Daily Archives: 10 July 2017

Panels on ‘The Animal in Medieval Romance’: 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies – Call For Papers

Call for Papers: The Animal in Medieval Romance, at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (2018)

The ‘animal turn’ is one of the newest and most exciting developments in medieval scholarship. Researchers are increasingly interrogating the role of animals in society and culture, the interaction between human and beast, and the formation of human and non-human identities.

The Medieval Romance Society is hosting two inter-related sessions on the role of animals in romances at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies 2018, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. We welcome papers which draw on a broad range of methodologies and address a variety of themes relating to animals.

Session I: The Animal in Medieval Romance I: The Animal as Friend
This session invites papers examining the co-dependent relationships between animals and humans in romances. We encourage a broad interpretation of this theme, including cross-species friendships, sexual and romantic couplings, domestication and farmyard animals, and animals as parental surrogates.

Session II: The Animal in Medieval Romance II: The Animal as Product
This session welcomes papers which examine how animal bodies are exploited in medieval romances. Even after death, animals continue to exert their presence in romance narrative through their earthly remains. The genre’s commodification of bestial bodies also extends beyond texts to the physical product of vellum upon which they are transmitted. Papers might explore themes of butchery, the wearing of skins and furs, the use of bone and ivory, and the production of parchment and manuscript-binding.

Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to Tim Wingard at tw659@york.ac.uk by 15th September, 2017. For more information, visit: medievalromanceanimal.wordpress.com.

New series from MIP: Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons: Medieval and Early Modern Constructions of Alterity – Call For Proposals

New scholarly book series from Medieval Institute Publications:

Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons: Medieval and Early Modern Constructions of Alterity

This series is dedicated to the study of monstrosity and alterity in the medieval and early modern world, and to the investigation of cultural constructions of otherness, abnormality and difference from a wide range of perspectives. Submissions are welcome from scholars working within established disciplines, including—but not limited to—philosophy, critical theory, cultural history, history of science, history of art and architecture, literary studies, disability studies, and gender studies. Since much work in the field is necessarily pluri-disciplinary in its methods and scope, the editors are particularly interested in proposals that cross disciplinary boundaries. The series publishes English-language, single-author volumes and collections of original essays. Topics might include hybridity and hermaphroditism; giants, dwarves, and wild-men; cannibalism and the New World; cultures of display and the carnivalesque; “monstrous” encounters in literature and travel; jurisprudence, law, and criminality; teratology and the “New Science”; the aesthetics of the grotesque; automata and self-moving machines; or witchcraft, demonology, and other occult themes.

Geographical Scope: Unrestricted

Chronological Scope: Late Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern

Further Information: For questions or to submit a proposal, please contact the acquisitions editor, Erika Gaffney (Erika.Gaffney@arc-humanities.org) or visit our website: www.mip-archumanitiespress.org.

For more information, please download the Monsters, Prodigies, & Demons series flyer

UWA IAS / CMEMS: Luther’s Reformation at 500 Lecture Series

Luther’s Reformation at 500

On the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, this UWA Institute of Advanced Studies – Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies Lecture Series reconsiders the legacy of Martin Luther, who in 1517 published Ninety-Five Theses criticising the Church’s sale of indulgences. From diverse historical perspectives, UWA researchers tackle key issues regarding Luther’s life, his thought, and his significance for the momentous changes that Europe underwent during his lifetime.

Talks in this series:

8 August – “Luther’s Image and the First Media War”. Speaker: Dr. Susanne Meurer, School of Design, UWA
More info: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/meurer

12 September – “Luther and the Devil”. Speaker: Professor Jacqueline Van Gent, School of Humanities, UWA
More info: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/vangent

31 October – “Myth, Memory, and the Making of History”. Speaker: Dr. Kirk Essary, School of Humanities, UWA
More info: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/essary