The Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, 2013 – Call For Papers

Regions and Regional Identity in the Middle Ages 
The Medieval Academy of America
Annual Meeting, 2013
4-6 April, 2013
Knoxville, Tennessee

Hosted by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of Tennessee Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Sewanee Medieval Colloquium

The annual meeting of the Medieval Academy will be held 4-6 April 2013, in down town Knoxville, hosted by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of Tennessee Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Sewanee Medieval Colloquium.

The program will include three plenary speakers and at least one plenary session:

  • Presidential Address: Maryanne Kowaleski (Joseph Fitzpatrick S. J. Distinguished Professor, Fordham University)
  • First Plenary Speaker: Christopher De Hamel (Gaylord Donnelley Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
  • Fellows’ Speaker: Jan Ziolkowski (Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin, Harvard University and Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)
  • CARA Plenary Session on Digitized Manuscripts and Intellectual Property – Sponsored by the Annual Marco Manuscript Workshop – Organizer, Abigail Firey (University of Kentucky)

The Program Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies. Any member of the Medieval Academy may submit a paper proposal, excepting those who presented papers at the annual meetings of the Medieval Academy in 2011 and 2012; others may submit proposals as well, but must become members in order to present papers at the meeting. Special consideration can be given to individuals whose speciality would not normally involve membership in the Academy.

Sessions usually consist of three 25-minute papers, and proposals should be geared to that length. The Program Committee may choose a different format for some sessions after the proposals have been reviewed. Session organizers may wish to propose different formats for their sessions, subject to Program Committee approval.

Because of our location in Appalachia, one of the nation’s most distinctive regional cultures, we have selected as our theme for the MAA meeting, “Regions and Regional Identity in the Middle Ages.” Sessions will address a variety of topics, many of them well outside the conference theme, but we hope to stress the importance of a sense of place, family, and locality in as many presentations as possible. We are seeking, therefore, innovative proposals for papers and sessions, and we hope to see significant cross-disciplinary participation as well. For both the commissioned and the open sessions, we are looking for the broadest possible range of proposals of topics and of time periods, within and across all the disciplines.

Papers will be evaluated for promise of quality and significance of topic. Session organizers make an initial selection of papers and submit a plan to the Program Committee, which makes final decisions by 15 September 2012. Notification of acceptance or rejection will take place shortly thereafter.

Proposals should be submitted to Jay Rubenstein, preferably by e-mail to jrubens1@utk.edu, or, on paper in two copies, to:

Jay Rubenstein
University of Tennessee
Department of History
6th Floor, Dunford Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996

The deadline is 1 June 2012. Please do not send proposals to session organizers or to the Academy office.

The proposal must have two parts:

  1. A cover sheet containing the proposer’s name, statement of current status of Academy membership, professional status, postal address, home and office telephone numbers, fax number (if available), e-mail address (if available), and paper title
  2. A second sheet containing the proposer’s name, session for which the paper should be considered, paper title, 250-word abstract, and audio-visual equipment requirements. If the proposer will be at a different address when decisions are announced in September, that address should be included.

The complete Call for Papers with additional information, submission procedures, selections guidelines, and organizers is available here: http://www.medievalacademy.org/annualmeetings/annualmeetingcurrent.htm