Call for Papers -The Senses: Present Issues, Past Perspectives

The Senses: Present Issues, Past Perspectives
24 April 2023 – 27 April 2023

Congressi Stefano Franscini, Monte Verità, Switzerland

We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers in the field of medieval sensory studies for the international workshop ‘The Senses: Present Issues, Past Perspectives.’ The workshop is organised by Prof. Annette Kern-Stähler (University of Bern, Switzerland), Prof. Elizabeth Robertson (University of Glasgow, UK), and Dr. des. Laura Bernardazzi (University of Bern, Switzerland) and is funded by the Congressi Stefano Franscini, Monte Verità, Switzerland, and the University of Bern.

The Workshop
This workshop will bring medieval studies in conversation with sensory research in contemporary science and philosophy. The workshop will consist of a series of six panels, each of which will address a key topic in contemporary sensory research. Each cluster will include an articulation of the issue by a contemporary philosopher or scientist, followed by two responses by scholars in medieval studies. We are inviting medievalists in all disciplines to join one of the following panels:

  1. Multimodal Perception. How was the interaction of the senses understood in medieval culture? How does the construction of the senses in medieval culture enrich our understanding of the contemporary problem of multisensoriality and cross-modal perception?
  2. The Problem of Pain. What role do the senses play in the perception of pain? How do we account for the disparity between an experience of a physical event (such as piercing or tattooing) and expressions of this event in language and art?
  3. Sensory Engineering. How can medieval understandings of sensory compensation and/or enhancement elucidate the aims and achievements of contemporary sensory engineering involving, for example, the creation of robotic limbs or the development of sophisticated forms of sensory substitution or augmentation?
  4. Hallucination and Illusion. How do we, and how did people in the medieval past, distinguish between veridical perception and illusions and/or hallucinations? How did people in the medieval past evaluate such illusions we today call perseveration, diplopia, polyopia and dysmorphopsia? How did medieval writers and artists depict illusions and hallucinations?
  5. Virtual Reality and Digital Sensoriality. What is the role of the senses in the construction of virtual reality? How might we use digital technology to recover the medieval sensorium, and in which ways do such technological efforts compete with those using medieval archaeological remains (e.g. buildings, pilgrims’ flasks, saints’ relics, food vessels) and other artefacts?
  6. Proprioception and Kinesthesia. How does a body orientate itself in an environment? How are proprioception and kinesthesia articulated in medieval art and literature?

The Venue
Situated on a hilltop in the sunniest region of Switzerland, the venue has been at the heart of European intellectualism, idealism, and cultural dialogue for almost two centuries. Today, Monte Verità continues to be a meeting place of minds and a cultural centre through Congressi Stefano Franscini, a platform of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich (ETH Zurich) hosting between 20 and 25 events organized by professors working at Swiss academic institutions, and a regular program of public events. The venue is also home to a museum complex and extensive gardens.

Please send an abstract of 200 – 250 words by 30 June 2022 together with a short statement indicating your affiliation and the panel you are interested in to: sensesconference.ens@unibe.ch

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Jobs For Medievalists

The Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has an open, full-time position for a Program Administrator –This position reports to the Riggsby Director of the Marco Institute and works closely with the Institute’s Associate Director, and is responsible for the administrative coordination of the Institute’s wide variety of interdisciplinary activities related to faculty and student research, teaching, academic programming, and community outreach. Responsibilities include: the coordination and facilitation of annual programs (symposia, workshops, guest lecture series, and outreach programs), including all logistical aspects such as travel and local arrangements; the management of the Institute’s accounts using financial software, including the disbursement of Institute fellowships as well as honoraria for visiting faculty from national and international institutions; the organization of cultural events, including the negotiation of contracts; the orchestration of the Institute’s published materials, including the design of publicity documents, maintenance of the Institute website in collaboration with Arts & Sciences Communications colleagues, production of an annual print newsletter, and the dissemination of publicity about programs including the production of social media posts; the coordination of the use of designated classroom space for Institute faculty; and other responsibilities necessary for the daily function of the Institute.

Required: Bachelor’s degree; one year of experience in a professional setting. Must have excellent oral and written communication, project management, and basic accounting skills.  Intermediate computer skills required, with demonstrated proficiency using MS Office Suite software.

Preferred: Master’s degree with academic background is preferred.  Knowledge of WordPress is preferred, as well as experience with writing for websites and social media.

Applicants should submit a cover letter, resumé, and contact information for three references.

This position is open until filled and applications received prior to April 15, 2022 will receive initial consideration. For questions, contact Gregor Kalas, Riggsby Director at gkalas@utk.edu.

Position Number: 50012706

Kindly submit the application using this application portal: https://ut.taleo.net/careersection/ut_system/jobdetail.ftl?job=22000000KR&lang=en

All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment and admission without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, and parental status, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

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Call for Applications – Visiting Researchers – ERC AGRELITA 2022

The ERC Advanced Grant AGRELITA Project n° 101018777, “The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations of manuscripts and printed books (1320-1550) : how invented memories shaped the identity of European communities”, directed by Prof. Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas (Principal Investigator), opens guest researchers residences.

The Hypotheses academic blog presents the project and its team : https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/

This call for applications is open to anyone, of French or foreign nationality, who holds a PhD in literature, art history or history, whose work focuses on the history of books, cultural and political history, visual studies or memory studies, wherein the competence and project are deemed to be complementary to the ones of the AGRELITA team.

These residencies indeed aim to open the reflections carried out by the team, to enhance its scientific activity through interactions with other scholars and other universities. The guest researchers will have the exceptional opportunity to contribute to a major project, to work with a dynamic team which conducts a wide range of activities at the University of Lille and within the research laboratory ALITHILA where many Medieval and Renaissance times specialists work, as well as to publish in a prestigious setting.

The AGRELITA project is based at the University of Lille. Located in the north of France, Lille is a city in the heart of Europe : 35 minutes from Brussels, 1 hour from Paris, 1 hour 20 minutes from London, 2 hours 40 minutes from Amsterdam and 2 hours 30 minutes from Aachen. Residing in this metropolis offers the chance to discover the rich medieval heritage of Flanders and to carry out research in nearby libraries, museums and archives, with very rich collections (Lille, Saint-Omer, Valenciennes, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Cambrai, Arras, Brussels).

The ERC Advanced Grant AGRELITA Project

Until now the reception history of ancient Greece in pre-modern Western Europe has focused almost exclusively on the transmission of Greek texts. Yet well before the revival of Greek’s teaching, numerous vernacular works, often illustrated, contained elaborate representations of ancient Greece. AGRELITA studies a large corpus of French language literary works (historical, fictional, poetic, didactic ones) produced from 1320 to the 1550s in France and Europe, before the first direct translations from Greek to French, as well as the images of their manuscripts and printed books. These works and their illustrations – exploring texts/images interactions as well as the distinctive impact they have – show representations of ancient Greece we can analyze from a perspective which has never been explored until now : how a new cultural memory was elaborated. AGRELITA thus examines this corpus linked with its political, social and cultural context, but also with the literary and illustrated works of nearby countries from Europe. Situated at the crossroads of literary studies, book history and art history, visual studies, cultural and political history and memory studies, AGRELITA’s ambition is to explore how the role played by ancient Greece was reassessed in the processes of shaping the identity of European communities. The project also aims to contribute to a general reflection on the formation of memories, heritages and identities.

Missions of visiting researchers

The ERC Advanced Grant AGRELITA Project is funded for five years (2021-2026) and has budgetary support available in order to invite researchers at the University of Lille (France), in the Faculty of Humanities (https://humanites.univ-lille.fr/), and attached to the ALITHILA laboratory (Literary Analyzes and History of Language), housed in the Pont de Bois Campus (Villeneuve d’Ascq). Stays may be 4 to 8 weeks length, and during the year 2022 may take place from September 15th until late November.

Visiting researchers will work with the Principal Investigator, the four post-docs, the project manager and the associated researchers.

Visiting researchers understake to produce researches for the project during their stays in Lille as follows : they commit to contribute to the activities and events organized by the team ; they will write one paper published in one of the volumes edited by AGRELITA (Brepols ed.), or in one of the team’s files published in an academic journal ; they will contribute to the Hypotheses academic blog : https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/

In 2022, as well as in 2023, the AGRELITA project will focus on these four axis : « Representing and naming Greece and the Greek space, from the 14th Century to the 16th Century », « New Translations and indirect Reception of Ancient Greece (Texts and Images, 1300-1560) », « Creating a memory of ancient pasts : Choices, constructions and transmissions from the 9th to the 18th Century » and « Inventions of Greek origin myths ». Please see our website : https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/

Conditions for defraying mission expenses

Visiting researchers will receive, in the form of mission expenses, a maximum fixed amount of 2000 euros per month, based on all necessary receipts of the costs of residence in Lille (accomodation, transport in North region and meal costs). A further maximum fixed amount is added to cover their travel expenses from their place of residence to Lille (round trip) :

– 400 euros for a travel from a European country (based on proof of expenses) ;

– 800 € euros for a travel from a country outside Europe (based on proof of expenses).

The expenses will be paid following the mission. AGRELITA will not arrange visas.

The University of Lille has a partnership which allows the rental of studios at the Reeflex University Residence : https://reeflex.univ-lille.fr/chercheur ; as well as at the International Research Residence : https://www.crous-lille.fr/logements/maison-internationale-etudiants-chercheurs/ . Visiting researchers can request this and the AGRELITA team will assist them to complete the reservation, subject to availability.

How to apply

The application file must include the two following documents :

– A completed and signed application form, including the dates of the stay for the year 2022 (between September 15th until late November)

– A scientific project (2 pages) the candidate will be working on during his stay, dealing with the AGRELITA team’s research, from which the researcher intends to write the required article, due at the end of the stay.

Please send your application in a PDF document to the following addresses : catherine.bougassas@univ-lille.fr and erc-agrelita@univ-lille.fr by May 1st, 2022. The results will be released by mid-May 2022.

For more information on the ERC AGRELITA Project, please see : https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/

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Call for Papers – Fair Unknowns: Extending the Corpus of Arthurian Texts

Sponsored by the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain

Collection edited by Carl Sell, Lock Haven University, and Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar.

Proposals due by 1 June 2022

The Arthurian tradition has existed for over 1500 years, yet we still know only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true size of the corpus of Arthurian texts. Many works from earlier periods have been neglected, and new works continue to appear each year. It is our contention that all of these can be as interesting as those texts continually turned to by Arthurianists; please, help us in expanding our view of the canon.

Call for Papers

Arthurianists excel at locating and cataloging representations of the Matter of Britain, and, as bibliographers, comicsographers, discographers, and filmographers, we have done much to expand our knowledge of the ways creators have made use of the tradition. However, our knowledge of the corpus still remains incomplete. An untold number of Arthurian texts from older eras remain missed by previous investigations (whether ignored, forgotten, or lost), while perhaps just as many are too new to have yet been the focus of critical analysis. Both omissions create unfortunate gaps in building a full history of the Once and Future King and those that surround him. A more complete picture of the reception of the legend is important for our understanding of how and why stories of Arthur and his court continue to be retold and can offer fresh insight to aid our teaching and research. The goal of this collection, then, is to create a nexus where the Arthurian past and present (and perhaps future) can meet in a space where we can set them into the larger context of the Matter of Britain and discuss and debate what makes them worth adding to the canon and how they can build and/or (re)shape of our critical understanding of Arthurian texts today.

Potential questions for discussion:

  • Is it worth maintaining a canon of Arthurian texts?
  • Are value-laden terms like “Lesser Arthuriana” useful critical tools?
  • What Arthurian texts have yet to be discovered by scholars?
  • What Arthurian texts have been unjustly neglected?
  • What new Arthurian texts have been produced recently?
  • How does your text fit into/engage with the larger Arthurian tradition?

Send inquiries, proposals, and/or drafts of papers to the organizers at KingArthurForever2000@gmail.com. We also welcome suggestions for resources (in print or online) that might be of value to the collection and its audience.

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GSC Webinar: Medievalists Beyond the Academy

Join the MAA Graduate Student Committee on March 30th, 2022 at 7 pm EST for a panel on employment for medievalists outside of what we traditionally envision as the “academy” (university-based research and teaching). Each of our panelists received a PhD in a premodern subject, and each have successfully leveraged their training into a career that utilizes and expands upon their background as medievalists. From grant writing and archival management to secondary education and academic publishing, our participants represent a wide range of experience levels and professional opportunities. In this conversation moderated by leading independent scholar Laura Morreale, panelists will share their pathways from their PhD to their current position, followed by a live Q and A with questions submitted by our audience. We hope you can join us! Click here to register.

Moderated by Dr. Laura Morreale, Independent Scholar

Panelists include:

Dr. Jennifer Speed, Research Development Strategist at Princeton University
Dr. Anna Siebach-Larson, Director, Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center for English Studies at the University of Rochester
Dr. Ross Karlan, World Languages Educator at Geffen Academy
Dr. Rachel Ruisard, Project Editor at Oxford University Press

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Call for Papers – Mythical Pasts, Fantasy Futures: The Middle Ages in Modern Visual Culture

Mythical Pasts, Fantasy Futures: The Middle Ages in Modern Visual Culture

A Digital Symposium co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Haggerty Museum of Art September 8th and 9th, 2022

Call for Papers

This virtual symposium will bring together an interdisciplinary group of academics and museum professionals working on the broad topic of how the Middle Ages appears in the contemporary imagination, and the legacies of medieval-inspired aesthetics in a wide variety of artistic traditions and media. The rise of modern fantasy visual culture is closely tied to the renewed interest in the medieval past that emerged in the late eighteenth century and which is ongoing today. Medievalisms pervade modern fantasy, illuminating not only the complex receptions of the Middle Ages when subjected to new modes of inquiry, but also the challenges and anxieties that coincided with what is broadly conceived as “modernity.” The visual and conceptual relationships between modern fantasy and medievalisms has become an urgent subject in a variety of cultural studies disciplines and constitute key points of departure in the two exhibitions that frame this symposium: The Fantasy of the Middle Ages (The Getty Center, June 21–September 11, 2022) and

  1. R. R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript (Haggerty Museum of Art, August 19–December 12, 2022). While much of the scholarly work on this topic has been focused on literary uses of medieval tropes, this symposium presents an opportunity to reframe the conversation in terms of the visual and especially engage issues of popular culture.

The symposium organizers seek submissions in two different categories: Conference Papers and Lightning Talks. We welcome proposals from scholars, museum professionals, graduate students, and independent researchers.

Conference Papers will be approximately 20 minutes and organized in thematic panels. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • Fantasy imagery in the museum (e.g. curatorial and pedagogical approaches)
  • Medieval fantasy recreations in all media (comic books, trading cards, film, television, reenactment, etc.)
  • Historicizing fantasy representations
  • Fantasy within and on the historical margins of art institutions
  • Media and the supernatural
  • Intersections of fantasy imagery and colonialism

Lightning Talks will be approximately 5-7 minutes each and focus on a single object. These shorter talks will be an opportunity for speakers to engage closely and concisely with the visual language of their chosen image and what it reveals with respect to the broader conversations of the symposium. Images in any medium and from any geographical context will be considered, but should be limited to the period from approximately the eighteenth century to the present.

For Conference Papers, please submit an abstract (approximately 500 words) and a CV.

For Lightning Talks, please submit your proposed image, an abstract identifying the themes and questions it prompts (approximately 250 words), and a CV.

Submissions should be sent to mythicalpastsfantasyfutures@gmail.com by April 15th. Accepted speakers will be notified by May 15th.

All participants will receive a speaker’s fee, the details of which will be outlined in the notice of acceptance.

Participants may be invited to submit their contributions for inclusion in published proceedings.

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Jobs For Medievalists

A 3-year fixed-term research and teaching appointment in English literature and manuscript studies (including palaeography, codicology and editing) in the period from 650 to 1550 is available for an outstanding academic at an early stage of their career. This post is positioned at an intermediate stage between immediate post-doctoral work and a tenured academic post. The purpose of the post is to cover the teaching of Professor Daniel Wakelin, who will be on research leave funded in large part by the Leverhulme Trust from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2025.

For more information, see

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Invitation to Workshop: History in a Time of Polarization, Sunday, March 20, 12pm-3pm EST

This virtual workshop brings together professionals from fields that deal with the violent far-right. Hate groups’ recruitment has consistently drawn from memories of the medieval past, and in recent years this effort has grown, particularly online. Scholars, social workers, and journalists all have unique viewpoints on this issue, but rarely have a single forum for discussion and problem solving. This workshop offers such a space.

Keynote Address (12:00-1:00 pm EST)
Sammy Rangel, co-founder of Life After Hate

Panel 1 (1:00-2:00 pm EST) Sharing Experiences

Panel 2 (2:00-3:00 pm EST) Sharing Solutions 

Panelists:

Sena Aydin (Cornell University, has taught through the Prison Education Program at Cornell University)

Rosa Schwartzburg (Journalist who has covered the far-right for The Guardian, The Nation, Jacobin, and Al Jazeera)

Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh (PhD, University of California, Berkeley)

Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm (University of Toronto, Provost Postdoctoral Researcher, anti-racist activist)

Basil Arnould Price (University of York)

Eni Mustafaraj (Computer Science, Wellesley College)

Bret Devereaux (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Andrew Guess (Princeton University, Politics and Public Affairs)

Gaby Faundez (History, St. Catherine’s School)

Cord Whitaker (Wellesley College) 

Moderator: Robin Reich, History, Columbia University

Register Here: https://bit.ly/ToolkitMarch2022

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions! Adam Matthews, acm2223@columbia.edu, Columbia University

The Medievalist Toolkit is a public history group founded by Columbia graduate students in Fall 2017. The group aims to enable and facilitate conversation between academics and activists, journalists, and public service providers. Awarded the Community Building Award (Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America (2022), the Lehman Center Public History Award (2020), and History in Action Program Awards (2018, 2020), we are currently creating a website to make knowledge about the Middle Ages easily accessible to our partners.

We look forward to seeing you Sunday! – Samuel Dobberstein, Carolyn Quijano, Claire Dillon, Adam Matthews, Robin Reich, Sarina Kuersteiner

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Dumbarton Oaks Upcoming Events

“The Gold of Banjska” Public Lecture
Date: March 24, 2022, at 4:00pm EDT via Zoom

Midway through the quick succession of brief biographical notes about Serbian monarchs and potentates that comprise the so-called Genealogy of Karlovci, a fifteenth-century text, the reader comes across a passage of considerable art historical import. Writing about the great works of royal and clerical patronage, the anonymous author declares that “the pavement of the church at Prizren, the church of Dečani, the narthex of Peć, the gold of Banjska, and the paintings of Resava are to be found nowhere else.” This lecture takes the peculiar reference to “the gold of Banjska” as the point of entry into an exploration of a little-studied phenomenon—the extensive use of gilding in medieval Serbian wall painting. Drpić uses the results of recently conducted technical analyses to illuminate this phenomenon and clarify its significance for finding Serbia’s place on the artistic map of the later Middle Ages.

Free and open to the public. Register here.

“Byzantine Missions: Meaning, Nature, and Extent” Symposium
Date: April 29-30, 2022, at 9:00am EDT via Zoom

Though closely connected with the study of conversion and Christianization in the premodern era, the history of Christian missions has received little attention in recent scholarship. The recipients of Christian faith—individuals, nations, or social groups—and the processes of integrating the new religion have continued to attract analysis, but the agents of religious transformation have been relatively understudied, especially beyond the boundaries of medieval western Europe.

The symposium aims to illuminate the inner motives that characterized Byzantine missions, the changing incentives that inspired them, and the nature of their missionary activity; and ultimately to better understand how the Byzantines perceived the universal claims of their empire and their church. At the same time, the organizers hope to throw light on the broader religious dynamics of the medieval world.

Free and open to the public. Register here.

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2022-2023 Visiting Research Fellowships at the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2022-2023 Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) Visiting Research Fellowships is now open. Guided by the vision of its founders, Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, SIMS aims to bring manuscript culture, modern technology, and people together to provide access to and understanding of our shared intellectual heritage. Part of the Penn Libraries, SIMS oversees an extensive collection of premodern manuscripts from around the world, with a special focus on the history of philosophy and science, and creates open-access digital content to support the study of its collections.

Fellowships are open to all scholars living outside of the greater Philadelphia area. Applicants must have completed a Ph.D. or an equivalent professional degree by the time the fellowship begins. Applicants can apply to spend 1 month (minimum of 4 work weeks) at SIMS between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Up to 3 fellowships will be awarded this year. For more information and to register, please visit https://schoenberginstitute.org/visiting-research-fellowships-2/.

Applications are due May 15, 2022.

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