom meeting will give scholars an opportunity to talk through their concerns, exchange information about what’s happening, reinforce a sense of scholarly community, and brainstorm about how individuals or collectives might take action. The moderators will also take note of members’ concerns for reporting to the MAA Council and to partner organizations that are better resourced and positioned to advocate on behalf of the humanities in Washington. By coming together to discuss and offer mutual support, we combat a sense of isolation and powerlessness, and apply our combined skills and abilities to the common goal of defending our scholarly communities, reaffirming their cultural value, and preventing their wanton destruction.

Join us on Tuesday May 6th at 1 pm EDT for this virtual town-hall meeting.

Moderators
Alison Locke Perchuk (Chair, Advocacy Committee, Medieval Academy of America)

Carrie Beneš (Councillor, Medieval Academy of America; Co-PI, formerly-NEH-funded Sfera Project)

Click here to register.

P.S. PIs with organizational grants directly affected by the NEH terminations of April 1 are reminded that they may request NEH review up to 30 calendar days after the date of the termination notice, i.e. May 1 (https://tinyurl.com/34tuvsry, General T&Cs XIII.B). We wish to note that cutoff date since it precedes our scheduled meeting.

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Jobs For Medievalists

The Institute for Historical Regional Studies and Historical Ancillary Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Tübingen invites applications for a full professorship as of 1 October 2026:

W3-Full Professor for Medieval and Contemporary History, with a Focus on Historical Regional Studies and Historical Ancillary Sciences.

The focus in research and teaching is Historical Regional Studies in a comparative approach as well as on historical ancillary sciences, both in a historically broad perspective and in the two named areas.

It is expected that candidates are willing to participate in collaborative research projects within the Department of History and the Faculty of Humanities as well as to nurture collaborations with archives, museums and other institutions of historical culture in the wider region. Expertise in digital humanities would be welcome, as well as willingness to consider topics related to regional Jewish history.

Required qualifications include a PhD or equivalent degree as well as postdoctoral qualifications and teaching experience (documented by, e.g., teaching evaluations etc.) equivalent to the requirements of a full professorship.

The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. Female academics, in particular, are explicitly invited to apply, as are applicants from outside Germany.

Applications from equally qualified candidates with disabilities will be given preference.

General information on professorships, hiring processes, and the German academic system may be found here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/213700

Applications should be submitted along with the required documents (curriculum vitae and outline of academic career, copies of certificates and degrees, publications list, list of teaching experience, teaching evaluations, plan for research and teaching) and a selection of relevant publications (monographs and five essays authored by the applicant) via the University’s appointment portal, https://berufungen.uni-tuebingen.de, by June 17th 2025. Enquiries may be directed to the Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, Professor Dr. Angelika Zirker (berufungen@philosophie.uni-tuebingen.de).

 

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Call for Proposals: AHR Special Issue: Methods for Archival Silence in Early History

Call for Proposals
AHR Special Issue: Methods for Archival Silence in Early History
Due September 16, 2025

The American Historical Review seeks proposals for a special issue illustrating a range of methodological approaches to archival silence developed by scholars of early history. Articles may be grounded in any part of the world and address any topic as long as they are method-driven, focused on archival silence, and situated early within the periodization of your field.

About the Issue

What should historians do when our sources do not tell us what we want to know? Although this may be a universal experience of historical research, the problem arises in various forms. Some silences are intentional, others unintentional. Some sources are minimal, others extensive but off-topic. Some sources are inaccessible, some have not been preserved, some were never created. Sometimes we do not or cannot know whether our desired sources ever existed, or, if they did, what happened to them. Silences cluster around certain topics, places, and periods more than others.

Historians have articulated this problem in a variety of ways. This call uses the language of archival silence and silencing developed by Michel-Rolph Trouillard and Marisa Fuentes. It could have drawn on the concept of the subaltern (Ranajit Guha, Gayatri Spivak), strategically produced silence and plausible stories (Natalie Zemon Davis), records designed for jettison (Marina Rustow), hidden transcripts (James Scott), living oral traditions (Bethwell A. Ogot), or writing off the radar (James Lockhart), to name only a few.

Faced with archival silence, historians have developed a range of methods for working in, through, and around it. Some techniques and approaches have become characteristic of expertise in early periods. Others are applied by historians across specializations. These include but are not limited to reading against the grain; creative combination of well-known sources; creative use of unusual or little-known sources; oral and other forms of non-written record; technical skills in the so-called ancillary disciplines (numismatics, paleography, codicology, epigraphy, and more); interdisciplinary approaches to method (anthropology, archaeology, literature, linguistics, and more) and to what constitutes a source (climate data, aDNA, physical objects, art, and more); critical fabulation or disciplined imagination; and reframing our questions to build on our sources’ strengths.

Submitting a Proposal

Proposals should be submitted via Google Form bySeptember 16, 2025. Proposals should be no more than 800 words in length and should address the following questions:

  • What is your field of historical research? In the context of your field, why is your project considered early?
  • Briefly describe the archive(s) or bod(ies) of sources on which your project is based. In what sense are these sources silent?
  • Briefly describe the method(s) that you use to work with these sources. What methodological intervention does your project make, and why is it significant?
  • What form will your project take in the journal?

We invite projects in a wide variety of forms. They can include, but are not limited to:

  • Traditional research articles (no more than 8,000 words, excluding footnotes)
  • Image- or video-centered projects
  • Digital history/humanities projects
  • Public history projects or virtual exhibitions
  • Pedagogical projects that examine approaches to methodology and archival silence in the classroom

Decisions on proposals will be announced in November 2025. A positive decision does not guarantee publication in the journal but is rather an invitation to submit a full and complete version of the proposed project for peer review. The submission deadline for complete projects for peer review is May 1, 2026. We anticipate publication of the special issue in 2027.

Please contact the special issue editor, Hannah Barker (hannah.barker.1@asu.edu), with questions.

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Jobs For Medievalists

Applications are invited for an experienced multilingual Digital Humanities / Computer Science Postdoctoral Researcher to lead development, implementation and evaluation of digital tools and methodologies for the NorseMap project based in the School of English and Digital Humanities. NorseMap is a 5-year project funded by the European Research Council, using citizen science methodologies to gather data on the Viking legacy from across Europe and mapping the evolution of responses to the Viking past over time.

The ideal candidate will have undertaken at least one year of postdoctoral research, have experience with data visualisation, and be enthusiastic about engaging with different online communities to learn more about public uses of the past. They will play a key role in all aspects of the project from design and implementation of data collection methodologies – including advising on a dedicated app – to creation of deep maps and visualisations of the complex networks that the project uncovers. They will be expected to carry out high-level research related to the aims of the research project, submitting publications regularly to refereed journals and participating in national and international conferences. A particular responsibility will be investigating ways to visualise connections between complex networks of exchange and influence within the online space.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a team of Viking researchers in mapping the legacy of a cultural phenomenon and to play a leading role in the successful implementation of an ERC-funded project.

For more information, including salary and further particulars, see https://my.corehr.com/pls/uccrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=085873

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Symposium, Tracing Jewish Histories: The Long Lives of Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts, Judaica, and Architecture

What: Symposium, Tracing Jewish Histories: The Long Lives of Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts, Judaica, and Architecture

When: 19-20 May 2025 (see program for details)

Where: In-person, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Vernon Square Campus, London, UK. Following the symposium, a recording of the talks will be made available online on The Courtauld’s website.

Co-Organizers: Reed O’Mara (Case Western Reserve University) and Laura Feigen (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Registration and Program: https://tinyurl.com/2p8ycmvn

Short Description: Works of art and architecture made by or for Jewish communities in the medieval period are often examined through the lenses of persecution and expulsion, or are contrasted against Christian or Muslim “styles.” This symposium seeks to expand and nuance these narratives in order to highlight how works of art and architecture can uniquely trace the history of particular Jewish communities by mapping their movements and traditions across generations and geographies. Medieval Jewish objects and spaces can also serve as loci to examine ideas related to collective memory and cultural identity. To that end, the symposium seeks to open new dialogues regarding the “afterlives” of medieval Jewish art more broadly, initiating discussions regarding the ways in which works of art and architecture continued to bear witness to the richness of Jewish life and culture long after they were created.

Sponsors: We are grateful for the following institutions for lending their support of this symposium: Sam FOgg; the Mellon Foundation; the Department of Art History & Art at Case Western Reserve University; and the Medieval Academy of America Graduate Student Committee Grant for Innovation in Community Building and Professionalization

Attached: Save the date with registration as a JPEG and PDF

Please let us know if you require any further information, and thank you again for all your support.

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Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean

Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean

Date: 5th June 2025

Venue: Balliol College, Gillis Lecture Theatre and Massey Room (Oxford OX1 3BJ) & online

Convenors: Daniel Gallaher and Ugo Mondini (University of Oxford)

The workshop explores how and why languages were taught, learned, and sustained across the diverse and shifting socio-cultural landscapes of the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean. Integrating history with historical sociolinguistics and adopting a comparative and cross-disciplinary perspective, the workshop aims to identify shared trends, comparable elements, and distinctive features in language learning and transmission. This approach offers a renewed perspective on the interconnected Mediterranean world—a region where multilingualism, mobility, and intercultural exchange were and are central to daily life. The impact of these dynamics on language teaching, preservation, and use has often been underestimated.

The event will include dedicated time for discussion and reflection, allowing participants to engage in a broader conversation about language, identity, and cultural transmission. At its core, the project reimagines the medieval and early modern Mediterranean, not merely as a space of teaching, learning, and multilingual exchange.

Speakers: Speakers: Samet Budak (ANAMED Koç University); S. Peter Cowe (UCLA); Erica Field-Marchello (Exeter College, Oxford); Mark Janse (University of Cambridge); Michiel Leezenberg (University of Amsterdam); Giorgia Nicosia (Ghent University); Lucy Parker (University of Nottingham).

For more information about the programme and to register for online attendance, please contact Ugo Mondini at ugo.mondini@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

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Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies

To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 14–16, 2026. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website. The deadline for submission is May 12, 2025.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $800 maximum for scholars traveling from North America and up to $1400 maximum for those traveling from outside North America. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement.

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/61st-icms

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.

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Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 8th Forum Medieval Art

To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 8th Forum Medieval Art/Forum Kunst des Mittelalters, Bochum / Dortmund, September 23–26, 2026. The biannual colloquium is organized by the Deutsche Verein für Kunstwissenschaft e.V.

The theme for the 8th Forum Medieval Art is Work: Traces, Constellations, Valuations. From a region with a significant medieval character and a post-industrial present we want to address the question whether the term “work” could be of any benefit when applied to the practices of medieval art production and their social and economic context. At the latest with the development of urban culture in the 12th/13th century, the concept of a society based on the division of work began to replace traditional forms of social differentiation – a process that was theologically founded in the 12th century and accompanied by a revaluation of art, craft and creativity.

The Mary Jaharis Center invites session proposals that fit within the Work theme and are relevant to Byzantine studies.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website. The deadline for submission is May 8, 2025.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and session chair) up to $500 maximum for participants traveling from locations in Germany, up to $800 maximum for participants traveling from the EU, and up to $1400 maximum for participants traveling from outside Europe. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement.

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/8th-forum-medieval-art

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.

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