Kalamazoo ICMS 2017 and Leeds IMC 2017 Conference Panels: Royal Studies Network – Call For Papers

Royal Studies Network

Call for Papers: 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI
May 11-14, 2017

The fifty-second International Congress on Medieval Studies will take place in Kalamazoo MI, from May 11-14, 2017. As in previous years, the 2017 Congress will offer almost 580
sessions in various formats, two plenary addresses, receptions, luncheons, business meetings, and mentoring opportunities.

The Royal Studies Network seeks papers for two sessions it will sponsor for ICMS 2017. We invite papers from all academic disciplines covering monarchy and royal studies during the
long Middle Ages and across diverse geographical and ethno-religious regions. The unifying theme underpinning our two ICMS sessions is “Exercising Authority and Exerting Influence”,
which forms part of an ambitious History of Monarchy project currently being developed by the Royal Studies Network. With theme of “Exercising Authority and Exerting Influence”,
the Network seeks to re-calibrate the ways in which scholars perceive the exercise of authority and influence across a range of disciplines, time periods and multiple geographies.
Our sponsored sessions for ICMS 2017 are specifically designed to be points of departure intended to generate broader multi-disciplinary reflections on ideas such as self-fashioning
and identity, reputation, gender, agency, influence, power and authority.

The sessions are:

  • Session 1: (A Paper Session)
    “Exercising Authority and Exerting Influence I: ‘Seulete suy et seulete vueil estre’ (Alone am
    I, and alone I wish to remain): The Perils and Promise of Medieval Widowhood”
  • Session 2: (A Paper Session)
    “Exercising Authority and Exerting Influence II: Unleashing the Power Within: Reassessing
    Royal and Elite Domestic Spaces”

Proposals should include a title, and abstract of c. 250 words, institutional affiliation, and a short CV (a maximum of two pages). All papers should be in English, and be 20 minutes long.
Please submit your paper proposals to the session organizers, Zita Rohr and Ellie Woodacre at zita.rohr@sydney.edu.au or to Ellie.Woodacre@winchester.ac.uk no later than September 8, 2016.


Royal Studies Network

Call for Papers: Leeds International Medieval Congress 2017
Leeds, UK
July 3-6, 2017

‘Otherness’

The twenty-third International Medieval Congress will take place in Leeds, from July 3-6, 2017. The IMC seeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of all aspects of Medieval Studies. Every year, the IMC chooses a special thematic strand which – for 2017 – is ‘Otherness’. ‘Others’ can be found everywhere: outside one’s own community (from foreigners to non-human monsters) and inside it (for example, religious and social minorities, or individual newcomers in towns, villages, or at court). Forms and concepts of the ‘Other’, and attitudes towards ‘Others’, imply and reveal concepts of ‘Self’, self-awareness and identity, whether expressed explicitly or implicitly. There is no ‘Other’ without ‘Self’.

The Royal Studies Network seeks papers for two sessions it hopes to sponsor for Leeds 2017. We invite papers from all academic disciplines covering monarchy and royal studies in the medieval and early modern periods and across diverse geographical regions.

The proposed sessions are:

  • Session 1: “Theories and Typologies I: Significant Others: Their Part and Influence in the Shaping of Successful Monarchies”
  • Session 2: “Theories and Typologies II: Queering the Pitch: Challenging Accepted Narratives of Pre-Modern Political Theory and Practice”

Intellectual Justification: Recent scholarship has demonstrated that all modern political systems have been produced within an informal political arena alongside government. Domestic or private political spaces were subject to the important influence of others such as women, ethno-religious minorities (residing in strongholds of Christendom), and marginalized and/or difficult to categorize men. Far from being unusual or exceptional, these ‘others’ played vital roles in the shaping and development of successful territorial monarchies, challenging the traditional understanding of what shaped rulers and rulerships and what actually contributed to the success of territorial monarchies, which emerged as geo-political winners in early modern Europe.

Proposals should include a title, an abstract of c. 250 words, institutional affiliation, and a short CV (maximum of two pages). All papers should be given in English and be 20 minutes long. Please submit proposals to the session organizers, Zita Rohr & Ellie Woodacre, at zita.rohr@sydney.edu.au or Ellie.Woodacre@winchester.ac.uk no later than September 15, 2016.