Thursday, October 11, 2018
Sponsored Sessions at NEPCA 2018
Full schedule at https://nepca.blog/2018-conference/.
40th Annual Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association
Worcester State University (Worcester, Massachusetts)
19-20 October 2018
Friday, 19 October at 2-3:15
Session 8: Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space I (S-232)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Chair: Scott Manning (American Military University)
Joan of Arc’s Cinematic Siege Arsenal in Cecil B. DeMille’s Joan the Woman (1916)
Scott Manning (American Military University)
Scott Manning serves on the board for the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association and the advisory board for the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture. He regularly writes book reviews for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Scott is currently a history graduate student at American Military University, focusing on cinematic medievalism including portrayals of trebuchets and Joan of Arc in battle. His undergraduate degree is in military history.
Stranger Weeping: Considering Margery Kempe through Eleven in Stranger Things
Anna McGill (Louisiana State University)
Anna McGill is a PhD candidate in English at Louisiana State University, focusing on medieval studies, with particular interests in Arthuriana, medieval women, and medieval portrayals and perceptions of magic. She received her undergraduate degrees in English and psychology from East Tennessee State University, a short drive up into the mountains from her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Red Widows and Nihilist Queens: Russian Women in the American Imagination
Chelsea Gibson (Binghamton University)
Chelsea Gibson is a PhD candidate at Binghamton University, where she also serves as the Managing Editor of the Journal of Women’s History. Her dissertation examines the interplay between female Russian revolutionaries and American reform efforts in the decades before 1917.
Friday, 19 October at 3:30-4:45
Session 16: Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space II (S-232)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Chair: Cheryl Hunter (UMASS Lowell and SNHU)
“If I Am to Die Tonight, Let Me Die a Fighter”: Gail Simone’s Reconstructing of Red Sonja
Peter Cullen Bryan (Penn State University)
Peter Cullen Bryan is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Penn State University. His areas of study include transnational American Studies, International Communications, and 21st Century American culture, with a focus in comic art and digital communities. His master’s thesis considers the impact of early cartoonist Windsor McCay upon the creation of comics as a genre, and his dissertation work focuses on the cultural impact of Donald Duck comics in Germany, emphasizing Erika Fuchs’s translations and digital fan communities that arose in response. With regards to his current project, he considers Gail Simone a personal hero, just as Red Sonja was for her so many years ago.
Correcting Wonder Woman: The Power of Patty Jenkins
Erin Lafond (Boston College)
An avid enthusiast of Hollywood superhero movie, Erin Lafond is a master’s candidate in English at Boston College, where she studies pop culture and Victorian novels with a focus on feminism. She received her BA in English from Southern New Hampshire University. During her time at SNHU, she received an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Research” for her senior thesis “Writing a Novel: Research and Execution.”
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Sponsored Sessions for MAPACA 2018
Here are the updated details on our two sponsored sessions for MAPACA's conference this coming November. Registration information is available at https://mapaca.net/conference.
29th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland
Monsters and Medievalism 2018 (Medieval & Renaissance Area / Panel)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
Saturday, November 10, 10:30 am to 11:45 am (Salon E Calvert Ballroom)
Monsters remain fascinating subjects, and intense discussion in recent years has focused on their representation in medieval texts. However, scholars have largely neglected the post-medieval afterlife of these horrors. Despite this disregard, the monsters found in such medievalisms have merit in our classrooms and research; we need to promote their exploits along with those of the creatures existing within medieval artifacts. This panel will highlight connections between medieval monstrosities and their post-medieval incarnations and successors to showcase both continuity and change in addressing how terrors rooted in the medieval have been portrayed and how their inheritors have been developed.
Session chair: Carl Sell
Presentations
1. The Role of Dragons in Quests: Medieval Romances and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Samantha Knepper (Independent Scholar)
Abstract:
Since the rise of video games in popular culture people have been exposed to new medievalisms as a way to experience the medieval world. With technology developing quickly and the popularity of the video games that are experiential medievalisms, there is room for more exploration of what compels us to be drawn to the Middle Ages. Video games based on a “medieval” setting often follow the same quest cycle narrative of the medieval romances along with having the same or similar monsters for the hero to interact with and defeat, including dragons. Investigating the role of dragons in the romances along with the role of dragons in video games can reveal the similarities between ourselves and our medieval ancestors and highlight the changes. This paper aims to create a deeper understanding of not only medieval culture but our own culture by examining the similarities and the differences in the uses of dragons in the Medieval Romances and the game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This paper argues that that the role dragons has expanded in Skryim, which is a reflection of Skyrim as a game that only appears to have a medieval European setting. Revealing what, as humans, we share with our medieval past, and how our current culture has changed.
Samantha Knepper has an M.A. in History from Norwich University. She is currently an independent scholar and working on several projects, including investigating how medieval warrior cultures dealt with death and the similarities with how warriors deal with death today.
2. The Queer and The Dead: Medieval Revenants and Their Afterlives in In the Flesh
Eli Mason(Concordia University)
Abstract:
Following in the footsteps of Judith Halberstam, Harry Benshoff, and Bernadette Marie Calafell, this paper will combine queer and monster studies in order to explore the ways in which monstrous figures have been used to represent queer marginalities from the Middle Ages to the present day. Central to this discussion will be an examination of how queer people have, in a twentieth and twenty-first-century context, reclaimed “the monstrous” as a means of navigating and expressing queer identity in opposition to heteronormative and cisnormative cultures.
Though instances of this type of reclamation are varied and widespread, encompassing creative efforts as diverse as Lady Gaga’s role as “Mother Monster” to a largely queer fanbase, as well as the emergence and popularity of gay werewolf erotica, this paper proposes to consider the unlikely figure of the zombie, and its development from the medieval Norse tradition of the draugr, to the use of the zombie as a means of articulating queer identities in the BBC television series, In the Flesh (2013-14). Beginning with an examination of how queer bodies were constructed as monstrous in medieval taxonomies such as the Liber Monstrorum, this discussion will go on to compare the liminal status of both categories of embodiment, with particular emphasis on the liminal status of Norse revenants as beings existing at the threshold of life and death. The paper will argue that, through a withholding of the category of “human” from queer bodies such as those presented in the Liber Monstrorum, queer people have historically been denied both personhood, as well as the status of truly “living.” In the 2013-4 television show In the Flesh, the figure of the revenant embodies queer experiences of isolation, dehumanization, and social control. In the context of the series, zombification is a treatable (though not curable) state, which allows its central characters to “pass” as human with the help of medical treatment, and copious makeup. It is only by “passing” that the show’s zombie characters are tolerated by the human characters, despite that the zombies no longer pose a threat to the humans. As the show’s central character is both an ex-zombie and a gay man, In the Flesh draws clear parallels between the experience of being queer, and that of being monstrous. The repression of queer culture, and queer performativity, is symbolized by the characters’ normatizing transformation from revenant to human. Throughout the show’s two seasons, themes of posthumanism and monstrosity are partnered with an extended discussion of queer representation, that allows the narrative to question the nature of whether it is better to embrace, reclaim, and transform the figure of the monster, or to conform to cis and heteronormative standards of presentation.
In the spirit of the panel, this paper aims to showcase the “afterlife” of two embodied experiences constructed as monstrous in the medieval context: the queer, and the revenant. By demonstrating the ways in which the two intersect in a modern narrative context, this paper will highlight how monstrous traditions are being reshaped to express queer realities.
Elliot Mason is a third-year PhD student in Concordia University's Department of Religions and Cultures, working under the supervision of Dr. Lorenzo DiTommaso. He has completed Master’s degrees in Russian language and literature at the University of Waterloo, Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and Religious Studies at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Elliot’s previous research has focused on the biblical sea monster Leviathan, as well as the fallen angel Azazel. As a queer, trans person, he is particularly interested in the ways in which the history of monstrosity intersects with queer marginalities, and especially the re-purposing of historical monsters as queer icons.
3. More Zombies for the Matter of Britain? The Walking Dead in Recent Arthurian Fiction
Michael A Torregrossa (Independent scholar)
Building upon and expanding work begun as part of a presentation at the 2013 MAPACA conference, this paper will highlight further meetings between zombie characters and elements from the Matter of Britain and explicate how these contacts reflect an ongoing sub-tradition of Arthurian horror-themed fiction. The zombies of the Matter of Britain appear in a small but, nonetheless, interesting corpus and, similar to their fellow undead interact with figures associated with Arthur’s court, transform the denizens of Camelot into zombies, like themselves, and engage in quests for Holy Grails. As previously explored, zombies first make contact with the Matter of Britain in the 1940s and do not reemerge in Arthurian texts until the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, decades marked by a steady revival of the zombie figure in mass media. In recent years, the walking dead have interacted with Arthurian figures and artifacts in increasing innovative ways and deserve our attention as being more than simple mash-ups. Some offer new representations of Arthurian fantasy, as depicted in “The Avalon Trap” arc (2012) of Paul Cornell’s Demon Knights comic book series and Rob Williams’s Revolutionary War: Knights of Pendragon comic book (2014), but others attempt to depict horrific events in post-Arthurian eras, as occurs in Mark Atkin’s film Knight of the Dead (2013) and David R. Flores’s Dead Future King e-comic (2012-2015). Unlike Ron Wolfe and Dusty Higgins’s Knights of the Living Dead comic, the other major work of zombie-themed Arthuriana of the 2010s (and the central piece of my earlier investigation), these four texts do not effect radical change of the tradition, yet they still offer insight into how horror tropes can be adapted into an Arthurian context to bring new life to a fifteen-hundred-year-old legend that few seem to connect with today.
Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. He is founder of both The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and outgoing Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
The Comics Get Medieval 2018: A Continuing Celebration of Medieval-themed Comics (a Round Table) (Medieval & Renaissance Area / Round table)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
Saturday, November 10, 2:45 pm to 4:00 pm (Salon E Calvert Ballroom )
This special round-table session is sponsored by The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture. The session revives the successful Comics Get Medieval series after a multi-year absence and seeks to foster communication between comics scholars, medievalists, medievalismists, and specialists in other aspects of popular culture studies through the study of “medieval comics”: any example of the comics medium (e.g. panel cartoons, comic strips, comics books, comics albums, band dessinée, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, comics to screen/screen to comics, and other related media) that feature medieval themes either in stories set during the Middle Ages or in stories presenting some element of the medieval in anachronistic settings (pre-medieval or post-medieval eras or medieval-inspired secondary worlds).
Round Table Discussions will include:
Session Chair: Scott Manning (American Military University)
1. “Co-Starring Beowulf?: An Alternative Version of Beowulf in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943)”
Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
The story of Beowulf is one of the greatest legends of English culture and has inspired a wealth of texts that attempt to retell a traditional version of his deeds. However, there are also a number of works—most largely unnoticed by admirers of the hero—that introduce new characters into events from Beowulf’s life and attempt to make the Geat into a secondary figure in his own story. One of the earliest version of this motif appeared in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943), an American comic published during the Golden Age of the medium. Like other comics produced at the time, the story appears intended to educate readers about Beowulf, but the creators do not follow a Classics Illustrated approach and give readers a straight retelling. Instead, they adapt elements from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and bring modern-day figures into the Anglo-Saxon past, where these intruders to the story in effect alter history to create a divergent account of the epic that attempts to place a new hero in the dominant role once held by Beowulf. This presentation offers the first extended discussion of the Beowulfiana of Jumbo Comics No. 50 to offer suggestions on how this forgotten work can be of value in our research and teaching about Beowulf and its afterlife.
Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. He is founder of both The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and outgoing Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
2. “ ‘Ka is a Wheel’: The Arthurian Cycle and its Context in Marvel’s Stephen King’s Dark Tower”
Carl Sell (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has distinguished itself as a series without an end and without a clear beginning; however, Marvel’s series Stephen King’s Dark Tower, which ran from 2007 to 2017 under the supervision of King himself, serves as a starting point to the adventures of Roland of Gilead, last in the line of Arthur Eld, the great king of All-World. Beginning with The Gunslinger Born, the Arthurian cycle repeats itself anew with Steven Deschain and the Affiliation, In-World’s incarnation of the Round Table and his treacherous advisor Marten Broadcloak, the man who steals Steven’s wife. As Roland’s story unfolds, he is caught up in the ka, the fate, of his long line, the fate of King Arthur Eld himself: death, renewal, betrayal, and the endless quest for the Dark Tower, the Grail-like salvation of All-World. Roland and his ka-tet, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns, the stand-ins for Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere to Roland’s Arthur, are caught up in the Arthurian mythos and its endless cycle—ka, after all, is a wheel—and their journey together complicates the standard Arthurian narrative and blends character roles, motivations, and tropes found within more standard Arthurian adaptations. The story of King Arthur—as Arthur Eld—is ever-present in the world of Stephen King’s Dark Tower and in the gunslingers themselves as the new model of Arthurian chivalry.
Carl Sell is a PhD student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He studies the Arthurian Legend and modern adaptations of the legend as well as adaptations of Robin Hood. He is interested in all things medieval and Early Modern.
3. “I’m Holding Out For A Hero: The Disparity Between Male Warriors and Valkyries in Norse Mythology and the Depiction of Valkyrie in the 21st Century”
Lindsey Poe (Georgia College and State University)
Norse mythology has many depictions of warriors. The stories we have today are presumably long held Icelandic oral tales that had previously been passed on generation by generation. The eddas, for instance, are old Norse oral myths that were written down in the 13th century by Snori Sturluson. The myths are traditionally pagan, however Snori Sturluson was compiling them while priests were attempting to convert the people of Iceland to Christianity. As such, the works became a blend of both Christian and pagan beliefs. While Icelandic peoples were still worshipping the Norse gods, Snori wove in a watered down version of the Christian message in his written Edda. Throughout these texts, we see descriptions of god-like men such as Thor and Loki as well as characters like Sigurd, who simply represent a traditional warrior male. Interestingly enough, some women like Brunhild are elevated and are portrayed as strong, battle ready individuals. They exist as supernatural beings who wield power over life and death. These warrior women are known as Valkyries. They are not merely women, rather, Valkyries hold a third classification of gender and exist outside of the binary. Through “The Elder Edda,” “The Prose Edda,” and “The Saga of the Volsungs” the characterizations of these two classes of warriors will be broken down and their differences analyzed. In addition, the Valkyries of literature will be compared to the depictions of these women in films and comics, particularly in the Marvel universe.
Lindsey Poe graduated with her bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Spanish from Georgia College and State University in the Spring of 2017. Following graduation, she applied to and got accepted at her alma mater, where she is currently in her second year of graduate school, working towards a master’s in English.
29th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland
Monsters and Medievalism 2018 (Medieval & Renaissance Area / Panel)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
Saturday, November 10, 10:30 am to 11:45 am (Salon E Calvert Ballroom)
Monsters remain fascinating subjects, and intense discussion in recent years has focused on their representation in medieval texts. However, scholars have largely neglected the post-medieval afterlife of these horrors. Despite this disregard, the monsters found in such medievalisms have merit in our classrooms and research; we need to promote their exploits along with those of the creatures existing within medieval artifacts. This panel will highlight connections between medieval monstrosities and their post-medieval incarnations and successors to showcase both continuity and change in addressing how terrors rooted in the medieval have been portrayed and how their inheritors have been developed.
Session chair: Carl Sell
Presentations
1. The Role of Dragons in Quests: Medieval Romances and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Samantha Knepper (Independent Scholar)
Abstract:
Since the rise of video games in popular culture people have been exposed to new medievalisms as a way to experience the medieval world. With technology developing quickly and the popularity of the video games that are experiential medievalisms, there is room for more exploration of what compels us to be drawn to the Middle Ages. Video games based on a “medieval” setting often follow the same quest cycle narrative of the medieval romances along with having the same or similar monsters for the hero to interact with and defeat, including dragons. Investigating the role of dragons in the romances along with the role of dragons in video games can reveal the similarities between ourselves and our medieval ancestors and highlight the changes. This paper aims to create a deeper understanding of not only medieval culture but our own culture by examining the similarities and the differences in the uses of dragons in the Medieval Romances and the game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This paper argues that that the role dragons has expanded in Skryim, which is a reflection of Skyrim as a game that only appears to have a medieval European setting. Revealing what, as humans, we share with our medieval past, and how our current culture has changed.
Samantha Knepper has an M.A. in History from Norwich University. She is currently an independent scholar and working on several projects, including investigating how medieval warrior cultures dealt with death and the similarities with how warriors deal with death today.
2. The Queer and The Dead: Medieval Revenants and Their Afterlives in In the Flesh
Eli Mason(Concordia University)
Abstract:
Following in the footsteps of Judith Halberstam, Harry Benshoff, and Bernadette Marie Calafell, this paper will combine queer and monster studies in order to explore the ways in which monstrous figures have been used to represent queer marginalities from the Middle Ages to the present day. Central to this discussion will be an examination of how queer people have, in a twentieth and twenty-first-century context, reclaimed “the monstrous” as a means of navigating and expressing queer identity in opposition to heteronormative and cisnormative cultures.
Though instances of this type of reclamation are varied and widespread, encompassing creative efforts as diverse as Lady Gaga’s role as “Mother Monster” to a largely queer fanbase, as well as the emergence and popularity of gay werewolf erotica, this paper proposes to consider the unlikely figure of the zombie, and its development from the medieval Norse tradition of the draugr, to the use of the zombie as a means of articulating queer identities in the BBC television series, In the Flesh (2013-14). Beginning with an examination of how queer bodies were constructed as monstrous in medieval taxonomies such as the Liber Monstrorum, this discussion will go on to compare the liminal status of both categories of embodiment, with particular emphasis on the liminal status of Norse revenants as beings existing at the threshold of life and death. The paper will argue that, through a withholding of the category of “human” from queer bodies such as those presented in the Liber Monstrorum, queer people have historically been denied both personhood, as well as the status of truly “living.” In the 2013-4 television show In the Flesh, the figure of the revenant embodies queer experiences of isolation, dehumanization, and social control. In the context of the series, zombification is a treatable (though not curable) state, which allows its central characters to “pass” as human with the help of medical treatment, and copious makeup. It is only by “passing” that the show’s zombie characters are tolerated by the human characters, despite that the zombies no longer pose a threat to the humans. As the show’s central character is both an ex-zombie and a gay man, In the Flesh draws clear parallels between the experience of being queer, and that of being monstrous. The repression of queer culture, and queer performativity, is symbolized by the characters’ normatizing transformation from revenant to human. Throughout the show’s two seasons, themes of posthumanism and monstrosity are partnered with an extended discussion of queer representation, that allows the narrative to question the nature of whether it is better to embrace, reclaim, and transform the figure of the monster, or to conform to cis and heteronormative standards of presentation.
In the spirit of the panel, this paper aims to showcase the “afterlife” of two embodied experiences constructed as monstrous in the medieval context: the queer, and the revenant. By demonstrating the ways in which the two intersect in a modern narrative context, this paper will highlight how monstrous traditions are being reshaped to express queer realities.
Elliot Mason is a third-year PhD student in Concordia University's Department of Religions and Cultures, working under the supervision of Dr. Lorenzo DiTommaso. He has completed Master’s degrees in Russian language and literature at the University of Waterloo, Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and Religious Studies at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Elliot’s previous research has focused on the biblical sea monster Leviathan, as well as the fallen angel Azazel. As a queer, trans person, he is particularly interested in the ways in which the history of monstrosity intersects with queer marginalities, and especially the re-purposing of historical monsters as queer icons.
3. More Zombies for the Matter of Britain? The Walking Dead in Recent Arthurian Fiction
Michael A Torregrossa (Independent scholar)
Building upon and expanding work begun as part of a presentation at the 2013 MAPACA conference, this paper will highlight further meetings between zombie characters and elements from the Matter of Britain and explicate how these contacts reflect an ongoing sub-tradition of Arthurian horror-themed fiction. The zombies of the Matter of Britain appear in a small but, nonetheless, interesting corpus and, similar to their fellow undead interact with figures associated with Arthur’s court, transform the denizens of Camelot into zombies, like themselves, and engage in quests for Holy Grails. As previously explored, zombies first make contact with the Matter of Britain in the 1940s and do not reemerge in Arthurian texts until the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, decades marked by a steady revival of the zombie figure in mass media. In recent years, the walking dead have interacted with Arthurian figures and artifacts in increasing innovative ways and deserve our attention as being more than simple mash-ups. Some offer new representations of Arthurian fantasy, as depicted in “The Avalon Trap” arc (2012) of Paul Cornell’s Demon Knights comic book series and Rob Williams’s Revolutionary War: Knights of Pendragon comic book (2014), but others attempt to depict horrific events in post-Arthurian eras, as occurs in Mark Atkin’s film Knight of the Dead (2013) and David R. Flores’s Dead Future King e-comic (2012-2015). Unlike Ron Wolfe and Dusty Higgins’s Knights of the Living Dead comic, the other major work of zombie-themed Arthuriana of the 2010s (and the central piece of my earlier investigation), these four texts do not effect radical change of the tradition, yet they still offer insight into how horror tropes can be adapted into an Arthurian context to bring new life to a fifteen-hundred-year-old legend that few seem to connect with today.
Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. He is founder of both The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and outgoing Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
The Comics Get Medieval 2018: A Continuing Celebration of Medieval-themed Comics (a Round Table) (Medieval & Renaissance Area / Round table)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
Saturday, November 10, 2:45 pm to 4:00 pm (Salon E Calvert Ballroom )
This special round-table session is sponsored by The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture. The session revives the successful Comics Get Medieval series after a multi-year absence and seeks to foster communication between comics scholars, medievalists, medievalismists, and specialists in other aspects of popular culture studies through the study of “medieval comics”: any example of the comics medium (e.g. panel cartoons, comic strips, comics books, comics albums, band dessinée, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, comics to screen/screen to comics, and other related media) that feature medieval themes either in stories set during the Middle Ages or in stories presenting some element of the medieval in anachronistic settings (pre-medieval or post-medieval eras or medieval-inspired secondary worlds).
Round Table Discussions will include:
Session Chair: Scott Manning (American Military University)
1. “Co-Starring Beowulf?: An Alternative Version of Beowulf in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943)”
Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
The story of Beowulf is one of the greatest legends of English culture and has inspired a wealth of texts that attempt to retell a traditional version of his deeds. However, there are also a number of works—most largely unnoticed by admirers of the hero—that introduce new characters into events from Beowulf’s life and attempt to make the Geat into a secondary figure in his own story. One of the earliest version of this motif appeared in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943), an American comic published during the Golden Age of the medium. Like other comics produced at the time, the story appears intended to educate readers about Beowulf, but the creators do not follow a Classics Illustrated approach and give readers a straight retelling. Instead, they adapt elements from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and bring modern-day figures into the Anglo-Saxon past, where these intruders to the story in effect alter history to create a divergent account of the epic that attempts to place a new hero in the dominant role once held by Beowulf. This presentation offers the first extended discussion of the Beowulfiana of Jumbo Comics No. 50 to offer suggestions on how this forgotten work can be of value in our research and teaching about Beowulf and its afterlife.
Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. He is founder of both The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and outgoing Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.
2. “ ‘Ka is a Wheel’: The Arthurian Cycle and its Context in Marvel’s Stephen King’s Dark Tower”
Carl Sell (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has distinguished itself as a series without an end and without a clear beginning; however, Marvel’s series Stephen King’s Dark Tower, which ran from 2007 to 2017 under the supervision of King himself, serves as a starting point to the adventures of Roland of Gilead, last in the line of Arthur Eld, the great king of All-World. Beginning with The Gunslinger Born, the Arthurian cycle repeats itself anew with Steven Deschain and the Affiliation, In-World’s incarnation of the Round Table and his treacherous advisor Marten Broadcloak, the man who steals Steven’s wife. As Roland’s story unfolds, he is caught up in the ka, the fate, of his long line, the fate of King Arthur Eld himself: death, renewal, betrayal, and the endless quest for the Dark Tower, the Grail-like salvation of All-World. Roland and his ka-tet, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns, the stand-ins for Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere to Roland’s Arthur, are caught up in the Arthurian mythos and its endless cycle—ka, after all, is a wheel—and their journey together complicates the standard Arthurian narrative and blends character roles, motivations, and tropes found within more standard Arthurian adaptations. The story of King Arthur—as Arthur Eld—is ever-present in the world of Stephen King’s Dark Tower and in the gunslingers themselves as the new model of Arthurian chivalry.
Carl Sell is a PhD student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He studies the Arthurian Legend and modern adaptations of the legend as well as adaptations of Robin Hood. He is interested in all things medieval and Early Modern.
3. “I’m Holding Out For A Hero: The Disparity Between Male Warriors and Valkyries in Norse Mythology and the Depiction of Valkyrie in the 21st Century”
Lindsey Poe (Georgia College and State University)
Norse mythology has many depictions of warriors. The stories we have today are presumably long held Icelandic oral tales that had previously been passed on generation by generation. The eddas, for instance, are old Norse oral myths that were written down in the 13th century by Snori Sturluson. The myths are traditionally pagan, however Snori Sturluson was compiling them while priests were attempting to convert the people of Iceland to Christianity. As such, the works became a blend of both Christian and pagan beliefs. While Icelandic peoples were still worshipping the Norse gods, Snori wove in a watered down version of the Christian message in his written Edda. Throughout these texts, we see descriptions of god-like men such as Thor and Loki as well as characters like Sigurd, who simply represent a traditional warrior male. Interestingly enough, some women like Brunhild are elevated and are portrayed as strong, battle ready individuals. They exist as supernatural beings who wield power over life and death. These warrior women are known as Valkyries. They are not merely women, rather, Valkyries hold a third classification of gender and exist outside of the binary. Through “The Elder Edda,” “The Prose Edda,” and “The Saga of the Volsungs” the characterizations of these two classes of warriors will be broken down and their differences analyzed. In addition, the Valkyries of literature will be compared to the depictions of these women in films and comics, particularly in the Marvel universe.
Lindsey Poe graduated with her bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Spanish from Georgia College and State University in the Spring of 2017. Following graduation, she applied to and got accepted at her alma mater, where she is currently in her second year of graduate school, working towards a master’s in English.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
CFP International Association for Robin Hood Studies (9/15/18; Kalamazoo ICMS 2019)
A notice from the Robin Hood Scholars Google Group. Please consider submitting a proposal, if you can:
A reminder that the International Association for Robin Hood Studies is sponsoring three sessions at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo (ICMS 2019), 9-12 May 2019. The session themes are: "Rhetoric of Resistance," "Social Bandits," and "Animal Crime."
The organizers of these three sessions are still accepting abstracts and PIFs for consideration.
See below for details and contact information about each session.
CFP: ICMS 2019 "Rhetoric of Resistance"
Though banished from society for real or alleged crimes, the deeds of outlaws are celebrated in popular narratives and ballads. Marginalized figures, they exist on the fringes of civilization in an adversarial relationship with the representatives of the law. In this session, we will address the political status of the Green Wood as a rhetorical concept of "safe harbor," a refuge for the displaced, the ostracized, and the dispossessed. We welcome papers on medieval narratives and ballads of such celebrated outlaws as Robin Hood, Hereward, Eustace the Monk, and Fouke Fitz Waryn, among others, and aim to address the ethical, political, and ecological issues raised by the rhetoric of this body of medieval literature. Collectively, the session and its participants will consider how outlaw rhetoric comments upon the justice system and its representatives, thereby formulating a medieval rhetoric of resistance.
This is a paper session (15-20 minute papers) for the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. Please send abstracts (150-250 words) and a completed PIF form (see links below) to Lydia Kertz at lydia[dot]kertz@gmail.com with a subject line "Rhetoric of Resistance" by September 15th, 2018.
CFP: ICMS 2019 “Social Bandits”
The idea of the social bandit, aka the good thief or the noble robber, reaches back millennia and is found around the globe. The social bandit, whether an individual or a group, historical or fictional, is seen by a segment of a society as protecting and assisting them. Even an historical social bandit may develop into myth or legend, and the legend lives and changes long after the originator is dead. The legend of a fictional social bandit likewise shifts over time; as Brian Alderson states that while many years ago he wrote that “’Every generation gets the Robin Hood that it deserves,’” he now believes that, “Every generation surely creates for itself the Robin Hood that it needs” (Forward to Kevin Carpenter’s 1995 Robin Hood: The Many Faces of that Celebrated English Outlaw, p. 9). This could be said not only of Robin Hood but of all fictional and even historical social bandits who are perceived as robbing the rich to help the poor in some way or other.
This session seeks 15- to 20-minute papers on any aspect of the social bandit, with special consideration given to papers focusing on the medieval and early modern periods. It is also worth remembering that one person’s social bandit is another’s common criminal; consider the viewpoint of the Sheriff of Nottingham, for example, or other antagonists, as well as that of people kindly disposed towards the outlaw.
Please send a short proposal and completed PIF form (see links below) to Sherron Lux at sherron_lux@yahoo.com BY noon (Central Time) on Wednesday 12 September 2018.
CFP: ICMS 2019 “Animal Crime”
Outlaws and outlawry are commonly associated with the human; yet, throughout the medieval period, animals were both the subject of crime, as when they were stolen, maimed, or killed, and its perpetrator; for example, the sow and piglets put on trial for murder for killing a 5-year old boy in Savigny, France in 1457. Documented legal trials from a variety of cultures featuring pigs, goats, horses, dogs and cows suggest that medieval understandings of the moral agency, ethics, and politics of outlaws and outlawry was decidedly not simply a human affair, but extended to our animal counterparts. Papers might consider the historically-documented or literary or textual (re)imagining of a trial or set of trials featuring an animal or animals; how animals interact with outlaw humans; the moral agency of animals on trial; the ethics of putting animals on trial; the ethics of outlawing animals; how animals can be constructed as outlaws philosophically, legally, or by other means, how and where animals appear in laws, the treatment of animal outlaws, animal exiles, and similar.
Send abstracts and a completed PIF form (see links below) to Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes at MElmes@lindenwood.edu by 15 September, 2018.
2019 Medieval Congress Participant Information Form (PIF):
https://www.wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u434/2018/medieval-2019-pif.pdf
or see https://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions for a form in Microsoft Word.
A reminder that the International Association for Robin Hood Studies is sponsoring three sessions at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo (ICMS 2019), 9-12 May 2019. The session themes are: "Rhetoric of Resistance," "Social Bandits," and "Animal Crime."
The organizers of these three sessions are still accepting abstracts and PIFs for consideration.
See below for details and contact information about each session.
CFP: ICMS 2019 "Rhetoric of Resistance"
Though banished from society for real or alleged crimes, the deeds of outlaws are celebrated in popular narratives and ballads. Marginalized figures, they exist on the fringes of civilization in an adversarial relationship with the representatives of the law. In this session, we will address the political status of the Green Wood as a rhetorical concept of "safe harbor," a refuge for the displaced, the ostracized, and the dispossessed. We welcome papers on medieval narratives and ballads of such celebrated outlaws as Robin Hood, Hereward, Eustace the Monk, and Fouke Fitz Waryn, among others, and aim to address the ethical, political, and ecological issues raised by the rhetoric of this body of medieval literature. Collectively, the session and its participants will consider how outlaw rhetoric comments upon the justice system and its representatives, thereby formulating a medieval rhetoric of resistance.
This is a paper session (15-20 minute papers) for the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. Please send abstracts (150-250 words) and a completed PIF form (see links below) to Lydia Kertz at lydia[dot]kertz@gmail.com with a subject line "Rhetoric of Resistance" by September 15th, 2018.
CFP: ICMS 2019 “Social Bandits”
The idea of the social bandit, aka the good thief or the noble robber, reaches back millennia and is found around the globe. The social bandit, whether an individual or a group, historical or fictional, is seen by a segment of a society as protecting and assisting them. Even an historical social bandit may develop into myth or legend, and the legend lives and changes long after the originator is dead. The legend of a fictional social bandit likewise shifts over time; as Brian Alderson states that while many years ago he wrote that “’Every generation gets the Robin Hood that it deserves,’” he now believes that, “Every generation surely creates for itself the Robin Hood that it needs” (Forward to Kevin Carpenter’s 1995 Robin Hood: The Many Faces of that Celebrated English Outlaw, p. 9). This could be said not only of Robin Hood but of all fictional and even historical social bandits who are perceived as robbing the rich to help the poor in some way or other.
This session seeks 15- to 20-minute papers on any aspect of the social bandit, with special consideration given to papers focusing on the medieval and early modern periods. It is also worth remembering that one person’s social bandit is another’s common criminal; consider the viewpoint of the Sheriff of Nottingham, for example, or other antagonists, as well as that of people kindly disposed towards the outlaw.
Please send a short proposal and completed PIF form (see links below) to Sherron Lux at sherron_lux@yahoo.com BY noon (Central Time) on Wednesday 12 September 2018.
CFP: ICMS 2019 “Animal Crime”
Outlaws and outlawry are commonly associated with the human; yet, throughout the medieval period, animals were both the subject of crime, as when they were stolen, maimed, or killed, and its perpetrator; for example, the sow and piglets put on trial for murder for killing a 5-year old boy in Savigny, France in 1457. Documented legal trials from a variety of cultures featuring pigs, goats, horses, dogs and cows suggest that medieval understandings of the moral agency, ethics, and politics of outlaws and outlawry was decidedly not simply a human affair, but extended to our animal counterparts. Papers might consider the historically-documented or literary or textual (re)imagining of a trial or set of trials featuring an animal or animals; how animals interact with outlaw humans; the moral agency of animals on trial; the ethics of putting animals on trial; the ethics of outlawing animals; how animals can be constructed as outlaws philosophically, legally, or by other means, how and where animals appear in laws, the treatment of animal outlaws, animal exiles, and similar.
Send abstracts and a completed PIF form (see links below) to Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes at MElmes@lindenwood.edu by 15 September, 2018.
2019 Medieval Congress Participant Information Form (PIF):
https://www.wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u434/2018/medieval-2019-pif.pdf
or see https://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions for a form in Microsoft Word.
Sunday, September 2, 2018
CFP Medievalism in Popular Culture (10/1/2018; Washington DC 4/17-20/2019)
Apologies again for the belated posting:
CFP: Medievalism in Popular Culture
PCA/ACA 2019 National Conference April 17th – 20th, 2019 – Washington, D.C.
The Medievalism in Popular Culture Area (including Anglo-Saxon, Robin Hood, Arthurian, Norse, and other materials connected to medieval studies) accepts papers on all topics that explore either popular culture during the Middle Ages or transcribe some aspect of the Middle Ages into the popular culture of later periods. These representations can occur in any genre, including film, television, novels, graphic novels, gaming, advertising, art, etc. For this year’s conference, I would like to encourage submissions on some of the following topics:
• The Arthurian World
• Medievalism and Superheroes
• “Medieval” as a social and political signifier
• Medievalism in Game of Thrones
• Representations of medieval/Renaissance nobility and royalty in television (Reign, The White Princess, Wolf Hall, etc.)
• Robin Hood
• Medievalism and Teaching
• Medievalism in Various Forms of Gaming
• Anglo-Saxon or Viking Representations
• Medievalism in Novels/Short Stories/Poems
If your topic idea does not fit into any of these categories, please feel free to submit your proposal as well. I would like to encourage as much participation as possible, and depending on submissions, I may rearrange the topic groupings.
All papers will be included in sessions with four presenters each, so plan to present on your topic for no more than 15 minutes, inclusive of any audio or visual materials.
Panel submissions are also welcome on any topic of medievalism. If you would like to propose a panel, please submit your complete panel to me directly at cfrancis@bloomu.edu. Individual papers will then have to be submitted to the PCA online system (see below).
Submission requirements:
Please submit a title and a 250 word abstract to http://conference.pcaaca.org. All submissions must be directed to the online database. Be sure to indicate whatever audio/visual needs you may have. Traditionally, all rooms at the PCA/ACA conference provide a projection screen with sound capability. Presenters are required to bring their own laptops and any special connectors.
Deadline for submission: October 1st, 2018
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Christina Francis, Associate Professor of English, Bloomsburg University, at cfrancis@bloomu.edu.
CFP: Medievalism in Popular Culture
PCA/ACA 2019 National Conference April 17th – 20th, 2019 – Washington, D.C.
The Medievalism in Popular Culture Area (including Anglo-Saxon, Robin Hood, Arthurian, Norse, and other materials connected to medieval studies) accepts papers on all topics that explore either popular culture during the Middle Ages or transcribe some aspect of the Middle Ages into the popular culture of later periods. These representations can occur in any genre, including film, television, novels, graphic novels, gaming, advertising, art, etc. For this year’s conference, I would like to encourage submissions on some of the following topics:
• The Arthurian World
• Medievalism and Superheroes
• “Medieval” as a social and political signifier
• Medievalism in Game of Thrones
• Representations of medieval/Renaissance nobility and royalty in television (Reign, The White Princess, Wolf Hall, etc.)
• Robin Hood
• Medievalism and Teaching
• Medievalism in Various Forms of Gaming
• Anglo-Saxon or Viking Representations
• Medievalism in Novels/Short Stories/Poems
If your topic idea does not fit into any of these categories, please feel free to submit your proposal as well. I would like to encourage as much participation as possible, and depending on submissions, I may rearrange the topic groupings.
All papers will be included in sessions with four presenters each, so plan to present on your topic for no more than 15 minutes, inclusive of any audio or visual materials.
Panel submissions are also welcome on any topic of medievalism. If you would like to propose a panel, please submit your complete panel to me directly at cfrancis@bloomu.edu. Individual papers will then have to be submitted to the PCA online system (see below).
Submission requirements:
Please submit a title and a 250 word abstract to http://conference.pcaaca.org. All submissions must be directed to the online database. Be sure to indicate whatever audio/visual needs you may have. Traditionally, all rooms at the PCA/ACA conference provide a projection screen with sound capability. Presenters are required to bring their own laptops and any special connectors.
Deadline for submission: October 1st, 2018
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Christina Francis, Associate Professor of English, Bloomsburg University, at cfrancis@bloomu.edu.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Kalamazoo 2019 CFPs
Apologies for the belatedness of this posting.
The call for papers for the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies is now available. Final deadllines are fast approaching.
Details at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.
The call for papers for the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies is now available. Final deadllines are fast approaching.
Details at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
CFP Old English Literature, Including Beowulf (7/31/2018; PAMLA 11/09-11/2018)
Of potential interest:
Old English Literature, Including Beowulf
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/30/old-english-literature-including-beowulf
deadline for submissions: July 31, 2018
full name / name of organization: Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
contact email: dupdegraff@apu.edu
The session "Old English Literature, Including Beowulf" is still accepting abstracts in July for the 2018 PAMLA conference, which will be held from November 9-11 at Western Washington University. This call is a deadline extension, so please submit abstracts soon if you are interested. Papers can explore any Old English texts, not just Beowulf.
Use the proposal submission system at https://www.pamla.org/2018/topic-areas
Direct questions to Dr. Derek Updegraff (dupdegraff@apu.edu).
Old English Literature, Including Beowulf
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/30/old-english-literature-including-beowulf
deadline for submissions: July 31, 2018
full name / name of organization: Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
contact email: dupdegraff@apu.edu
The session "Old English Literature, Including Beowulf" is still accepting abstracts in July for the 2018 PAMLA conference, which will be held from November 9-11 at Western Washington University. This call is a deadline extension, so please submit abstracts soon if you are interested. Papers can explore any Old English texts, not just Beowulf.
Use the proposal submission system at https://www.pamla.org/2018/topic-areas
Direct questions to Dr. Derek Updegraff (dupdegraff@apu.edu).
Thursday, June 28, 2018
CFP 7th Annual Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature Conference (1/31/2019; Cyprus 4/15-17/2019)
7th Annual Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature Conference
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/25/7th-annual-shakespeare-and-renaissance-literature-conference
deadline for submissions: January 31, 2019
full name / name of organization: Othello's Island 2019
contact email: info@othellosisland.org
7th Annual Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature Conference - Othello's Island 2019 - Nicosia, Cyprus
Othello's Island is a gathering of researchers from all over the world, interested in the work of Shakespeare and other writers from the renaissance and early modern periods and their legacies. Staged as part of the wider annual Othello's Island Conference on Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, now in its seventh year, the event is an opportunity to hear and discuss interesting new research by academics and research students, in one of the key settings of the renaissance world, the capital of the Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus, Nicosia.
The scope of the conference is very broad-ranging and so we welcome proposals for papers on a wide range of topics. For example, we are interested in papers on the writings of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the international scope of writers such as Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the relationship between literature and material culture during this period.
Other topics related to the overall theme of Shakespeare and his contemporaries are also welcome, such as the ongoing legacy of literature of this period into the modern world, the teaching of renaissance literature in schools, colleges and universities, and perhaps also connections between renaissance writers in Western Europe and the histories, peoples and cultures of the eastern Mediterranean.
The lead academics for the Colloquium will be Professor Lisa Hopkins, of Sheffield Hallam University, and Dr Laurence Publicover, of the University of Bristol.
We welcome papers from speakers who are research students, as well as established academics, and we have a proud history in welcoming speakers from non-western countries.
Deadline for proposed papers 31 January 2019
For full details visit http://othellosisland.wixsite.com/website-9
Monday, June 25, 2018
CFP More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture (9/15/2018; ICoMS Kalamazoo 5/9-12/2019)
I'm pleased to announce the call for our sponsored session for next year's International Congress on Medieval Studies. Do follow our Medieval Comics Project site (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/) for updates during the year.
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
9-12 May 2019
Proposals due by 15 September 2018
Myths and legends from the Middle Ages remain important links to the past, and there has been much interest in recasting this material into post-medieval contexts, forging a bridge between our forebears and our modern selves. Creators of our own time have been especially prolific in reviving these stories for new audiences. The tales told of the gods of the Norsemen are one such medieval legacy to find currency today, and they have appeared in a variety of media, including comics. For example, Marvel Comics’ representation of the Norse god Thor has been an important element of its shared world since his debut in 1962, and, in its incorporation of the character into the Marvel Universe, the publisher has done much in the service of Medieval Studies through its widespread dissemination across the globe of a relatable depiction of the Norse Gods and the intricate mythology associated with them. Marvel’s account of Thor and his compatriots has also featured in an array of media beyond the pages of its long-running comic book series, and the recent release of three feature films centered around the Asgardian as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the world’s most popular and prosperous movie and television franchises, has provided additional texts to further knowledge of the Nine Worlds and its inhabitants. Nonetheless, while Marvel remains the most prominent creator of modern tales of the Norse gods, the company does not hold the exclusive rights to this material. Other writers, comics creators, filmmakers, television producers, and game designers have also appropriated the stories and legends of the gods of Asgard and further individuals within the cosmology of the Nine Worlds for their own purposes, yet their work remain relatively unknown when compared to the phenomenal success and reach of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.
It is the intent of this session to shed the spotlight on these other examples of Nordic-inspired medievalisms and to bring them into ongoing conversations and debates about the reception of the medieval in the post-medieval world. We are especially interested in the reach of Marvel’s versions beyond the United States and how other approaches to the material engage with, react to, or ignore Marvel’s work. In addition, we hope to include coverage of texts from non-Western media (like anime and manga) that have embraced the traditions of the Norse gods in innovative ways.
Potential Topics: (a good starting point is the “Norse mythology in popular culture” page on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology_in_popular_culture)
Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should submit, no later than 15 September 2018, (1) paper proposal or abstract of approximately 500 words, (2) a 250 to 500-word academic biographical narrative, and (3) a completed Participant Information Form (accessible at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com using “More than Marvel” as their subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Congress (available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies).
Further information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and its outreach efforts can be accessed at The Medieval in Popular Culture (https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/).
Of especial interest, the Association hosts sites devoted to both medieval-themed films and comics. These can be accessed at Medieval Studies on Screen (http://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/) and The Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/), respectively.
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
54th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
9-12 May 2019
Proposals due by 15 September 2018
Myths and legends from the Middle Ages remain important links to the past, and there has been much interest in recasting this material into post-medieval contexts, forging a bridge between our forebears and our modern selves. Creators of our own time have been especially prolific in reviving these stories for new audiences. The tales told of the gods of the Norsemen are one such medieval legacy to find currency today, and they have appeared in a variety of media, including comics. For example, Marvel Comics’ representation of the Norse god Thor has been an important element of its shared world since his debut in 1962, and, in its incorporation of the character into the Marvel Universe, the publisher has done much in the service of Medieval Studies through its widespread dissemination across the globe of a relatable depiction of the Norse Gods and the intricate mythology associated with them. Marvel’s account of Thor and his compatriots has also featured in an array of media beyond the pages of its long-running comic book series, and the recent release of three feature films centered around the Asgardian as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the world’s most popular and prosperous movie and television franchises, has provided additional texts to further knowledge of the Nine Worlds and its inhabitants. Nonetheless, while Marvel remains the most prominent creator of modern tales of the Norse gods, the company does not hold the exclusive rights to this material. Other writers, comics creators, filmmakers, television producers, and game designers have also appropriated the stories and legends of the gods of Asgard and further individuals within the cosmology of the Nine Worlds for their own purposes, yet their work remain relatively unknown when compared to the phenomenal success and reach of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.
It is the intent of this session to shed the spotlight on these other examples of Nordic-inspired medievalisms and to bring them into ongoing conversations and debates about the reception of the medieval in the post-medieval world. We are especially interested in the reach of Marvel’s versions beyond the United States and how other approaches to the material engage with, react to, or ignore Marvel’s work. In addition, we hope to include coverage of texts from non-Western media (like anime and manga) that have embraced the traditions of the Norse gods in innovative ways.
Potential Topics: (a good starting point is the “Norse mythology in popular culture” page on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology_in_popular_culture)
- The Almighty Johnsons
- American Gods
- Day of the Giants (Lester del Rey)
- Fafner in the Azure
- Doctor Who
- Everworld (K. A. Applegate)
- Gods of Asgard (Erik A. Evensen)
- Graphic Myths and Legends series
- Hammer of the Gods (Michael Avon Oeming and Mark Wheatley)
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess
- The Incredible Hulk Returns
- Last Days of the Justice Society of America
- The Life Eaters (David Brin and Scott Hampton)
- Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (Rick Riordan)
- The Mask
- The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
- Mythquest
- Norse Myths: A Viking Graphic Novel series
- Odyssey of the Amazons (DC Comics)
- Oh! My Goddess!
- Ragnarok (Myung Jin Lee) / Ragnarok Online
- Stargate
- Supernatural
- Valhalla (Peter Madsens)
- Witches of East End
Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should submit, no later than 15 September 2018, (1) paper proposal or abstract of approximately 500 words, (2) a 250 to 500-word academic biographical narrative, and (3) a completed Participant Information Form (accessible at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com using “More than Marvel” as their subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Congress (available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies).
Further information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and its outreach efforts can be accessed at The Medieval in Popular Culture (https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/).
Of especial interest, the Association hosts sites devoted to both medieval-themed films and comics. These can be accessed at Medieval Studies on Screen (http://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/) and The Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/), respectively.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
CFP Studies in Medievallism 28 (8/1/2018)
From the International Society for the Study of Medievalism site (http://medievalism.net/?page_id=55):
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Though scholars have addressed many examples of medievalist
discrimination, much work remains to be done on the treatment of
systematically underrepresented and/or disenfranchised communities in
postmedieval responses to the Middle Ages. Moreover, the recent, highly
public exchange between Rachel Fulton Brown and Dorothy Kim suggests we,
as scholars of medievalism, need to examine discrimination among our
own ranks. What biases are suggested by our choice of topics, our
approaches to them, and the fora in which we discuss them? How are those
conversations shaped by publishers, universities, and other
institutions that represent the Establishment? If we wish to expose,
subvert, or avoid such prejudices, how can we best do so? Studies in Medievalism,
a peer-reviewed print and on-line publication, is seeking 3,000-word
(including notes) essays on these and related questions about
medievalism and about the scholarship on it, as well as 6,000 to
12,000-word (including notes) articles on any postmedieval responses to
the Middle Ages. Please send all submissions in English and Word to Karl
Fugelso (kfugelso@towson.edu) by August 1, 2018. CLICK HERE for the Style Sheet.
Studies in Medievalism is the oldest academic journal dedicated entirely to the study of post-medieval images and perceptions of the Middle Ages. It accepts articles on both scholarly and popular works, with particular interest in the interaction between scholarship and re-creation. Its aim is to promote the interdisciplinary study of medievalism as a contemporary cultural phenomenon. Originally published privately, Studies in Medievalism is currently published by Boydell & Brewer, Ltd.. Click on the below links to Back Volumes for details and to order online.
Submissions and inquiries regarding submissions should be directed to Karl Fugelso (kfugelso@towson.edu). Please follow the Style Sheet when preparing your submission for consideration.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Studies in Medievalism XXVIII
Though scholars have addressed many examples of medievalist
discrimination, much work remains to be done on the treatment of
systematically underrepresented and/or disenfranchised communities in
postmedieval responses to the Middle Ages. Moreover, the recent, highly
public exchange between Rachel Fulton Brown and Dorothy Kim suggests we,
as scholars of medievalism, need to examine discrimination among our
own ranks. What biases are suggested by our choice of topics, our
approaches to them, and the fora in which we discuss them? How are those
conversations shaped by publishers, universities, and other
institutions that represent the Establishment? If we wish to expose,
subvert, or avoid such prejudices, how can we best do so? Studies in Medievalism,
a peer-reviewed print and on-line publication, is seeking 3,000-word
(including notes) essays on these and related questions about
medievalism and about the scholarship on it, as well as 6,000 to
12,000-word (including notes) articles on any postmedieval responses to
the Middle Ages. Please send all submissions in English and Word to Karl
Fugelso (kfugelso@towson.edu) by August 1, 2018. CLICK HERE for the Style Sheet.Studies in Medievalism is the oldest academic journal dedicated entirely to the study of post-medieval images and perceptions of the Middle Ages. It accepts articles on both scholarly and popular works, with particular interest in the interaction between scholarship and re-creation. Its aim is to promote the interdisciplinary study of medievalism as a contemporary cultural phenomenon. Originally published privately, Studies in Medievalism is currently published by Boydell & Brewer, Ltd.. Click on the below links to Back Volumes for details and to order online.
Submissions and inquiries regarding submissions should be directed to Karl Fugelso (kfugelso@towson.edu). Please follow the Style Sheet when preparing your submission for consideration.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Women Warriors and Popular Culture Info
Here are the complete details for the "Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space"sessions. Full conference information can be found at https://nepca.blog/2018-conference/.
2018 Annual Conference of the Northeast Popular
Culture/American Culture Association
Worcester State University (Worcester, Massachusetts)
19-20 October 2018
Friday, 19 October
Session I: 2-3:15
Women Warriors and
Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space I
Sponsored by the
Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in
Popular Culture
Chair: June-Ann
Greeley (Sacred Heart University)
From Eastern Legends to Western Popular Cultural Symbols:
Japanese and Chinese Female Warriors
Mayra Bonet (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Joan of Arc’s Cinematic Siege Arsenal in Cecil B.
DeMille’s Joan the Woman (1916)
Scott Manning (American Military University)
Stranger Weeping: Considering Margery Kempe through
Eleven in Stranger Things
Anna McGill (Louisiana State University)
Red Widows and Nihilist Queens: Russian Women in the
American Imagination
Chelsea Gibson (Binghamton University)
Friday, 19 October
Session II: 3:30-4:45
Women Warriors and
Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space II
Sponsored by the
Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in
Popular Culture
Chair: Cheryl Hunter
(UMASS Lowell and SNHU)
Cyborgian Versus Cosmic Skin: The Fires of Joan of Arc in
C. L. Moore's “No Woman Born” (1944) and Lidia Yuknavitch's The Book of
Joan: A Novel (2017)
Jennifer Jodell (Univ. Minnesota-Twin Cities
The Song of the Valkyries: Warrior Women in Recent Film
Dor Yaccobi (Tel Aviv University)
“If I Am to Die Tonight, Let Me Die a Fighter”: Gail
Simone’s Reconstructing of Red Sonja
Peter Cullen Bryan (Penn State University)
Correcting Wonder Woman: The Power of Patty Jenkins
Erin Lafond (Boston College)
Women Warriors Sessions Update
I am pleased to announce that the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association has accepted our proposed sessions on "Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations Across Time and Space" for its 2018 meeting at Worcester State University.
Complete details will be posted soon.
Michael A. Torregrossa
Founder, The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Complete details will be posted soon.
Michael A. Torregrossa
Founder, The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
CFP Charm (for Medieval/Renaissance Area of MAPACA) (6/30/2018)
Posted on behalf of the organizers.
MAPACA (The Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association)
29th Annual Conference
Lord Baltimore Hotel
Baltimore, MD
November 8-10, 2018
CFP: Special Panel, Medieval/Renaissance Area
“Charm”
This year MAPACA will host its conference in Baltimore, which is known as "Charm City." In honor of this city's designation, the Medieval/Renaissance area is issuing a call for papers for a special panel revolving around the theme of "charm." From charmed objects and cities to charmed (and charming) people, charms pervade the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This panel will investigate how modern works continue to deploy "charm" and the ways in which their use of this concept connects to the medieval and/or Renaissance eras. Please submit proposals for this special panel to www.mapaca.net, indicating in the body of your abstract that you would like for your presentation to be considered part of the special panel.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
CFP Beowulf to Shakespeare Area 2018 (6/30/18; Baltimore)
Forwarded on behalf of the area chairs; we are sponsoring two sessions for this upcoming conference.
MAPACA 2018
Baltimore, MD
November 8-10, 2018
Beowulf to Shakespeare
The wealth of material found in the Middle Ages and Renaissance continues to attract modern audiences with new creative works in areas such as fiction, film, and computer games, which make use of medieval and/or early modern themes, characters, or plots. This is a call for papers or panels dealing with any aspect of medieval or Renaissance representation in popular culture. Topics for this area include, but are not limited to the following:
-Modern portrayals of any aspect of Arthurian legends or Shakespeare
-Modern versions or adaptations of any other Medieval or Renaissance writer
-Modern investigations of historical figures such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Richards, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots
-Teaching medieval and Renaissance texts to modern students
-Medieval or Renaissance links to fantasy fiction, gaming, comics, video games, etc.
- Medieval or Renaissance Dramas
-The Middle Ages or Renaissance on the Internet
-Renaissance fairs
Panel and Workshop proposals are also welcome.
In Addition, this year we are seeking proposals on Charms and Charming in recognition of Baltimore being considered “Charm City”
Submit a 250 word proposal including A/V requests and a brief biography by June 30, 2018 to our online submission form at mapaca.net
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly
Diana Vecchio dmvecchio@mail.widener.edu
Mary Behrman behrm5@aol.com
Co-Chairs Medieval and Renaissance
MAPACA 2018
Baltimore, MD
November 8-10, 2018
Beowulf to Shakespeare
The wealth of material found in the Middle Ages and Renaissance continues to attract modern audiences with new creative works in areas such as fiction, film, and computer games, which make use of medieval and/or early modern themes, characters, or plots. This is a call for papers or panels dealing with any aspect of medieval or Renaissance representation in popular culture. Topics for this area include, but are not limited to the following:
-Modern portrayals of any aspect of Arthurian legends or Shakespeare
-Modern versions or adaptations of any other Medieval or Renaissance writer
-Modern investigations of historical figures such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Richards, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots
-Teaching medieval and Renaissance texts to modern students
-Medieval or Renaissance links to fantasy fiction, gaming, comics, video games, etc.
- Medieval or Renaissance Dramas
-The Middle Ages or Renaissance on the Internet
-Renaissance fairs
Panel and Workshop proposals are also welcome.
In Addition, this year we are seeking proposals on Charms and Charming in recognition of Baltimore being considered “Charm City”
Submit a 250 word proposal including A/V requests and a brief biography by June 30, 2018 to our online submission form at mapaca.net
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly
Diana Vecchio dmvecchio@mail.widener.edu
Mary Behrman behrm5@aol.com
Co-Chairs Medieval and Renaissance
Sunday, June 3, 2018
CFP Arthurian Legend in the 20th & 21st Centuries (updated deadline 7/1/2018)
My thanks to Susan Austin for passing this along.
Call for chapter proposals in “ Arthurian Legend in the 20th & 21st Centuries”
Vernon Press invites chapter proposals on Arthurian Legend in the 20th & 21st Centuries. The volume will be edited by Susan Austin, Associate Professor of English at Landmark College in Putney, VT.
Nostalgia for an imagined and glorious past has influenced the evolution of stories about King Arthur and his court for centuries. According to the moods and needs of the period, new characters were added to demonstrate or question the excellence of these paragons, or to replace those who had perhaps become too human or simply gone out of style. New plot motifs, such as the search for the grail and Lancelot’s love for Guinevere became part of the legend.
The past hundred years has brought the legend of King Arthur to Broadway, television, comedy, and Disney; countless authors have appropriated or reimagined the legend and elements from it. How have films, television shows, games, comics, and books for all audiences and ages employed Arthurian characters, themes, motifs, and plots? How have these changes reflected shifting cultural attitudes and values? What do recent retellings and appropriations of Arthurian legend tell us about ourselves and the generations immediately preceding us? How have these changes reflected shifting cultural attitudes and values? What do we want and need from King Arthur and his court?
Possible contributions may include the following topics (non-comprehensive list, open to suggestions):
- How do references to and re-imaginings of Arthurian legend appear in literature, film, television and popular culture in general from 1960 onward?
- How have films, games, comics, and books for all ages employed Arthurian characters, themes, motifs, and plots?
Deadline for proposals: July 1, 2018
How to submit your proposal
Please submit one-page proposals including an annotated summary, a short biographical note and (if available) a list of similar titles.
For further questions or to submit your proposal, you can write to: SAustin@landmark.edu or carolina.sanchez@vernonpress.com
A paper that has been published previously may not be included.
About the publisher
Vernon Press is an independent publisher of scholarly books in the social sciences and humanities. Our mission is to serve the community of academic and professional scholars by providing a visible, quality platform for the dissemination of emergent ideas. We work closely with authors, academic associations, distributors and library information specialists to identify and develop high quality, high impact titles. For more information, visit www.vernonpress.com
Call for chapter proposals in “ Arthurian Legend in the 20th & 21st Centuries”
Vernon Press invites chapter proposals on Arthurian Legend in the 20th & 21st Centuries. The volume will be edited by Susan Austin, Associate Professor of English at Landmark College in Putney, VT.
Nostalgia for an imagined and glorious past has influenced the evolution of stories about King Arthur and his court for centuries. According to the moods and needs of the period, new characters were added to demonstrate or question the excellence of these paragons, or to replace those who had perhaps become too human or simply gone out of style. New plot motifs, such as the search for the grail and Lancelot’s love for Guinevere became part of the legend.
The past hundred years has brought the legend of King Arthur to Broadway, television, comedy, and Disney; countless authors have appropriated or reimagined the legend and elements from it. How have films, television shows, games, comics, and books for all audiences and ages employed Arthurian characters, themes, motifs, and plots? How have these changes reflected shifting cultural attitudes and values? What do recent retellings and appropriations of Arthurian legend tell us about ourselves and the generations immediately preceding us? How have these changes reflected shifting cultural attitudes and values? What do we want and need from King Arthur and his court?
Possible contributions may include the following topics (non-comprehensive list, open to suggestions):
- How do references to and re-imaginings of Arthurian legend appear in literature, film, television and popular culture in general from 1960 onward?
- How have films, games, comics, and books for all ages employed Arthurian characters, themes, motifs, and plots?
Deadline for proposals: July 1, 2018
How to submit your proposal
Please submit one-page proposals including an annotated summary, a short biographical note and (if available) a list of similar titles.
For further questions or to submit your proposal, you can write to: SAustin@landmark.edu or carolina.sanchez@vernonpress.com
A paper that has been published previously may not be included.
About the publisher
Vernon Press is an independent publisher of scholarly books in the social sciences and humanities. Our mission is to serve the community of academic and professional scholars by providing a visible, quality platform for the dissemination of emergent ideas. We work closely with authors, academic associations, distributors and library information specialists to identify and develop high quality, high impact titles. For more information, visit www.vernonpress.com
Warrior Women Update
Many thanks to those that submitted proposals or passed along the call for papers for our session on on Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations across Time and Space. We received enough proposals to run two full panels.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
CFP Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations Across Time and Space (6/1/2018; NEPCA 10/19-20/2018)
Women Warriors and Popular Culture: Representations Across
Time and Space
Panel Proposed for the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and
Science Fiction) Area
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of
Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
2018 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American
Culture Association (NEPCA)
Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts
19-20 October 2018
Proposals due 1 June 2018
Women warriors have been important figures throughout history,
but their reception and representation in popular culture is often overlooked.
As a means of furthering discussion and debate on these indivuduals, the Association
for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular
Culture invites paper proposals that explore the histories, mythologies,
cultural presentations and workings of women warriors across time and space. We
welcome papers that delve into the popular cultural appropriation of notable
women warriors, such as Boudicca, Joanna of Flanders Joan of Arc, or Grace O’Malley,
as well as papers that address the place and signification of women warriors in
the historical and mythic fiction of popular culture (TV, movies, comics, etc.),
such as Snow White and the Huntsman, The Vikings, and Wonder Woman.
Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes in length
depending on final panel size.
Directions for Submission:
Please contact the organizers Michael A. Torregrossa and
June-Ann Greeley at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com,
using “Women Warriors and Popular Culture” as your subject line, with any
questions in advance of the 1 June 2018 deadline.
Submissions for the panel will be made by the organizers to
NEPCA. We need contact information, academic affiliation (if any), an academic
biographical statement (between 50 and 200 words), a paper title (no more than
60 characters), and a paper abstract (no more than 250 words). Please send this
to us at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com, using “Women Warriors
and Popular Culture” as your subject line.
Membership in NEPCA is required for participation and annual
dues are included in conference registration fees. Further details are
available at https://nepca.blog/membership-information/.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Kalamazoo 2018 Session Bios
Here again is a listing of our sessions for this week's International Congress on Medieval Studies. Biographical statements are included for each participant. A PDF version can be accessed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K09OVZRy8a2BDs4R495_U_bLn4n0aVMk/view?usp=sharing.
53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University
10- 13 May 2018
Saturday, 5/12, at 1:30 PM
417 SCHNEIDER 1160
Past, Present, Future: Medieval Monsters and Their
Afterlives I
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Anna Czarnowus, Univ. of Silesia
Anna Czarnowus is Adjunct Professor
at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland).
She specializes in Middle English literature and published her doctorate as Inscription
on the Body: Monstrous Children in Middle English Literature (Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2009). Her Habilitatzionsschrift was published as the
monograph Fantasies of the Other’s Body: Monstrous Children in Middle
English Literature (Peter Lang, 2013). She has written on Chaucer and the
Chaucerians, Middle English romance, medieval literature from the perspective
of postcolonial and gender studies, medievalisms, and litanic poetry. Her
recent interests include ecocriticism and the history of emotions.
Giants in the History of England: The Final Frontier and
Steven Spielberg’s The BFG
Geneviève Pigeon, Univ. du Québec–Montréal
Geneviève Pigeon studies Medieval
Literature and England’s Arthurian founding myth. She currently teaches at
Université du Québec's Religous Studies Department and is a member of both the
Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique (Université de Bretagne occidentale,
France) and the Centre de recherche internationale sur l'imaginaire. Most
recently, Geneviève was a guest editor for the newly released number 35 issue
of Religiologiques, in which she co-authored
an article about the celebration of Halloween in Québec. The journal is free
and can be accessed at http://www.religiologiques.uqam.ca/. Her work often focuses
on the written representation of landscapes as reservoirs of memory, and she is
especially intrigued (as today’s paper illustrates) by their unusual
inhabitants. Geneviève believes that these figures—fairies, giants, hermits,
magicians, animals and other fascinating creatures—are the most interesting aspects
of any story.
The Monstrous Host: Hospitality and Hostility in Kazuo
Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant
Matthew Vernon, Univ. of California–Davis
Matthew Vernon is an assistant
professor of English Literature at the University of California, Davis. His
current research project studies African-American mobilizations of medieval
texts and iconography. He has published on Gerald of Wales and the problems of
defining ethnicity as well as on race and nostalgia in the Marvel film Captain
America: The First Avenger.
Merlin the White(washed): The Entertainment Industry’s
Evasion of Merlin’s Demonic Heritage
Michael A. Torregrossa
Michael A. Torregrossa is a
graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut
(Storrs) and a devoted follower of Merlin’s career on screen. His published
work on the subject includes “Merlin Goes to the Movies: The Changing Role of Merlin
in Cinema Arthuriana” in Film &
History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies,
“Merlin at the Multiplex: A Filmography of Merlin in Arthurian Film, Television
and Videocassette 1920-1998” in the 1999
Film & History CD-ROM Annual, “The Way of the Wizard: Reflections of
Merlin on Film” in The Medieval Hero on
Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, and entries on “Television”
in the 2001 and 2005 supplements to The
Arthurian Encyclopedia. In addition, Michael is founder of The
Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, The
Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in
Popular Culture, and The Northeast Alliance for Scholarship on the Fantastic,
as well as the outgoing Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area
Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association, a
position he has held since 2009. He welcomes your help in furthering the
missions of these various groups.
A Rapacious Daemon in King Arthur’s Court: Re-designating Merlin
as a Demonic Rapist in Arthuriana [note
corrected title]
Tirumular Narayanan, California State Univ.–Chico
Tirumular (Drew) Narayanan is a
second-year art history graduate student at California State University, Chico.
After finishing his B.A. in Medieval Studies at UC Davis, Drew became an
adjutant to Dr. Susan Landauer, who was writing Of Dogs and Other People: The Art of Roy De Forest., and he would
later become the author of the illustrated chronology in Landauer’s book.
Drew’s interest in scholarship heavily revolves around “othered” characters,
whether they be demons, impaired persons, or double-chinned Roman emperors, and
he is also a promising scholar of medieval-themed comics and, last year,
presented at a Kalamazoo session where he discussed Ableism in Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant. In addition, he hopes to
be announcing the publication of his paper, Kull:
To Be King, within the coming year. In his free time, Drew is a voracious
consumer of Arthuriana and enjoys watching re-runs of Scooby Doo with his fiancé Kelsey.
Saturday, 5/12, at 3:30 PM
469 SCHNEIDER 1160
Past, Present, Future: Medieval Monsters and Their
Afterlives II
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Whitney Dirks-Schuster, Grand Valley State Univ.
Whitney Dirks-Schuster is a
Visiting Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University (MI). She
received her PhD in History at The Ohio State University in 2013. Whitney
specializes in early modern British social and medical history with an emphasis
on bodies and unusual anatomies, and she is under contract with Amsterdam
University Press for her first book, Monstrous Bodies and Knowledge Transfer
in Early Modern England. The book revolves around an unique
legal case, involving the alleged kidnapping of a pair of neonatal conjoined
twins born in 1680, which is contextualized in terms of broader cultural
beliefs about monstrosity between 1450 and 1800. She most recently
published “ ‘Weighty Celebrity’: Corpulency, Monstrosity, and Freakery in
Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century England” in Monstrosity, Disability, and
the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World (forthcoming).
Future projects will examine the centuries-long urban legend of a pig-faced
woman residing in London and the popular versus medical understandings of
intersexuality in early modern England.
Haunting Poltergeists: Historical and Cinematic Representations
of Ghosts as Demonic Monsters
Rex Barnes, Columbia Univ.
Rex Barnes is a doctoral candidate
in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, where he has taught
classes in early and medieval Christian history, as well as premodern magic and
witchcraft. He holds a master’s degree in the history and philosophy of
religion from Concordia University in Montreal, QC, and a bachelor’s degree in
political theory from the same institution. Currently he is working to finish
his dissertation, “Haunting Matters: Demonic Infestation in Northern Europe,
1400-1600,” under the direction of Euan Cameron. This interdisciplinary study
investigates the twin discourses of social and religious reform in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from the perspective of demonological
literature.
The Queer and the Dead: Medieval Revenants and Their
Afterlives in In the Flesh [via
Skype]
Elliot Mason, Concordia Univ. Montréal
Elliot Mason is a second-year PhD
student in Concordia University's Department of Religions and Cultures, working
under the supervision of Dr. Lorenzo DiTommaso. He has completed Master’s
degrees in Russian language and literature at the University of Waterloo,
Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and Religious Studies at the
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Elliot’s previous research has focused on both
the biblical sea monster Leviathan and the fallen angel Azazel. As a queer,
trans person, he is particularly interested in the ways in which the history of
monstrosity intersects with queer marginalities and, especially, the
re-purposing of historical monsters as queer icons.
The Witcher’s Anal Eye: Monstrous Technologies of the
Medievalized Other in Witcher 3: Wild
Hunt
Kevin Moberly , Old Dominion Univ.; Brent Addison Moberly,
Indiana Univ.–Bloomington
Kevin Moberly is an Associate
Professor of Rhetoric, Digital Media, and Game Studies in the English
department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. His research
focuses on understanding how digital manifestations of popular culture reflect,
contribute to, and transform contemporary cultural, political, and historical
discourses. In particular, Kevin is interested in the ways that contemporary
computer games encode labor, often blurring already uneasy distinctions between
work and play. His work has appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals and
scholarly collections, including Computers and Composition, Eludimos, Kairos,
and Works and Days. Kevin has received a number of awards while at ODU,
including a Hixon Fellowship from the ODU English department, a university
Teaching with Technology Award, and an Entsminger Entrepreneurial Fellowship.
Brent Moberly is a software
developer at Indiana University, Bloomington. He holds a Ph.D. in medieval
literature from the same institution. His dissertation focused on changing
representations of labor in late-medieval England, and his current research
interests include Victorian and Edwardian medievalism, contemporary popular
medievalism (neo- or otherwise), and labor history and studies.
Kevin and Brent have collaborated
on a number of articles on medievalism in contemporary computer games and
popular culture, most recently: “Gay Habits Set Straight: Fan Culture and
Authoritative Praxis in Ready Player One,”
in The Year's Work In Medievalism 31 (2016); “Swords, Sorcery, and
Steam: The Industrial Dark Ages in Contemporary Medievalism,” in Studies In
Medievalism XXIV: Medievalism on the Margins (2015); “Play,” in Medievalism:
Key Critical Terms, ed. Richard Usk and Elizabeth Emery (2014); and
“There Is No Word For Work In the Dragon Tongue,” in The Year’s Work in
Medievalism 28 (2013). They are currently working to finish a
book-length study examining how contemporary medieval-themed computer games
function within and against the larger material context of late capitalism.
The Monstrous Mongols in Medieval Eurasia and Modern Day
Film
Colleen C. Ho, Univ. of Maryland
Colleen C. Ho is a Lecturer in the History Department at the University
of Maryland, College Park. Recipient of national awards like NEH fellowships
and a Fulbright, her current research projects include the portrayal of the
Mongols in film and female piety in medieval Europe. Colleen’s teaching
interests include world history from Jesus to the plague, race and religion in
the Middle Ages, and the Mongol Empire. She confesses that she doesn’t watch Game
of Thrones.
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