Medieval and Renaissance Forum CFP 2013

34th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum (Proposal Deadline 1/14/13)
Plymouth State University
Plymouth, NH, USA
Friday and Saturday April 19-20, 2013
Call for Papers and Sessions
“Travel, Contact, Exchange”
Keynote speaker: David Simon, Art History, Colby College

We invite abstracts in medieval and Early Modern studies that consider how travel, contact, and
exchange functioned in personal, political, religious, and aesthetic realms.

● How, when, where, and why did cultural exchange happen?
● What are the roles of storytelling or souvenirs in experiences of pilgrimage or Crusade?
● What is exchanged, lost, or left behind in moments of contact?
● How do such moments of contact and exchange hold meaning today?

Papers need not be confined to the theme but may cover many aspects of medieval and Renaissance
life, literature, languages, art, philosophy, theology, history and music.

Students, faculty, and independent scholars are welcome.
Undergraduate student papers or sessions require faculty sponsorship.

This year’s keynote speaker is David L. Simon. He is Jetté Professor of Art at Colby College, where he has
received the Basset Award for excellence in teaching. He holds graduate degrees from Boston University
and the Courtauld Institute of Art of the University of London. Among his publications are the catalogue
of Spanish and southern French Romanesque sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The
Cloisters and studies on Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Aragon and Navarra, Spain. He is coauthor of recent editions of Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition and Janson’s Basic History of
Western Art. Since 2007 he has co-directed an annual summer course and conference on Romanesque
art for the University of Zaragoza, Spain.

For more information visit www.plymouth.edu/medieval

Please submit abstracts and full contact information to Dr. Karolyn Kinane, Director or
Jini Rae Sparkman, Assistant Director: PSUForum@gmail.com.
Abstract deadline: Monday January 14, 2013
Presenters and early registration: March 15, 2013

Medievalism Area CFP

Medievalism in Popular Culture
full name / name of organization:
National Popular and American Culture Associations Conference (PCA/ACA)
contact email:
a.kaufman@mtsu.edu
Medievalism in Popular Culture
at the 43rd Annual PCA/ACA Conference
Wardman Park Marriott, Washington, D.C.
March 27-30th, 2013

Call for submissions to the following paper sessions and round table panels:

1) Arthurian Aesthetics - Round Tables:
Inspired by last year’s debate over whether a “good” Arthurian text exists, this series of round table discussions will combine our analysis of Arthurian legends with the recent aesthetic turn in literary studies. Is there an aesthetic case to be made for Arthurian studies, particularly for studying contemporary Arthuriana? How do we justify our scholarship if we are suddenly held accountable for the quality and universality of our texts? Short (10 minute) papers on aesthetics and Arthuriana in any medium and from any historical period are welcome.

2) Medievalism in Politics - Round Tables:
From accusations of corporate feudalism to medieval medical theories alive and well in twenty-first century politics, medievalists have found their time period unexpectedly represented (and misrepresented) in the news these days. This series of round table discussions will explore the way politicians across the globe are ‘getting medieval’ and what it signifies. Short (10 minute) papers on medievalism in contemporary politics are welcome.

3) Popular Culture in the Middle Ages - Paper Session:
Though at the PCA/ACA we typically focus on how the Middle Ages looks through contemporary eyes, this paper panel will focus on cultural studies of the Middle Ages. This panel will explore popular medieval religious practices, legends like Robin Hood or King Arthur, and tales about supernatural beings like fairies, witches, and elves that originated in medieval times but continue to shape popular culture today. Papers that focus on cultural shifts and reception of texts or ideas are especially encouraged, as are papers that draw parallels between medieval culture and medievalism today.

4) The Medieval Frontier - Paper Session:
Critics have long acknowledged that the medieval knight was the inspiration for Owen Wister’s cowboy figure. Even in the current reinvention and subversion of the cowboy represented by films like Unforgiven and novels like The Sisters Brothers, something of this medieval aesthetic remains. This panel will explore this and other ways in which the idea of the Old West has been shaped by cultural memory of the Middle Ages.

5) Men of the North - Paper Session:
From Ulfric Stormcloak to Thor to Ned Stark, recent medievalism has celebrated a very specific brand of masculinity, one more commonly associated with Vikings and Anglo-Saxons than King Arthur’s knights or a chivalric ‘golden age.’ Is 2012 a Viking moment, and if so, why? How does this Norse revival recall earlier obsessions with the men of the north? This panel will explore the very specific cultural appeal (and cultural baggage) of northern-inspired medievalism.

Instructions:
Please submit abstracts of 250 words or less to the PCA/ACA database at http://ncp.pcaaca.org or email your abstract as an attachment to Amy Kaufman at a.kaufman@mtsu.edu. Please include the name and number of the session to which you are submitting within the abstract.

Papers in regular sessions should be limited to a reading time of 15 minutes (7-8 double-spaced pages). Round table contributions should be shorter, no more than 10 minutes (5 double-spaced pages) to allow for extended discussion. Be sure to include your full name, affiliation, mailing address, phone number, and email address on your abstract.

Deadline: December 1, 2012

Send inquiries to:
Dr. Amy S. Kaufman
Middle Tennessee State University
a.kaufman@mtsu.edu

Please note: Membership in the PCA is required for participation. Membership forms and more information about the conference are available online at www.pcaaca.org.

Medieval and Renaissance Drama on Film NeMLA CFP

Filming this Insubstantial Pageant: Medieval and Renaissance Drama on Film (Abstracts due Sept. 30)
full name / name of organization:
Northeast Modern Language Association (conference Mar. 2013)
contact email:
jackiec159@hotmail.com

This panel seeks papers about film adaptations of medieval and Renaissance English drama, both in English-speaking countries and around the world. The NeMLA conference will be held in Boston in March, 2013. Papers might compare different adaptations of the same play, discuss problems associated with the notion of fidelity to text or of relocating a play in a different historical or cultural milieu, or consider the effectiveness for use in scholarly work or in the classroom. We seek investigation of continuities across disciplines: medieval/Renaissance, cinema studies/literature. What is at stake in these adaptations? What do these directors, writers, performers, and audiences bring to the table? This panel should appeal to those interested in film and literary adaptation, world cinema and transnational influences, issues of cultural hegemony and exchange, and Shakespeare on film. Abstracts (250 words) should be emailed in MS format to jackiec159@hotmail.comandmorsed@newschool.edu by Sept. 30.

Corporate Medievalism Contents Update

Corporate Medievalism, volume 21 in the Studies in Medievalism series, has recently been released. An earlier post detailed the basics of the book, but now the contents (below) can be matched with their respective authors.


Contents
1 Editorial Notes (Karl Fugelso)
2 Lives of Total Dedication? Medieval and Modern Corporate Identity (M. J. Toswell)
3 Reincorporating the Medieval: Morality, Chivalry, and Honor in Post-Financial-Meltdown Corporate Revisionism (Kevin Moberly and Brent Moberly)
4 Medievalism and Representations of Corporate Identity (KellyAnn Fitzpatrick and Jil Hanifan)
5 Knights of the Ownership Society: Economic Inequality and Medievalist Film (Harry Brown)
6 A Corporate neo-Beowulf: Ready or Not, Here We Come (E. L. Risden)
7 Unsettled Accounts: Corporate Culture and George R.R. Martin's Fetish Medievalism (Lauryn S. Mayer)
8 Historicizing Neumatic Notation: Medieval Neumes as Cultural Artefacts of Early Modern Times (Eduardo Henrik Aubert)
9 Hereward the Dane and the English, but Not the Saxon: Kingsley's Racial Anglo-Saxonism (Michael R. Kightley)
10 From Romance to Ritual: Jessie L. Weston's Gawain (Helen Brookman)
11 The Cinematic Sign of the Grail (J. Rubén Valdés Miyares)
12 Destructive Dominae: Women and Vengeance in Medievalist Film (Felice Lifshitz)
13 Neomedievalism Unplugged (Pamela Clements and Carol L. Robinson)
14 Notes on Contributors