CFP Sports Medievalism - TSW Special Issue (3/31/2026)

Sports Medievalism - TSW Special Issue

deadline for submissions:
March 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
The So What/Arthuriana

contact email:
thesowhatpub@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/02/07/sports-medievalism-tsw-special-issue

In athletics, athletes are often described as ‘throwing down the gauntlet’ when they record a particularly impressive jump, race, throw, indicating a raise in the competition stakes, a nod to their fellow competitors that they are the champion to beat. In the 2001 movie A Knight’s Tale, jousting enthusiasts are depicted like modern day sports fans, with Ulrich’s friends even singing a football chant in the pub.



The So What welcomes proposals for short (1500-3000 words), public-facing pieces engaging with sport and the medieval, with a planned online publication of early 2027. We welcome pieces that are critical, creative, or pedagogical and topics that engage with the relationship between sporting culture and medieval aesthetic, whether that’s through the use of the medieval in modern sports or sporting teams, the medieval history of a sport, or reenactment of medieval sporting competitions, and so on. We welcome a wide variety of topics, including but not limited to:

• The use of medieval imagery in sporting culture/teams;
• The revival of medieval sports or activities in the modern era;
• The development/history of medieval sports and sporting competitions;
• Depictions of medieval sport in media and popular culture;
• The use of ‘medieval’ phrases and language in sport commentary and discourse.

Please send us your proposals by March 31, 2026. Style and submission guides are available on our site. Proposals and questions can be emailed to issue editor, Mairi Stirling Hill, at: mairi.hill@unimelb.edu.au



You can also view the CFP online here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3ajj-fN02ozhR4eRXZzDz2ma-cfPqSB/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111283483144674200251&rtpof=true&sd=true%C2%A0.



Last updated February 7, 2026

CFP Social Media and the Medieval - TSW Special Issue (2/28/2025)

Social Media and the Medieval - TSW Special Issue

deadline for submissions:
February 28, 2025

full name / name of organization:
The So What (Arthuriana's Public Humanities Project)

contact email:
thesowhatpub@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/12/02/social-media-and-the-medieval-tsw-special-issue

The So What welcomes proposals for short, public-facing pieces — whether critical, pedagogical, or creative — on social media accounts that engage with the medieval period for a special issue of TSW planned for on-line publication in 2025 or early 2026.



Whether it’s Instagram, Twitter (currently known as X), YouTube, TikTok, or other social media platforms, we’re interested in social media that engages with, or remediates, the medieval period on various subjects, including history, literature, manuscripts, animals, physical objects, etc. Some accounts may take a more straight forward, literal approach while others may utilize humor and parody. We are interested in pieces on any medieval-focused social media, with potential topics included, but not limited to:



- Intersections of social media and public humanities

- The role of social media within the digital humanities

- Social media and humor (obscure jokes, parody accounts, medieval camp, and more!)

- Social media’s role in academia

- Using social media in the classroom

- How social media does or does not expand the idea of the medieval beyond western Europe

- How social media reinforces and/or subverts periodization

- Intersection of social media and modern meme culture

- Critical readings of specific accounts and using medievalism to include or exclude

- Fama in the Internet Age

- Medieval (and Medievalist) Influencers



Full CFP also available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i-E14ByShGSq2TQYRLWa4-695xsHo8H5/edi...



Last updated December 5, 2024