Sponsored Sessions at International Conference on Medievalism This Week

36th Annual Conference on Medievalism Schedule

4-6 November 2021

Virtual Event hosted by Delta College

Full conference schedule available at https://medievalism.net/conference/.


Reshaping the Middle Ages in and through Asian Popular Culture Sessions



Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and the Mutual Images Research Association.




FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Session 5b (9-10:30 AM EDT)



Reshaping the Middle Ages in and through Asian Popular Culture, 1

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and the Mutual Images Research Association



Organizer and moderator: Michael Torregrossa



Snakes and Ladders: The Serpent Allegory in Medieval Religious Art - Priyanka Das, Presidency University Kolkata (student)


Priyanka Das is an undergraduate student of English Literature at Presidency University Kolkata. She was selected at the Virtual Global Leaders Programme 2020 and Global Leaders Virtual Cultural Hackathon 2021 organized by the University of Exeter and Immersive Trails, erstwhile known as Heritage Walks Calcutta. Her research interests broadly encompass Medievalism, Colonialism, and Art. She has presented papers pertaining to these interests at several conferences including– the International Conference on Global Medievalism in Brazil and asynchronous Twitter Conference on Medieval Ages and Modern Games in the UK.




The Female King Arthur; The Moefication of Historical Characters in the Media Mix Called Fate - William Schrage, the University of Groningen


William Schrage recently graduated in his MA International Relations & International Organizations, East Asia track at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Before, he did a BA in History. His focus is on East Asian popular culture, heritage preservation and international relations. His forthcoming publication about the representation of otaku in Ore no imōto ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai will be published by the University of Minnesota Press in spring 2022.



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6

Session 10b (9-10:30 AM EDT)

Taiwanese roundtable - Borderlands and Berserkers: Understanding Western Culture in Taiwan

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture


Organizer and moderator: Carolyn F. Scott, National Cheng Kung University


Lo-Yi Zoe Wu; Wen-Chi Stella Chang; Wen-Tien Luthien Chuang; Shan-Yo Jo-Ann Fang, Students at National Cheng Kung University



Session 13b (1:45-3 PM EDT)

Reshaping the Middle Ages in and through Asian Popular Culture, 2

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and the Mutual Images Research Association


Organizer and moderator: Michael Torregrossa


Reading Malory by Moonlight: The Arthurian Theme in Sailor Moon - Matthew S. Dentice, University of Nevada


Matthew S. Dentice is an author and academic currently pursuing a Ph.D. in literature with medieval focus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the recipient of the Medieval Association of the Pacific’s Founders’ Prize for 2019 and of the Brooks-Hudgins Essay Award for 2020. His fictional work has been published by The Write Launch and The Closed Eye Open and is scheduled to appear in two upcoming print anthologies from Alternating Current Press and Something or Other Publishing. As an essayist, his work has been published by Bad Bride and in ABC News’ Religion and Ethics section.



“There are no innocents, not anymore”: Holocaust and Medievalism in the Japanese Anime Castlevania - Priyanka Das, Presidency University (Kolkata, India)


Priyanka Das is Assistant Professor of English at Presidency University, Kolkata, India. Her MA, MPhil and PhD is from Center for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She specializes in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and Popular Culture, especially television series, memes and video games. Her PhD is on Game of Thrones, and she has extensively published on American, Indian and Korean media in international peer-reviewed journals. She is currently working on the gaming boom in Asian dramas and her forthcoming publication from Routledge is a co-edited volume on Holocaust and Popular Culture.


Monster Girls in the Neomedieval Mangaesque Imagination: Between Melusinian Tales and Interspecies Eroticism - Maxime Danesin, Independent Scholar


Maxime DANESIN obtained his PhD in Modern Literature at Tours University (France), and is now an independent researcher based in France. His primary field of research is European literary and cultural transfers in Japan, with a focus on neomedievalism in Mangaesque literature. He is also the co-founder and vice-president of Mutual Images Research Association (MIRA), an organisation dedicated to develop the research on the cultural relations between Japan and other countries.

A Review of Scholarship on Asian Medievalisms - Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar


Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) and works as an adjunct instructor in English in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He is also the founder of The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and serves as editor for the organization's various blogs and moderator of its discussion lists. Michael’s research interests include the adaptation of the medieval into modern media, and, while he does not profess to be an expert on Asian popular culture, he gave one of the first presentations on medieval themes in the Fate series at a meeting of the Medieval Academy of America in 2010. His presentation today continues his exploration into the field of medievalist anime and manga studies.