Kalamazoo 2026 Day Two - Monsters and Business Meeting

Two events upcoming for Day Two of the 2026 International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Magics, Marvels, Metamorphoses, and Monsters: Horrors of the Medieval Past, Present, and Future

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)/Online through Confex

Session 282: Friday, 15 May 2026, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM EDT

Co-Sponsored by Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association; Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Society for the Study of Medievalism

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College; June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart University.

Full details at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/2026/05/kalamazoo-2026-sponsored-session-magics.html. 

Getting Medieval on Popular Culture: Gathering, Information Session, and Business Meeting for the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)/Online through Confex

Friday, 15 May 2026, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM EDT

Sponsored By: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, and Medieval Comics Project. 

CFP Session Sponsored by the International Peal-Poet Society (9/15/2025; Kalamazoo 2026)

Posted on behalf of the International Pearl-Poet Society:

I apologize for the lateness of this email, but as the deadline for paper proposals for ICMS 2026 approaches (Monday September 15), I want to make everyone aware that the International Pearl-Poet Society is sponsoring/co-sponsoring THREE paper sessions. You can view them on ICMS’s official “Call for Papers,” which is open for proposal submission. IPPS sessions can be accessed directly at: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Index/SponsorList~International%20Pearl-Poet%20Society.



The titles of the sessions as well as information about delivery modes are as follows.

From Here to Eternity: Perspectives on Time in the Works of the Pearl-Poet [Virtual]

Time as an existential concept flows consistently through the poems of the Pearl-Poet. From the conversations of the Pearl Maiden and the Dreamer contrasting human existence and the bliss of eternal life in Heaven in Pearl to the relentless passing of (liturgical) time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, these poems audaciously juxtapose time and eternity, life and death, vigor and decline in its various narratives. Our session invites readers to explore some of the many facets of time pertinent to a late-medieval English poet and his audiences.

Geographies of the Pearl-Poet: Spaces and Places in the Corpus [Virtual]

The Pearl poems take place in strategically-chosen geographic locations and visionary landscapes. The biblical poems offer detailed descriptions of ancient world cities like Babylon and Nineveh, and the romance-world poems introduce conventional settings (eg. the court of King Arthur) as well as more esoteric spaces like the Wirral forest in SGGK or the visionary garden in Pearl. This session invites readers of the collected poems to engage the broader literary critical conversations around place, to acknowledge poetic setting as crucial to a deeper understanding of both poem(s) and poet in their medieval context.

Medieval Roots and Modern Branches: Medieval Texts and Tolkien's Works [Virtual]

This session is co-sponsored by the Pearl-Poet Society and Tolkien at Kalamazoo. We have offered virtual sessions together during the past four years. Members are currently working on a special issue of the journal Enarratio on ecological themes in the works of the Pearl-Poet and J.R.R. Tolkien. We would benefit from the opportunity to gather and present new ideas in a paper session. The focus on “Medieval Roots and Modern Branches” is particularly timely in light of the work being done on this special issue and on the reception of the theme represented in the “The Rings of Power” series on Prime and the recent release of the animated film set in Middle-earth, “The Ride of the Rohirrim.”



All paper proposals must be submitted through the ICMS website no later than 15 September 2025. While proposals must be submitted through the website to be considered, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about sponsored sessions, the proposal submission process, session delivery modes, and so on.


Cordially,

Jonathan Juilfs

Vice President, International Pearl-Poet Society

Final Call for Papers Reminder: Kalamazoo, Leeds, and NeMLA 2026

We are sponsoring a number of sessions for 2026. All are hybrid or remote. Please consider submitting a proposal and/or sharing with your network.

Thanks,

Michael

They are:

NeMLA 2026 (Pittsburgh/Online)

CFP Twainian Regeneration: Adaptations of the Works, Life, and Legacy of Mark Twain (NeMLA Session 21918) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; Pittsburgh 3/5-8/2026). Sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of America. Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-twainian-regeneration-adaptations.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143541544/2025_CFP_Twainian_Regeneration_Adaptations_of_the_Works_Life_and_Legacy_of_Mark_Twain_NeMLA_Session_21918_Hybrid_9_30_2025_Pittsburgh_3_5_8_2026_.) 

CFP Uncharted Medievalisms: Medieval Borrowings in Games (NeMLA Session 21633) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; Pittsburgh 3/5-8/2026). Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-uncharted-medievalisms-medieval.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143541634/2025_CFP_Uncharted_Medievalisms_Medieval_Borrowings_in_Games_NeMLA_Session_21633_Hybrid_9_30_2025_Pittsburgh_3_5_8_2026_.) 

International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026 (Kalamazoo/Online)

CFP Magics, Marvels, Metamorphoses, and Monsters: Horrors of the Medieval Past, Present, and Future (Virtual) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Details at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-magics-marvels-metamorphoses-and.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540648/2025_CFP_Magics_Marvels_Metamorphoses_and_Monsters_Horrors_of_the_Medieval_Past_Present_and_Future_Virtual_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated: A Medieval Comics Project Team-up (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Medieval Comics Project, International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Details at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2025/07/cfp-medieval-classics-reillustrated.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540696/2025_CFP_Medieval_Classics_Re_Illustrated_A_Medieval_Comics_Project_Team_up_Hybrid_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP Remembering the Middle Ages: Memories of the Medieval Across Time and Space (Roundtable) (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Association for Robin Hood Studies. Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/07/cfp-remembering-middle-ages-memories-of.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540764/2025_CFP_Remembering_the_Middle_Ages_Memories_of_the_Medieval_Across_Time_and_Space_Roundtable_Hybrid_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP (Re)Visiting the Reel/Un-Reel Middle Ages: Pathways to Furthering Research on Medievalisms on Screen (Roundtable) (Virtual) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Details at https://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/2025/09/cfp-revisiting-reelun-reel-middle-ages.html. Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143834155/2025_CFP_Re_Visiting_the_Reel_Un_Reel_Middle_Ages_Pathways_to_Furthering_Research_on_Medievalisms_on_Screen_Roundtable_Virtual_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

International Medieval Congress 2026 (Leeds/Online)

CFP Medieval Temporalities and Comics (Hybrid) (9/20/2025; Leeds IMC 7/6-9/2026). Details at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-medieval-temporalities-and-comics.html. (PDF version as https://www.academia.edu/143540880/2025_CFP_Medieval_Temporalities_and_Comics_Hybrid_9_20_2025_Leeds_IMC_7_6_9_2026_.) 

CFP Beyond Commemoration: Interrogating Modern Statues of Medieval Figures (Panel) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; NeMLA)

Beyond Commemoration: Interrogating Modern Statues of Medieval Figures (Panel)

Submit proposals at https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21759

Primary Area / Secondary Area
Cultural Studies and Media Studies / Interdisciplinary Humanities

Modality
Hybrid: The session will be held in-person but a few remote presentations may be included.

Chair(s)
Afrodesia McCannon (New York University)

Abstract

This paper session examines how medieval individuals are memorialized and reinterpreted through contemporary statuary across the globe. Moving beyond simple historical commemoration, these modern depictions serve as potent symbols, reflecting and shaping modern identities, national narratives, and artistic expressions. This session seeks to explore the multifaceted significance of these statues and the diverse contexts in which they are erected and understood.
I invite papers that critically examine the motivations, ideologies, processes, and impacts of creating and displaying statues of medieval figures in the modern world. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: the role of these statues in constructing or reinforcing nationalisms and regional identities; the ways in which medieval figures are adapted or reimagined to serve contemporary political agendas; the intersection of medievalism and modern artistic practices in sculptural representations; the impact of these statues on public memory and historical understanding; and the controversies or debates surrounding their creation, placement, and interpretation.
I particularly encourage submissions that explore a geographically diverse range of examples, including statues representing European, Islamic, East Asian, African, and other medieval traditions. By bringing together sculpture from various cultural contexts, this session aims to foster a comparative understanding of how the medieval past is invoked and visualized in the present, and to interrogate the broader significance of these tangible links to the premodern era.

Description

This session explores how contemporary statues of medieval figures across the globe reinterpret the past to shape modern identities, political narratives, and artistic expression. The session invites critical engagement with the global uses of medievalism in public sculpture today.

CFP Uncharted Medievalisms: Medieval Borrowings in Games (NeMLA Session 21633) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; Pittsburgh 3/5-8/2026)

Uncharted Medievalisms: Medieval Borrowings in Games (NeMLA Session 21633)

deadline for submissions:

September 30, 2025


full name / name of organization:

57th Northeast Modern Language Association Conference


contact email:

cscarlsell@gmail.com


source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/06/27/uncharted-medievalisms-medieval-borrowings-in-games-nemla-session-21633

Games have long used medievalist or medieval-adjacent settings to engage with audiences. Scholars have noted the various connections to be made between popular perceptions of the medieval in games and historical and textual realities of the medieval world. While games may not always make it a priority to accurately portray medieval (or pseudo-medieval) life, there are still important parallels and intertextual references that games use to harken back to the medieval world—whatever version of that that reality they choose to use as a basis, at least. Just like games construct a faux reality for their players, so too have the popular conceptions of the medieval world been carefully constructed through literature and popular culture. Games, as a result, often use borrowed or shared narrative references and storylines to shape this perception and the connection between these texts. For example, in Larian’s incredibly popular game Baldur’s Gate 3, players enter the Underdark and are presented with a sword in a stone that only the correct rolls or actions can release. The blade itself, Phalar Aluve, is a magic weapon from which certain classes and races can achieve great benefits, and this only serves to link it in imagination with the famous sword of King Arthur. This session seeks to explore these constructs and medieval allusions in popular gaming worlds, showcasing their importance to the culturally constructed medieval world and their connections to medieval texts that have shaped our understanding of the past. Possible textual topics include Warhammer, World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3, Assassin’s Creed, Pendragon, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Mount & Blade, Final Fantasy, and other medievalist games. Abstracts that explore explicit connections between games and medieval texts/narratives will be given preference, but all explorations of gaming and the medieval world are welcome.



Hybrid Session.


Please use the NeMLA Abstract Submission Portal at https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP and submit to session 21633


NeMLA's deadline is September 30, 2026.

CFP Remembering the Middle Ages: Memories of the Medieval Across Time and Space (Roundtable) (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026)

Remembering the Middle Ages: Memories of the Medieval Across Time and Space (Roundtable) (Hybrid)

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), Thursday, 14 May, through Saturday, 16 May, 2026

Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Association for Robin Hood Studies

Co-organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College; Siân Echard, University of British Columbia; and Alexander L. Kaufman, Ball State University

Heather Arden has argued that medievalisms manifest as the “survival, revival, or re-creation” of some aspect of the Middle Ages. As such, while they are linked to a particular period of history, medievalisms are not necessarily bound to a specific time or place. The medieval may continue or be brought back within its original location or be reset in distant lands and, even, on other worlds. As Umberto Eco has noted, “people like the Middle Ages,” and, at the most basic level, each of these manifestations illustrates the ongoing appeal of the medieval. More importantly, however, they also display the continued importance of how the era is viewed–both positively and negatively–and shape a unique relationship with those who restore and/or participate within them.

In this co-sponsored session, we seek to ally scholars of popular culture and medievalisms along with those who study the legendary traditions of the Matter of Britain and the Matter of the Greenwood to share new and neglected works that highlight the many ways we remember the Middle Ages and have restored it to life. 

Please post paper submissions into the Confex site using the direct link https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7245.    

Do send any questions to the organizers at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com.  Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2025.

Please be aware that those accepted to the panel must register for the conference in order to present. Past registration costs can be viewed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration. The International Congress on Medieval Studies does offer limited funding as travel awards and subsidized registration costs; details are available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.   

For more information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, do check out our website Mass Mediævalisms: The Middle Ages of Popular Culture: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/. 

For more information about the International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, do check out our website at https://www.international-arthurian-society-nab.org/ and consider becoming a member of our organization.

For more information about the International Association for Robin Hood Studies, do check out our website Robin Hood Scholars: IARHS on the Web: https://robinhoodscholars.blogspot.com/. 

CFP MMLA 2025 Permanent Session: Old and Middle English Language and Literature (4/21/2025; online 11/14-16/2025)

 

MMLA 2025 Permanent Session: Old and Middle English Language and Literature

deadline for submissions: 

April 21, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Midwest Modern Language Association

contact email: 

kathleen.burt@mga.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/25/mmla-2025-permanent-session-old-and-middle-english-language-and-literature.

Note: this conference has a hybrid format  (both virtual and in-person sessions). This session will be virtual.

The general call for this year, inviting “papers that explore the value of the Humanities in relation to a more hopeful future” in areas including but not limited to “languages, literature, pedagogy, writing studies, linguistics, folklore, film studies, the digital humanities, and library studies”, has broad possibilities within the languages, literatures, histories, and cultures related to Old and Middle English. This panel welcomes papers that address the presence, importance, and/or relevance of hope as a concept, mindset, language, and/or practice in Old and Middle English works of any kind, as well as explorations, arguments, or discussions of the relevance or importance or perceptions of these texts and ideas in both the medieval and the modern world.

Such considerations might take the form of (but need not be limited to) exploring any or all of the following: hope in, with, for, by humans and/or humanity; development of humanism as a literary, scientific, or historical or cultural movement; medieval literature/history/culture and medievalism as sources of study of or inspiration for hope; hopes for the field(s) now and in the future, and/or ways to cultivate such hopes.

 

Please send abstracts of approximately 350 words, along with a cv or brief biographical statement, to Dr. Kathleen Burt at kathleen.burt@mga.edu by no later than April 21, 2025.

Last updated March 24, 2025

CFP Tolkien and War! - Tolkien at UVM Conference (2/2/2025; Hybrid 4/5/2025)

Tolkien at UVM Conference

deadline for submissions:
April 5, 2025

full name / name of organization:
The Tolkien at the University of Vermont Conference

contact email:
cvaccaro@uvm.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/10/31/tolkien-at-uvm-conference

Tolkien and War! is the theme of the 21st annual Tolkien at the University of Vermont conference on April 5th. This is a hybrid event!!

We are excited to have John Garth as our keynote speaker, and we are encouraging all abstracts but will give priority to those on the theme. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• War in Europe
• War in Middle-earth
• War and Tolkien's poetry
• Heroic battle poetry
• War and Tolkien's English
• War in the films/Tv shows
• Gender/Sexuality and War
• Psychology and War
• Religion and War

Please submit 200 word abstracts to cvaccaro@uvm.edu by Sunday February 2nd!


Last updated November 1, 2024

CFP Spanning the Globe: Thinking across Geographies in Medieval and Medievalism Studies (1/22/2025 Medieval and Renaissance Forum, Kenne NH 3/28-29/2025)

45th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum: Spanning the Globe: Thinking across Geographies in Medieval and Medievalism Studies

deadline for submissions:
January 22, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Medieval and Renaissance Forum

contact email:
mpages@keene.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/02/45th-annual-medieval-and-renaissance-forum-spanning-the-globe-thinking-across. 

45th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum:

Spanning the Globe: Thinking across Geographies in Medieval and Medievalism Studies

Keene State College

Keene, NH, USA

Friday and Saturday March 28-29, 2025



Call for Papers and Sessions



We are delighted to announce that the 45th Medieval and Renaissance Forum will take place in person on Friday, March 28 and Saturday March 29, 2025 at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. This year's conference considers the Global Turn in all elements of our field—Medieval Studies, Renaissance/Early Modern Studies, Medievalism, and "Renaissance-ism." As always, we also welcome papers on any and every topic related to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance as well as papers on medievalism. We plan to hold the 45th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum in person with a limited number of virtual presentations.

We welcome abstracts (one page or less) from faculty, students, and independent scholars. If you are an undergraduate student, we ask that you obtain a faculty member's approval and sponsorship.



Graduate students are eligible for consideration for the South Wind Graduate Student Paper Award upon submission of their essays by March 1, 2025. The winner of the South Wind Graduate Student Paper Award will win $100 to be used for registration and/or travel expenses to the 46th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum (travel expenses including but not limited to transportation to and from the conference and accommodations while in Keene). The winner of the South Wind Graduate Student Paper Award will be announced at lunch on Friday, March 28, 2025.



Please submit abstracts and full contact information on the google form available at:



https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmaw5chDsckRFiAhXQVDA61v6uznfNjwVaEVHXZ4MWQT1xgg/viewform?usp=dialog



This year’s keynote speaker is Angela Jane Weisl, Professor of English at Seton Hall University, who will speak about "Spanning the Globe: Getting Global in Medievalism and Medieval Studies"

Angela Jane Weisl is Professor of English at Seton Hall University. A scholar of both Medieval Studies and Medievalism, she is the author of Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender and Genre in Chaucer’s Romance, The Persistence of Medievalism: Narrative Adventures in Contemporary Culture, and the co-author, with Tison Pugh, of Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present. Her collection, Medievalisms in a Global Age, co-edited with Robert Squillace came out from Boydell and Brewer in 2024, and their co-authored project, tentatively titled Global Medievalisms and the Contest of Space, is under contract at Routledge. She is also the Executive in Charge of Presentations for the International Society for the Study of Medievalism. She played Mean Teacher and Zombie Chaucer in the Seton Hall University English Club Zombie Movie. From years of teaching History of the English Language, she is known around Seton Hall as the “Dr. of HEL.”

Abstract deadline: January 22, 2025



Presenters and early registration: March 15, 2025



As always, we look forward to greeting returning and first-time participants to Keene!




Last updated January 2, 2025

CFP Robin Hood and Other Social Bandits in Folk and Popular Culture (3/31/2025; IARHS Conference 6/26-27/2025 Hybrid)

Robin Hood and Other Social Bandits in Folk and Popular Culture

HYBRID biannual conference of

the International Association for Robin Hood Studies

26-27 June 2025

The Jagiellonian University, Cracow (Poland)

(and ONLINE)

source: https://robinhoodscholars.blogspot.com/2024/04/biennial-iarhs-conference-cfp.html

The Robin Hood tradition has inalienably been a part of popular culture and some of its elements undoubtedly come from folk culture. Already Robin Hood ballads or rhymes, as they are also called, represented popular culture. The idea of a social bandit or a bandit rebel, understood by Eric Hobsbawm as the one who “challenges the economic, social and political order” (Bandits 7), is related to social justice and injustice, which has always been present in folklore. Not only the medieval and later Robin Hood can be defined as a social bandit, but such outlaws as Janosik and Ondrašek, provincial as they are according to Hobsbawm (Bandits 47), fulfill the criteria for it. The two lived respectively in the Slovakian and Polish mountains in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the legends they opposed both aristocracy and the Hapsburg rule that stood behind this aristocracy. In Australia Ned Kelly has its admirers, who relate him both to the class conflicts of the 19th-century Australia and to the social wrongs that supposedly affect some Australians at present.

Both folk and popular cultures have been open to the concept of social ills that outlaws may oppose, or at least such are the legends about them.



The topics related to this may refer to literary texts, films, graphic novels, and all the other material that represents popular and folk culture. The topics may include, for example:

-outlaws that opposed social injustice: the legend and the historical background

-reworking old myths into those that cater for the current needs

-ideologies behind the idea of social justice in the texts of culture about outlaws

-the concept of the law and justice in outlaw narratives

-popular reworkings of old myths about social bandits

-nationalistic and racist uses of the outlaw myths



All other topics related to this are also welcome.



Please send your 200-word abstract by March 31, 2025 to Dr. Anna Czarnowus at:

annaczarnowus@op.pl.

UPDATE - CFP Games of Medievalism - International Society for the Study of Medievalism Annual Conference (3/08/2024; New Jersey 07/09-11/2024)

Call for Papers: The Games of Medievalism

International Society for the Study of Medievalism Annual Conference

Montclair and South Orange, NJ, July 9-11, 2024

Abstracts are welcomed for the thirty-seventh annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, co-sponsored by Montclair State and Seton Hall Universities, located in northern New Jersey, 14 miles from New York City (accessible by public transit). Abstracts for in-person and virtual papers and panels are welcome. To propose a panel, please include all abstracts in a single file submitted by the organizer. This file should also include the names and contact information for all participants.  

Celebrating games and sport in this Olympic summer and considering the various kinds of play inherent in Medievalism, the conference will consider the discipline’s many layers. We will arrange local visits (as interest permits) for those participating in person: to the New Jersey branch of Medieval Times, the Yogi Berra Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, and/or The Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Housing options will include low-cost single or double accommodations on the campus of Montclair State University (circa $50-60/night) and room blocks in local hotels. 

We welcome papers and presentations on all topics of Medievalism, not limited to the conference theme.  We enthusiastically welcome proposals from presenters in (or addressing topics related to) regions outside North American, Western Europe, and the Anglophone World.  

Keynote

“A ‘Carnival of Architecture’: Race, Place, and Play in Oblivion and the Elder Scrolls Franchise," Kevin and Brent Moberly, Old Dominion University and Indiana University

Suggested Topics

• Medievalism in Video Games
• Gaming the System (Medievalism in Geo-Politics, Economics)
• Medievalism in Sports and Sports Culture
• Games in Medieval Film
• The Interplay of Medieval and Modern
• Games in Medievalist Narratives
• Jousts, Tournaments, Bohorts
• Disguise, Cosplay, and Cross-Dressing
• Games of Chance, Gambling, and Tavern Pursuits
• Medievalism in Tabletop Games
• Poetry Competitions or Challenges
• The Play(s) of Medievalism
• Playing with Medieval Medicine and other Techniques in the Modern World
• Medievalist Musicals: Spamalot, Six, Pippin, Camelot, etc.
• Games in the Construction of Medievalism
• Medieval games in medievalist art or generative AI
• Medievalism as Game
• Chivalry, Courtesy, and other codes in Medievalism

Submission Instructions

Please submit your 200 to 250-word abstracts on the following Google Form by March 8 (date extended):

https://forms.gle/KCmquR8VungYzEoz9

Questions

Please contact conference organizers Elizabeth Emery and Angela Weisl:

gamesissm@gmail.com

CFP The Games of Medievalism (2/20/2024; ISSM 7/9-11/2024)

Source: https://sites.google.com/view/thegamesofmedievalism/home

Call for Papers: The Games of Medievalism

International Society for the Study of Medievalism Annual Conference

Montclair and South Orange, NJ, July 9-11, 2024


Abstracts are welcomed for the thirty-seventh annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, co-sponsored by Montclair State and Seton Hall Universities, located in northern New Jersey, 14 miles from New York City (accessible by public transit). Abstracts for in-person and virtual papers and panels are welcome. To propose a panel, please include all abstracts in a single file submitted by the organizer. This file should also include the names and contact information for all participants.


Celebrating games and sport in this Olympic summer and considering the various kinds of play inherent in Medievalism, the conference will consider the discipline’s many layers. We will arrange local visits (as interest permits) for those participating in person: to the New Jersey branch of Medieval Times, the Yogi Berra Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, and/or The Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


Housing options will include low-cost single or double accommodations on the campus of Montclair State University (circa $50-60/night) and room blocks in local hotels.


We welcome papers and presentations on all topics of Medievalism, not limited to the conference theme. We enthusiastically welcome proposals from presenters in (or addressing topics related to) regions outside North American, Western Europe, and the Anglophone World.


Keynote

“A ‘Carnival of Architecture’: Race, Place, and Play in Oblivion and the Elder Scrolls Franchise," Kevin and Brent Moberly, Old Dominion University and Indiana University


Suggested Topics

• Medievalism in Video Games
• Gaming the System (Medievalism in Geo-Politics, Economics)
• Medievalism in Sports and Sports Culture
• Games in Medieval Film
• The Interplay of Medieval and Modern
• Games in Medievalist Narratives
• Jousts, Tournaments, Bohorts
• Disguise, Cosplay, and Cross-Dressing
• Games of Chance, Gambling, and Tavern Pursuits
• Medievalism in Tabletop Games
• Poetry Competitions or Challenges
• The Play(s) of Medievalism
• Playing with Medieval Medicine and other Techniques in the Modern World
• Medievalist Musicals: Spamalot, Six, Pippin, Camelot, etc.
• Games in the Construction of Medievalism
• Medieval games in medievalist art or generative AI
• Medievalism as Game
• Chivalry, Courtesy, and other codes in Medievalism

Submission Instructions

Please submit your 200 to 250-word abstracts on the following Google Form by February 20:

https://forms.gle/KCmquR8VungYzEoz9


Questions

Please contact conference organizers Elizabeth Emery and Angela Weisl:

gamesissm@gmail.com

CFP Biennial Conference of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies (9/1/2023; Missouri Valley College/Hybrid 10/18-21/2023)

Cross-posted from the ISSM listserv:

On behalf of Thomas Rowland, here is a call for papers that may be of interest to many medievalism-ists!

CFP: Biennial Conference of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies

October 18-21, 2023

Missouri Valley College, Marshall, MO

The 2023 Conference will be hybridized to allow for more participants to join!

Robots, Androids, and Outlaws: How Machines and Bandits Disrupt Social Order

The International Association for Robin Hood Studies Biennial Conference will be held at Missouri Valley College (Marshall, MO) in October 2023. This conference brings together scholars to present current research on the famous outlaw as he appears in both medieval and post-medieval media.



This conference will focus on (but not exclusively) discussions of Robin Hood and machine culture, with special emphasis on AI as a Robin Hood-like disrupter, banditry from robots and machines, and Robin as a subverter of social norms and expectations. We anticipate that this theme will allow us to address both traditional Robin Hood subjects and current changes happening in academic culture. Everyone interested are invited to submit paper proposals on this topic or any other topic related to Robin Hood. Please send a 500-word abstract to Dr. Thomas Rowland at rowlandt@moval.edu. For those who would like to submit a session proposal, please submit an abstract description of the session topic and preferably three to four presenters. Please include with your proposal your name, paper title, and affiliation (if any).



All proposals will be due by September 1, 2023.



Please be welcome to share this CFP with others!

CFP Robin Hood and Other Outlaws for Kalamazoo 2024 (deadline 9/15/2023)

Reposted from the IARHS listserv:

IARHS Sponsored Sessions at the ICMS, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, May 9-11, 2024

1. ECOMEDIEVAL ROBIN HOOD

Even though the Robin Hood tradition is identified as medieval, most of the texts are post-medieval, hence medievalist. These are often situated against the background of natural environment, and thus Valerie Johnson coined the term “ecomedievalism” for “the application of ecocriticism to neomedieval texts.” Therefore, discussion of neomedievalist texts of popular culture, such as films and TV series about Robin Hood that relate more to the times when they were made than to the Middle Ages, is particularly welcome. The Robin Hood tradition contains different interpretations of the environment, such as the myth of unspoiled nature, but also nature as dangerous, with apocalypse as something imminent. This session invites such ecocritical readings of various neomedievalist outlaw texts that represent nature or the relationship of nature to culture. You can focus, for example, on:

• RH and greenwood in various cultural period
• the culture/nature divide
• apocalyptic versions of RH narrative

2. OUTLAW ENVIRONMENTS

A popular saying has it that “Robin Hood in greenwood stood” and a similar phenomenon can be found in other outlaw texts and traditions. Such outlaws as Fouke le Fitz Waryn, Twm Shon Catty, or the Slovak Janosik all functioned in a specific natural environment. It needs to be examined how important this background was for their respective legends. The landscape was presented as a romanticized version of nature or as wilderness that went well with what was believed to be the outlaws’ “natural” brutality and violence. This tradition is important to examine as it is present in various countries, not only English-speaking. We can suggest, among others, the following topics:

• outlaws against romanticized landscape
• violence of outlaws/wildness of nature
• the specificity of the landscape against which an outlaw is presented
• nature (e.g. its beauty) and nationalism in outlaw legends

Please send your abstract to: annaczarnowus@tlen.pl, but an official proposal can only be made and accepted through (https://icms.confex.com/icms/2024/cfp.cgi). The deadline for proposals is Sept. 15, 2023.

CFP Frontiers, Borders, & Borderlands in the Early Global World Conference (4/10/2023; UC:A/Hybrid 6/2/2023)

Crossposted from The Medieval Academy of America blog. The original can be accessed at https://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/call-for-papers-frontiers-borders-borderlands-in-the-early-global-world/. 

Call for Papers – Frontiers, Borders, & Borderlands in the Early Global World

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Chris


The officers of UCLA MEMSA announce this year’s conference, “Frontiers, Borders, & Borderlands in the Early Global World,” to be held in the UCLA Humanities Seminar Room, 306 Royce Hall, on June 2, 2023, as a hybrid event. MEMSA invites submissions from graduate students in any discipline of medieval and early modern studies, at UCLA and beyond. Abstracts of 250 words are due April 10. Please email them to memsa.ucla@gmail.com. Acceptances will be sent by April 20. More information at https://cmrs.ucla.edu/memsa/cfp-frontiers-borders-borderlands-in-the-early-global-world/

Kalamazoo 2023 Updates

The organizers of the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies have recently released the schedule for the hybrid event set to take place at Kalamazoo and online from Thursday, May 11, through Saturday, May 13, 2023. The full schedule can be accessed from the conference home page at this link. 

Registration will be open in March at the following rates:

$265 (annual income $90,000 and above)

$210 (annual income $75,000-$89,999)

$175 (annual income $60,000-$74,999)

$150 (annual income $45,000-$59,999)

$95 (students and annual income below $45,000)

$10 (Kalamazoo residents)

CFP Wooden O Symposium 2024 (3/15/2023; Utah/Online 8/7-9/2023)

I presented at this event last summer. It's nice to see their commitment to a hybrid conference.

Wooden O Symposium

deadline for submissions:
March 15, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Southern Utah University - Utah Shakespeare Festival

contact email:
tvordi@suu.edu


source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/01/20/wooden-o-symposium

August 7-9, 2023

Southern Utah University - Utah Shakespeare Festival

The 2023 Wooden O Symposium invites panel and paper proposals on any topic relating to Shakespeare and his plays:

• Literary Analysis & Theoretical Approaches
• Shakespeare and Adaptation
• Shakespeare on Screen
• Shakespeare and History, Culture, and Society
• Shakespeare and his Contemporaries
• Shakespeare and Rhetoric
• Shakespeare in Performance
• Shakespeare and the Arts

We encourage papers and presentations that speak to the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2023 summer season: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, and Romeo and Juliet.

This year’s meeting will be face-to-face with 1-2 panels reserved for virtual participants. Submit your proposals utilizing the linked form: Wooden O Symposium Submission Form.

The deadline for proposals is March 15, 2023. Session chairs and individual authors will be informed of acceptance no later than May 1. Please include a 250-word abstract or session proposal (including individual abstracts) and the following information:

• name of presenter(s)
• participant category (faculty, graduate student, undergraduate, or independent scholar)
• college/university affiliation
• mailing address
• email address
• audio/visual requirements and any other special requests.

For more information, please contact the conference co-organizers, Scott Knowles at scottknowles@suu.edu or Jessica Tvordi at tvordi@suu.edu




Last updated January 26, 2023

CFP Subcreation: Blessed are the Legend-Makers (10/22/2022; SoCal Moot 11/5/2022)

SoCal Moot 2022

Main site: https://signumuniversity.org/event/socal-moot-2022/

Date & Time

Start: November 5, 2022,

End: November 5, 2022,


Address: Carlsbad Library, Gowland Room. 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad, CA 92011

Subcreation: Blessed are the Legend-Makers

The theme for SoCalMoot 2022 will be “Sub-Creation”, a topic which J.R.R. Tolkien explored both in his writings on Middle Earth (where the layers of creation stretch from Iluvatar to the Valar, to the mortal and immortal races), in the essay “On Fairy Stories”, and in his poem “Mythopoeia”, in which he describes mankind as created beings who become little makers or sub-creators themselves.

Our theme considers questions such as:

• How do we as human beings interact with creation, and how does it impact what we create ourselves?
• What is best practice when interacting with the sub-creation of others (i.e. intellectual property)?
• When Tolkien says “blessed are the legend-makers” what does he mean?
• What is the difference between sub-creation and folklore/culture?
• Which types of sub-creation stir us most deeply, and why?
• Are different types of sub-creation better suited for different results/outcomes than others?
• How does the will of the maker affect that which is made, both in Tolkien’s works and in the real world?
• Does that which is created have agency (e.g. the sword Gurthang or the free will of humanity)?
• How do we see long-term sub-creations iterate and change over time?
• In Tolkien’s works, why were some sub-creators unsuccessful (e.g. Melkor), or only able to create certain works once (e.g. Yavanna with the two trees and Feanor with the Silmarilli)?
• Do we find this true of sub-creating in our own world?

This theme invites participants to explore how the theme of “Sub-Creation” is reflected in Tolkien’s writing, other imaginative fiction, and other forms of sub-creation like films, painting, poetry, or music. We also invite creative works which explore this theme to be presented or performed.

Register to Attend In Person or Online

Call for Presentations
We invite both on-site and online attendees to submit proposals engaging with our theme. Send your paper/panel/presentation/creative work proposal of under 200 words to our Call for Proposals form. This call will be open until October 22nd.

• Panel Presentations (typically 60-90 minutes), with multiple presenters (with or without a host). Please include the names of each participant in your proposal.
• Oral Presentations (15-20 minutes)
• Performance of creative works (please indicate the time required in your proposal). This could include original creative writing (poetry, short fiction, or short creative nonfiction), performances of original musical compositions, display and discussion of original works of visual art, etc.
• Discussion Groups (60-90 minutes), with prepared discussion questions for group/small groups.

Presenters will have access to audio/visual, but they must bring their own devices and connection cables.

Call for Presentations

Health and Safety requirements: At this time, the venue does not require masks. We will update the event page with any policy changes as the event approaches.

CFP Immersed in... (10/1/2022; New England Moot 10/15/2022)

New England Moot 2022


Main site: https://signumuniversity.org/event/new-england-moot-2022/

Date & Time

Start: October 15, 2022, 9:00 am

End: October 15, 2022, 5:00 pm


Address: Studio Labs, 11 A St, Derry, NH 03038

Immersed in…

We invite attendees and presenters to consider the many immersive experiences we encounter in art, literature, the study of language, and life. When a character in a book is brought into a fully encompassing experience, how are they changed? How can a work of art succeed or fail to wash over the participant? Are all immersions good, or is there a risk associated with being swept away?

Whether immersed in song, in simple pleasures, in possibilities, in enchantment, or in history, we hope to reemerge from our day spent in thought and discussion better for it, and we’re so excited for you to be part of it.

Register Here for On-Site or Remote Attendance

Call for proposals closes on October 1st.

Our amazing new venue, Studio Labs, is a big ol’ video and sound production lab and we may use the toys. Our host writes “For reference, the resolution of the video wall is 5376×1344. We can put up just about any sort of media, but of course the closer to the full resolution of the wall the better things will look. Let me know as proposals come in if there are any really wild ones and I would be glad to brainstorm possibilities.” Both on-site and online attendees are invited to reach for the stars with their ideas and submit a proposal for a presentation or performance to our Call for Proposals, which can be found here:

Call For Proposals

Health and Safety:
At this time, the venue and region do not require masks. We will update all attendees with the latest information as the event approaches so we can make informed and conscientious choices.

CFP Love and Understanding: Growing Wiser by Finding Unexpected Common Ground (8/29/2022; Middle Moot 10/8/2022)

MiddleMoot 2022

Main site: https://signumuniversity.org/event/middlemoot-2022/

Date & Time

Start: October 8, 2022,

End: October 8, 2022,


Address: Metropolitan Community College Maplewood Campus, 2601 NE Barry Road, Kansas City, MO

Love and Understanding: Growing Wiser by Finding Unexpected Common Ground

Welcome to MiddleMoot in Kansas City, Missouri! We will meet at Metropolitan Community College- Maplewood Campus. The event runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.


Register for MiddleMoot

Health and Safety: At this time, the venue does not require masks. We will update the event page with any policy changes as the event approaches.

Both on-site and online attendees are invited to submit a proposal for a presentation or performance to our Call for Proposals, which closes on August 29th and can be found here:

Call for Proposals

This year our theme is “Love and Understanding: Growing Wiser by Finding Unexpected Common Ground”, and we invite attendees to submit proposals for presentations that consider questions such as

• What does it look like to ‘look into the heart of an enemy’ and see what is truly there, not just what we assume to be?
• How can we look on others who are vastly different to us with ‘ love and understanding?
• In what ways can we seek to understand what others are saying to us, from their point of view, and not just our own?
• How can we grow wiser by listening to and seeking to understand others?”

Our theme is based on the following passages:


“She looked upon Gimli, who sat glowering and sad, and she smiled. And the Dwarf, hearing the names given in his own ancient tongue, looked up and met her eyes; and it seemed to him that he looked suddenly into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding. Wonder came into his face, and then he smiled in answer.” – FOTR


“Wisdom was in the words of the Elven-king, and the hearts grew wiser that hearkened to him; for the things of which he sang, of the making of Arda, and the bliss of Aman beyond the shadows of the Sea, came as clear visions before their eyes, and his Elvish speech was interpreted in each mind according to its measure.” – The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 17, Of the Coming of Men into the West

Our MiddleMoot artwork, “Arrival as Caras Galadhon,” is the work and vision of Ted Naismith.