The official call for papers for the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies (to convene at Western Michigan University from 7-10 May 2020) has been released.
It can be accessed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.
Friday, July 12, 2019
Saturday, July 6, 2019
CFP Afterlives: Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction Conference (7/15/19; Glendale, CA 11/9/2019)
My apologies for having missed this before. Do note the impending due date for proposals.
Afterlives: Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/18/afterlives-reinvention-reception-and-reproduction
deadline for submissions:
July 15, 2019
full name / name of organization:
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at CSU Long Beach and Forest Lawn Museum
contact email:
heather.graham@csulb.edu
REMINDER: Deadline Approaching July 15, 2019
Afterlives: Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction
November 9, 2019
Forest Lawn Museum, 1712 S. Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA 91205
Call for Papers
The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at California State University, Long Beach, in collaboration with Forest Lawn Museum, invite submissions for the biennial conference, Afterlives: Reinvention, Reproduction, and Reception. We invite scholars from any discipline to approach the ways in which texts, objects, and images of the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance past have been reimagined, repurposed, reconstructed, and reproduced in later periods.
Much recent scholarship, particularly studies exploring medievalisms, has fruitfully traced the ways in which we construct narratives of the past according to contemporary desires. There remains, however, ample room for further investigation. Forest Lawn Museum makes an ideal site for exploring the afterlives of the past as constructed in the present. Founded in 1906, Forest Lawn is home to dozens of reproductions of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance works of art and architecture. It was created with the goal of bringing the Grand Tour to Southern California when travel to Europe was not accessible to the vast majority of American society. From full-scale marble replicas of Michelangelo’s sculpture to buildings that freely combine classical, Romanesque, and Gothic elements in completely novel and imaginative ways, this version of the Grand Tour was both influenced by and influential upon the culture of twentieth-century California. Rather than simply replicating existing works of art and architecture, entirely new monuments were created, which simultaneously call upon the past while proliferating new experiences, meanings, and identities.
This conference invites investigation of such uses of the past with the broadest possible scope. We ask scholars to consider engagements with the past in terms of ongoing processes of reinvention, reproduction, and reception. Papers that address popular culture, such as contemporary fantasy literature and television, twentieth-century Hollywood epics, gaming, popular and folk music, theme parks and other immersive amusement sites, historical reenactments, costume design, and cultural or folkloric festivals, are welcome. Studies on medievalism and more traditional scholarship on reproductions of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance are also encouraged, including investigations of architectural reconstructions, the role of medievalism in museums, and non-Western perspectives on reinventions of the past. We welcome proposals for twenty-minute papers as well as planned panels of three papers pertinent to these themes and their manifestations anywhere in the world.
Individual paper submissions should include:
abstract of approximately 150 words
contact information and one-page CV
Panel Submissions are welcome and should include:
contact information and one-page CV for organizer / chair
names and abstracts (c. 150 words) for all presenters
one-page CVs of all presenters
short (c. 150 word) description of the panel itself
Please send all application materials to: heather.graham@csulb.edu, Ilan.MitchellSmith@csulb.edu, and jfishburne@forestlawn.com. The deadline for all abstracts and panel submissions is July 15, 2019.
Topics of exploration for individual papers or panels may include, but are not limited to:
Last updated June 19, 2019
Afterlives: Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/18/afterlives-reinvention-reception-and-reproduction
deadline for submissions:
July 15, 2019
full name / name of organization:
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at CSU Long Beach and Forest Lawn Museum
contact email:
heather.graham@csulb.edu
REMINDER: Deadline Approaching July 15, 2019
Afterlives: Reinvention, Reception, and Reproduction
November 9, 2019
Forest Lawn Museum, 1712 S. Glendale Ave, Glendale, CA 91205
Call for Papers
The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at California State University, Long Beach, in collaboration with Forest Lawn Museum, invite submissions for the biennial conference, Afterlives: Reinvention, Reproduction, and Reception. We invite scholars from any discipline to approach the ways in which texts, objects, and images of the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance past have been reimagined, repurposed, reconstructed, and reproduced in later periods.
Much recent scholarship, particularly studies exploring medievalisms, has fruitfully traced the ways in which we construct narratives of the past according to contemporary desires. There remains, however, ample room for further investigation. Forest Lawn Museum makes an ideal site for exploring the afterlives of the past as constructed in the present. Founded in 1906, Forest Lawn is home to dozens of reproductions of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance works of art and architecture. It was created with the goal of bringing the Grand Tour to Southern California when travel to Europe was not accessible to the vast majority of American society. From full-scale marble replicas of Michelangelo’s sculpture to buildings that freely combine classical, Romanesque, and Gothic elements in completely novel and imaginative ways, this version of the Grand Tour was both influenced by and influential upon the culture of twentieth-century California. Rather than simply replicating existing works of art and architecture, entirely new monuments were created, which simultaneously call upon the past while proliferating new experiences, meanings, and identities.
This conference invites investigation of such uses of the past with the broadest possible scope. We ask scholars to consider engagements with the past in terms of ongoing processes of reinvention, reproduction, and reception. Papers that address popular culture, such as contemporary fantasy literature and television, twentieth-century Hollywood epics, gaming, popular and folk music, theme parks and other immersive amusement sites, historical reenactments, costume design, and cultural or folkloric festivals, are welcome. Studies on medievalism and more traditional scholarship on reproductions of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance are also encouraged, including investigations of architectural reconstructions, the role of medievalism in museums, and non-Western perspectives on reinventions of the past. We welcome proposals for twenty-minute papers as well as planned panels of three papers pertinent to these themes and their manifestations anywhere in the world.
Individual paper submissions should include:
abstract of approximately 150 words
contact information and one-page CV
Panel Submissions are welcome and should include:
contact information and one-page CV for organizer / chair
names and abstracts (c. 150 words) for all presenters
one-page CVs of all presenters
short (c. 150 word) description of the panel itself
Please send all application materials to: heather.graham@csulb.edu, Ilan.MitchellSmith@csulb.edu, and jfishburne@forestlawn.com. The deadline for all abstracts and panel submissions is July 15, 2019.
Topics of exploration for individual papers or panels may include, but are not limited to:
- Hybrid Reconstructions of the Past (Hearst Castle, Forest Lawn, Disneyland, The Getty Villa, and The Citadel Shopping Center)
- Medievalism and Nationalism
- Posthumous Cults of the Artist
- American Chivalries
- Medievalism and Martial Arts
- Non-Western Reconstructions of the Past
- Time Travel and Anachronism
- The Detritus of Hollywood’s Constructions of the Past
- Medievalism and the West: the American Frontier and the Distant Past
- Politics of Historical Accuracy
- Medieval/Renaissance Fantasy in Online Gaming
- The Renaissance Pleasure Faire and Medievalist Counter-Culture in America
- Industrialism and Desires for the Past
- Dungeons & Dragons and Participatory Constructions of the Past
- Racialized Imagery from the Medieval to the Modern
- Post-Modernity and the Past
Last updated June 19, 2019
Saving the Day at NeMLA 2020
Amidst all the bad news about Kalamazoo 2020, I'm pleased to announce the call for papers for our associated session "Saving the Day: Accessing Comics in the Twentieth-First Century (A Roundtable)" to assemble next March at the 2020 meeting of the Northeast Modern Language Association.
Full details can be accessed at: https://accessing-comics-in-the-21st-century.blogspot.com/2019/07/cfp-saving-day-accessing-comics-in.html.
(Our affiliate, the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, has also had a set of sessions accepted for NeMLA. They can be viewed at https://kingarthurforever.blogspot.com/.)
Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Full details can be accessed at: https://accessing-comics-in-the-21st-century.blogspot.com/2019/07/cfp-saving-day-accessing-comics-in.html.
(Our affiliate, the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, has also had a set of sessions accepted for NeMLA. They can be viewed at https://kingarthurforever.blogspot.com/.)
Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Monday, July 1, 2019
Global Middle Ages in Popular Culture Session Update
I regret to inform our readers that our sponsored session on "Global Middle Ages in Popular Culture," organized by board member Anna Czarnowus, has been rejected by the organizing committee for the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies set to convene in May 2020.
Michael Torregrossa
Founder
Michael Torregrossa
Founder
MAPACA Sessions Update
I am saddened to report that only one of our proposed sessions for MAPACA's 2019 conference received enough submissions to make a viable panel.
Here are the details. I'll update the blog further once the session has been placed on the schedule.
Michael Torregrossa
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
https://mapaca.net/conference
Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
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
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Scott Manning, Independent Scholar
Undoubtedly, the modern concept of the zombie is a recent phenomenon, with origins in Haitian folklore and American film and fiction (notably George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”). Nevertheless, the zombie is also indebted to horrors of earlier ages, including the revenants of medieval folklore and literature; although, enthusiasts of present-day zombies often overlook this heritage. Meanwhile, some modern creators of representations of zombie menaces seem to tap into to this tradition in bringing to life new undead creatures that mash the medieval with the modern by allowing more familiar zombies and zombie-like entities to shamble across medieval landscapes. Despite the variety and vitality of these traditions, both the medieval undead and undead medievalisms remain largely neglected by scholarship.
Through this roundtable session, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to bridge the apparent divides between modern and medieval and medieval and modern. We endeavor to foster discussion that allows the undead of the medieval past and the zombies found in medieval-inspired narratives of today to come into contact through our teaching and research. The topic is especially relevant to this conference, given that its “unofficial” theme of is “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World” in honor of Romero and his work.
Embodying Absence: The Medieval and Modern Undead
Peter Dendle, Pennsylvania State
The Divine Undead/The Undead Divine
Elliott Mason, Concordia University
Draugar and White Walkers: Winter Zombies of the Old North
Richard Fahey, University of Notre Dame
Tomes of the Dead: Medievalism, Zombies, and Historical Fantasy-Horror in Viking Dead and Stronghold
Carl Sell, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Here are the details. I'll update the blog further once the session has been placed on the schedule.
Michael Torregrossa
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
https://mapaca.net/conference
Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
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
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Scott Manning, Independent Scholar
Undoubtedly, the modern concept of the zombie is a recent phenomenon, with origins in Haitian folklore and American film and fiction (notably George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”). Nevertheless, the zombie is also indebted to horrors of earlier ages, including the revenants of medieval folklore and literature; although, enthusiasts of present-day zombies often overlook this heritage. Meanwhile, some modern creators of representations of zombie menaces seem to tap into to this tradition in bringing to life new undead creatures that mash the medieval with the modern by allowing more familiar zombies and zombie-like entities to shamble across medieval landscapes. Despite the variety and vitality of these traditions, both the medieval undead and undead medievalisms remain largely neglected by scholarship.
Through this roundtable session, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to bridge the apparent divides between modern and medieval and medieval and modern. We endeavor to foster discussion that allows the undead of the medieval past and the zombies found in medieval-inspired narratives of today to come into contact through our teaching and research. The topic is especially relevant to this conference, given that its “unofficial” theme of is “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World” in honor of Romero and his work.
Embodying Absence: The Medieval and Modern Undead
Peter Dendle, Pennsylvania State
The Divine Undead/The Undead Divine
Elliott Mason, Concordia University
Draugar and White Walkers: Winter Zombies of the Old North
Richard Fahey, University of Notre Dame
Tomes of the Dead: Medievalism, Zombies, and Historical Fantasy-Horror in Viking Dead and Stronghold
Carl Sell, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Thursday, June 27, 2019
CFP Imagining the Past: Neo-Medievalism in Fantasy Genre (9/30/2019; NeMLA 2020)
[NeMLA 2020 Panel] "Imagining the Past: Neo-Medievalism in Fantasy Genre"
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/10/nemla-2020-panel-imagining-the-past-neo-medievalism-in-fantasy-genre
deadline for submissions: September 30, 2019
full name / name of organization: Jiwon Ohm/ Northeast Modern Language Association
contact email: jiwonohm@buffalo.edu
In “Dreaming of the Middle Ages,” Umberto Eco asks the question: “What would Ruskin, Morris, and the pre-Raphaelites have said if they had been told that the rediscovery of the Middle Ages would be the work of the twentieth-century mass media?”
Indeed, the twentieth-century mass media has disseminated what Eco calls, “escapism à la Tolkien” which has influenced many modern writers and cultural producers in other mass media such as films and video games. Although such “escapism à la Tolkien,” or “Tolkienesque” fantasy, seems harmless as pure entertainment, its consumption is massive, and many picture the Middle Ages not as it actually was, but how it is depicted through medievalist fantasy.
The theme of the 2020 NeMLA convention is “Shaping and Sharing Identities: Spaces, Places, Languages, and Cultures.” This gestures towards the important question of identities, and how we imagine ourselves and “others” to be. Medievalist fantasy fiction is a common form of popular culture which imagines, questions and reinforces our identities through depictions of geographies and nations and/or identities such as race, gender and class in a secondary/ another world. It depicts lands full of unfamiliar beings such as talking trees and animals, but also of men and women of different class, sexuality, race and spaces.
This session hopes to explore where creators and consumers of medievalist fantasy wish to “escape” and to, and highlight the powerful impact of medievalist fantasy in the shaping both our past and present identities in the popular mind.
Since the mass-market paperback publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the US in 1965, medievalist fantasy has become one the most influential genres in the current popular culture. Although the fantasy genre has since expanded, with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and their visual adaptations, medievalist fantasy still remains as one of the most consumed genres in popular culture. Furthermore, although the settings of medievalist fantasy are oftentimes in the past, they nonetheless overlap with the author’s or adapter’s contemporary world. This session will discuss how such (neo-)medievalist fantasy works affect the way consumers of the genre imagine the past in the current world, and how such imaginations shape the present world. Papers that question and investigate the depictions of imagined geographies and nations and/or identities such as race, gender, and class in medievalist fantasy are especially welcome.
Please submit a 250-300 abstract and a short bio to the NeMLA submission page: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18251
The deadline for submission is September 30, 2019.
You can check the guideline for submission in https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers/submit.html
Please contact Jiwon Ohm if you have any questions: jiwonohm@buffalo.edu
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/10/nemla-2020-panel-imagining-the-past-neo-medievalism-in-fantasy-genre
deadline for submissions: September 30, 2019
full name / name of organization: Jiwon Ohm/ Northeast Modern Language Association
contact email: jiwonohm@buffalo.edu
In “Dreaming of the Middle Ages,” Umberto Eco asks the question: “What would Ruskin, Morris, and the pre-Raphaelites have said if they had been told that the rediscovery of the Middle Ages would be the work of the twentieth-century mass media?”
Indeed, the twentieth-century mass media has disseminated what Eco calls, “escapism à la Tolkien” which has influenced many modern writers and cultural producers in other mass media such as films and video games. Although such “escapism à la Tolkien,” or “Tolkienesque” fantasy, seems harmless as pure entertainment, its consumption is massive, and many picture the Middle Ages not as it actually was, but how it is depicted through medievalist fantasy.
The theme of the 2020 NeMLA convention is “Shaping and Sharing Identities: Spaces, Places, Languages, and Cultures.” This gestures towards the important question of identities, and how we imagine ourselves and “others” to be. Medievalist fantasy fiction is a common form of popular culture which imagines, questions and reinforces our identities through depictions of geographies and nations and/or identities such as race, gender and class in a secondary/ another world. It depicts lands full of unfamiliar beings such as talking trees and animals, but also of men and women of different class, sexuality, race and spaces.
This session hopes to explore where creators and consumers of medievalist fantasy wish to “escape” and to, and highlight the powerful impact of medievalist fantasy in the shaping both our past and present identities in the popular mind.
Since the mass-market paperback publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the US in 1965, medievalist fantasy has become one the most influential genres in the current popular culture. Although the fantasy genre has since expanded, with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and GRR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and their visual adaptations, medievalist fantasy still remains as one of the most consumed genres in popular culture. Furthermore, although the settings of medievalist fantasy are oftentimes in the past, they nonetheless overlap with the author’s or adapter’s contemporary world. This session will discuss how such (neo-)medievalist fantasy works affect the way consumers of the genre imagine the past in the current world, and how such imaginations shape the present world. Papers that question and investigate the depictions of imagined geographies and nations and/or identities such as race, gender, and class in medievalist fantasy are especially welcome.
Please submit a 250-300 abstract and a short bio to the NeMLA submission page: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18251
The deadline for submission is September 30, 2019.
You can check the guideline for submission in https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers/submit.html
Please contact Jiwon Ohm if you have any questions: jiwonohm@buffalo.edu
Last Call for MAPACA Proposals
Response to our MAPACA calls has been pretty lackluster this year.
If you intend to submit, please do so in advance of the June deadline. Details on the three active calls can be found in the blog posts below and on our calls for papers menu in the sidebar of the blog.
If you intend to submit, please do so in advance of the June deadline. Details on the three active calls can be found in the blog posts below and on our calls for papers menu in the sidebar of the blog.
New Blog Name
I'm pleased to announce the debut of our new blog name: Making Medievalisms Matter.
It is a statement that reflects our belief in the importance of medievalisms in creating how and why we receive elements of the medieval past and, also, a reminder of our mission to promote and foster research and discussion of these representations of the medieval in post-medieval popular culture and mass media.
Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
It is a statement that reflects our belief in the importance of medievalisms in creating how and why we receive elements of the medieval past and, also, a reminder of our mission to promote and foster research and discussion of these representations of the medieval in post-medieval popular culture and mass media.
Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Friday, June 7, 2019
NEASA Sponsored Session Update and Bios
Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and
Community: 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference.
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA.
8 June 2019.
(full program at https://newenglandasa.wordpress.com/annual-conference/)
Session 4: 3:15-4:30
Panel 7: Make Me Medieval: Appropriations of the Middle Ages
in American Culture (Percival Hall 106)
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of
Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Moderator: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“All-American Arthuriana: The
Appropriation of the Matter of Britain during the American Civil War Era,”
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. His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, Beowulfiana, comics and comic art, Frankensteiniana, medievalism, monsters, science fiction, and wizards. Michael has presented papers on these topics at regional, national, and international conferences, and his work has been published in Adapting the Arthurian Legends for Children: Essays on Arthurian Juvenilia, Arthuriana, The Arthuriana / Camelot Project Bibliographies, Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays, Film & History, The 1999 Film & History CD-ROM Annual, The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, and the three most recent 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 (successor to The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages), and The Northeast Alliance for Scholarship on the Fantastic; he also serves as editor for these organizations’ various blogs and moderator of their discussion lists. Besides these activities, Michael is also active in the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association and organizes sessions for their annual conference in the fall. Michael is currently Monsters and the Monstrous Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association, but he previously served as its Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair, a position he held from 2009-2018.
“Medievalism in America’s Mardi
Gras Tradition,” Ann J. Pond (Bishop State Community College
[Bio not provided.]
“Might Makes Right: Medieval Combat
Sports and the Legitimization of a Fascist Middle Ages,” Ken Mondschein
(University of Massachusetts-Amherst-Mt Ida)
Ken Mondschein floats like a leaf through academia. He has benefited from Mt. Ida College’s closing by UMass-Amherst giving him a lectureship to teach the remnant Vet Tech students, who resent him mightily (your choice for gen-eds... Mondschein... or Mondschein). Besides that, he teaches at two other colleges for a total of eight classes per semester. Publishing-wise, he is incredibly productive. His book on timekeeping finally passed peer review at Johns Hopkins, and he has a contract for a sourcebook on medieval time with Italica Press. He published Game of Thrones and the Medieval Art of War with McFarland in 2017, and just released his translation of BnF MS Lat 11269 with extensive scholarly introduction as Flowers of Battle, Vol III: Florius de Arte Luctandi with Freelance Academy Press. The introduction is its own article in Acta Periodica Duellatorum 6.1, “On the Art of Fighting: A Humanist Translation of Fiore dei Liberi’s Flower of Battle Owned by Leonello D’Este.” Ken also has chapters forthcoming in the Cultural History of Sport Vol. 2: A Cultural History of Sport in the Medieval Age (ed. Wray Vamplew, John McClelland, and Mark Dyreson) and an article, “Fencing, Martial Sport, and Working-Class Culture in Early Modern Germany: The Case of Strasbourg” (with Olivier Dupuis) forthcoming in the Journal of Medieval Military History 16.
“ ‘Beautiful, willful, and dead
before her time’: Reclaiming Female Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Its Fandom,” Kavita Mudan Finn
(Independent Scholar)
Kavita Mudan Finn is an independent scholar in medieval and early modern literature currently lecturing at Simmons University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 2010 and published her first book, The Last Plantagenet Consorts: Gender, Genre, and Historiography 1440-1627, in 2012. Her work has appeared in Shakespeare, Viator, Critical Survey, Journal of Fandom Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video, and she has edited several collections, including Fan Phenomena: Game of Thrones (2017), The Palgrave Handbook of Shakespeare’s Queens (2018), and Becoming: Genre, Queerness, and Transformation in NBC’s Hannibal (2019).
Monday, May 6, 2019
CFP Comics Get Medieval 2019 (6/30/2019; MAPACA Pittsburgh 11/7-9/2019)
A session 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
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
Proposals due by 30 June 2019
Medieval Classics Illustrated: The Comics Get Medieval 2019
The comics medium has long been used to promote the familiarization of great literature beginning with the Classics Illustrated series and continuing with its many modern successors today. There is value in using comics to introduce readers to texts, but there is greater value in using adaptations as studies of acts of interpretation, appropriation, and transformation. As with any form of medievalism, the connections made between comics adaptations of medieval literature and the contexts concerning their creation are important, but there are, to date, few studies of comics based on medieval works. It is the intent of this panel, a furtherance of the popular Comics Get Medieval sessions, to foster discussion and debate of how and why cartoonists, comic book creators, and graphic novelists have adapted medieval texts and to offer suggestions for how such comics might be profitably used in teaching and promoting the discipline of Medieval Studies.
Presentations will be limited to 15-20 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should, no later than 30 June 2019, notify the organizers of their topic via email directed to MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Comics Get Medieval 2019” as their subject heading. Please send both an abstract of no more than 300 words and an academic biographical narrative of no more than 75 words. Accepted participants will also need create a web account with the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association at https://mapaca.net/conference in advance of the deadline.
Again, please send inquiries and copies of your submissions to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Comics Get Medieval 2019” as the subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (available at https://mapaca.net/help/conference/submitting-abstracts-conference).
Further details on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be found at its website: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.
CFP Roundtable on Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms (6/30/2019; MAPACA Pittsburgh 11/7-9/2019)
Call for Papers for Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
A session 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
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
Proposals due by 30 June 2019
Undoubtedly, the modern concept of the zombie is a recent phenomenon, with origins in Haitian folklore and American film and fiction (notably George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”). Nevertheless, the zombie is also indebted to horrors of earlier ages, including the revenants of medieval folklore and literature; although, enthusiasts of present-day zombies often overlook this heritage. Meanwhile, some modern creators of representations of zombie menaces seem to tap into to this tradition in bringing to life new undead creatures that mash the medieval with the modern by allowing more familiar zombies and zombie-like entities to shamble across medieval landscapes. Despite the variety and vitality of these traditions, both the medieval undead and undead medievalisms remain largely neglected by scholarship.
Through this roundtable session, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to bridge the apparent divides between modern and medieval and medieval and modern. We endeavor to foster discussion that allows the undead of the medieval past and the zombies found in medieval-inspired narratives of today to come into contact through our teaching and research. The topic is especially relevant to this conference, given that its “unofficial” theme of is “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World” in honor of Romero and his work.
Presentations will be limited to 10-15 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should, no later than 30 June 2019, notify the organizers of their topic via email directed to MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms” as their subject heading. Please send both an abstract of no more than 300 words and an academic biographical narrative of no more than 75 words. Accepted participants will also need create a web account with the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association at https://mapaca.net/conference in advance of the deadline. Be advised that roundtable presenters may also present a paper in a regular session of the conference.
Again, please send inquiries and copies of your submissions to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms” as the subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (available at https://mapaca.net/help/conference/submitting-abstracts-conference).
Further details on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be found at its website: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.
A session 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
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
Proposals due by 30 June 2019
Undoubtedly, the modern concept of the zombie is a recent phenomenon, with origins in Haitian folklore and American film and fiction (notably George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Richard Matheson’s “I am Legend”). Nevertheless, the zombie is also indebted to horrors of earlier ages, including the revenants of medieval folklore and literature; although, enthusiasts of present-day zombies often overlook this heritage. Meanwhile, some modern creators of representations of zombie menaces seem to tap into to this tradition in bringing to life new undead creatures that mash the medieval with the modern by allowing more familiar zombies and zombie-like entities to shamble across medieval landscapes. Despite the variety and vitality of these traditions, both the medieval undead and undead medievalisms remain largely neglected by scholarship.
Through this roundtable session, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to bridge the apparent divides between modern and medieval and medieval and modern. We endeavor to foster discussion that allows the undead of the medieval past and the zombies found in medieval-inspired narratives of today to come into contact through our teaching and research. The topic is especially relevant to this conference, given that its “unofficial” theme of is “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World” in honor of Romero and his work.
Presentations will be limited to 10-15 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should, no later than 30 June 2019, notify the organizers of their topic via email directed to MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms” as their subject heading. Please send both an abstract of no more than 300 words and an academic biographical narrative of no more than 75 words. Accepted participants will also need create a web account with the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association at https://mapaca.net/conference in advance of the deadline. Be advised that roundtable presenters may also present a paper in a regular session of the conference.
Again, please send inquiries and copies of your submissions to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Medieval Undead/Undead Medievalisms” as the subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (available at https://mapaca.net/help/conference/submitting-abstracts-conference).
Further details on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be found at its website: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.
CFP Roundtable on George Romero’s Knightriders (6/30/2019; MAPACA Pittsburgh 11/7-9/2019)
A session 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
2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA
7-9 November 2019
Proposals due by 30 June 2019
The “unofficial” theme of the 2019 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association is “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World” in honor of George A. Romero and his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. However, Romero was a prolific filmmaker, and medievalists have another reason to commemorate him and the city he often worked in. In 1981, Romero released the innovative film Knightriders, which he filmed in and around Pittsburgh. It depicts a band of performers—modern-day knights on motorcycles—reenacting and reviving aspects of the Arthurian legend and other medieval stories in a contemporary setting. Now nearly forty years old, the film offers an interesting display of American appropriation and transformation of the medieval, but it remains largely unexplored by scholarship.
Through this session, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to encourage new interest in Romero’s neglected film and to offer both reassessments and critiques of the work in anticipation of its fortieth anniversary in 2021. We are especially interested in new insights into how the film might successfully be interrelated into our teaching and research.
Presentations will be limited to 10-15 minutes depending on final panel size.
Interested individuals should, no later than 30 June 2019, notify the organizers of their topic via email directed to MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Knightriders Roundtable” as their subject heading. Please send both an abstract of no more than 300 words and an academic biographical narrative of no more than 75 words. Accepted participants will also need create a web account with the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association at https://mapaca.net/conference in advance of the deadline. Be advised that roundtable presenters may also present a paper in a regular session of the conference.
Again, please send inquiries and copies of your submissions to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Knightriders Roundtable” as the subject heading.
In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (available at https://mapaca.net/help/conference/submitting-abstracts-conference).
Further details on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be found at its website: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Kalamazoo 2019 Sessions
Here is the complete list of our sponsored sessions for the International Congress on Medieval Studies later this week. I'll update any missing bios before the event, if possible.
The full program is available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/events.
The full program is available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/events.
SATURDAY, MAY 11
10:00 AM
368 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture I: New Perspectives
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart Univ.
Adapting the Norse Myths: Risks, Challenges, and Creative
Choices
Erik A. Evensen, Univ. of Wisconsin–Stout
Erik A. Evensen, MFA, is an associate professor of design in the School of
Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin–Stout. He is a designer,
illustrator, and graphic novelist whose creative work often reinterprets topics
from history, mythology, and folklore. He is the author/illustrator of the graphic
novels Gods of Asgard and The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay, the game
artist for Marrying Mr. Darcy: The Pride
and Prejudice Card Game, and has
illustrated for the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future comic book series
from IDW Publishing. Gods of Asgard
won a Xeric Award in 2007, and has since been featured at the Field Museum of
Natural History, the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and the Wexner
Center for the Arts, and has been adopted as a textbook at Gustavus Adolphus
College, James Madison University, and Marshall University. It has been cited
in a wide variety of academic writing, including master’s theses, doctoral
dissertations, books, and journal articles. Other mythological works include
the 2013 graphic novel The Beast of
Wolfe’s Bay, a modernized retelling of Beowulf, and Angrvadil, an illustrated novel retelling of the Saga of Fridtjov
the Bold. Erik holds an MFA in Visual Communication Design from Ohio State
University, and studied fine art at the University of New Hampshire and the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Asgardians in the East: Norse Gods in Japanese Popular
Culture
Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar, Michigan State Univ.; Sarah
Kelley Brish, Independent Scholar
Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar
received her PhD in English from Western Michigan University and is an
assistant professor in the department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American
Cultures at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on representations
of the natural world and of death in Old English and Old Norse literatures. She
is also an acquisitions editor for Medieval Institute Publications, managing
series in New Queer Medievalisms and Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons.
Sarah Kelley Brish received her MA in Medieval Studies from Western
Michigan University. In 2011, she presented a paper at NTNU in Trondheim,
Norway, on the appropriations of Norse culture in World of Warcraft, so being able to view this particular topic
through the lens of another culture is very intriguing. Sarah currently works
as a freelance editor.
Hidden Bodies, Masculine Minds: Shield-Maidens in Video
Games, Norse Myth, and Legend
Shirley
McPhaul, Univ. de Puerto Rico–Recinto de Río Piedras
Shirley McPhaul holds two Master Degrees, one in Viking and
Medieval Norse Studies from the University of Iceland, and a second one in
Comparative Literature from the University of Puerto Rico. For her thesis in
both degrees, she chose to direct her research towards reception, Popular
Culture and Video Game Design, focusing in Fictional World Building for one project
and gender theory for the second. She is currently teaching Medieval Literature
and Popular Culture at the University of Puerto Rico, and Video Game
Conceptualization at Atlantic University College. Her current research is
geared towards interactive narratives in interactive media, such as Video
Games, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
“I did that once. They made a saga about it”: Metafiction
and Storytelling in Neil Gaiman’s Adaptations and Retellings of Norse Mythology
Fanny Geuzaine, Univ. catholique de Louvain
A graduate in English and French
literatures as well as in mathematics and musicology, Fanny Geuzaine is
currently pursuing her doctoral research as a F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellow in
the English Literature department of the Université catholique de Louvain
(Belgium). Her research focuses on metafiction, storytelling and transmediality
in the short works of fiction and non-fiction of Neil Gaiman. Her recent
publications tackle the question of transmediality and novelization processes
in Dave Eggers’s rewriting and adaptation for the screen of Maurice Sendak’s Where
the Wild Thing Are (L’Harmattan),
as well as the impact of context and co-text on metafictional issues in
Neil Gaiman’s short stories (Journal of the Short Story in English). Her
first monography, The Tripartite Nature of Speculative Fiction. The Shock of
the Strange through the Figure of the Creature, will be released in Autumn.
She is particularly interested in the way popular culture reinvests tales,
myths and literary traditions, and she simply loves a chilling ending to a good
story – but she won’t tell anyone if you don’t.
12:00 PM
Schneider 1280
Association for the Advancement of Schneider 1280
Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Business Meeting: All are welcome to attend.
01:30 PM
421 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture II: Character Spotlights
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Scott Manning, Independent Scholar
Reshaping the Scandinavian Saga through Hybridity: Thorgal, an Anti-Mythological Hero
Maxime Thiry, Univ. catholique de Louvain
A graduate in Roman and French
literatures, Maxime Thiry is currently pursuing his doctoral research as a
Teaching Assistant in the French & Roman Languages &Literatures
department of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). His research
focuses on intermediality in Belgian cotemporary literature and how it offers
an original angle to the mutations of representations following the Iconic
Turn. This question leads him to analyze both similarities and differences in
works (from narrative works to cinematographic and television products) that
grapple with postmodernist and pop paradigms, from their production to their
reception. His recent publications tackle the question of iconicity in novels
from the Belgian writers Jean-Philippe Toussaint and Guy Vaes, and the TV show American Horror Story.
The Misunderstood Wolf: Fenrir as Antihero in Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and Televassi’s Fenrir’s Saga
Travis Kane, Univ. of Houston
Travis Kane is a recent graduate of
the University of Houston. He is the recipient of the Gentile Scholarship in
literary criticism, and the PURS research award. He presented his paper “From
Demon to Disabled: Interpreting Grendel’s Monstrosity in Beowulf, John Gardner’s Grendel,
and Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf” at the
Southeastern Medieval Association (SEMA) conference on November 2017. His
research interests include Medieval Norse, Anglo Saxon, and Celtic literature,
Germanic and Celtic mythology, Medievalism, Translation, Adaptation, and
Fantasy literature.
Translating Trickster: Reading Loki for the Twenty-First
Century
Megan Fontenot, Michigan State Univ.
Megan N. Fontenot holds a dual BA
in English and Humanities from Milligan College and an MA in English Literature
from Michigan State University. Her work has been published in the journals Mythlore and Fafnir, with an article forthcoming in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review. Megan is also a
regular blogger for Tor.com and is currently working on a series exploring the
textual histories and developments of various Tolkien characters. She will be
pursuing a PhD in English Lit, with a focus in nineteenth century British
literature and Tolkien Studies, at the University of Georgia this fall.
Give Them Hel(a): The Norse Goddess of Death as the Great
Mother in Myth and Film
June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart Univ.
[bio not provided]
03:30 PM
473 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture III: Channeling the Myths
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Jolanta N. Komornicka, St. Jerome’s Univ., Univ.
of Waterloo
Medieval Motifs in DreamWorks
Dragons
Sandra Hartl, Otto-Friedrich-Univ. Bamberg
Sandra Hartl, M.A. studied English
literature and Classics at the universities of Bamberg (Germany) and Galway
(Ireland). She is doing a PhD and has presented several papers on J.R.R.
Tolkien’s classical mythological motifs.
Reinterpretation of Norse mythology in Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia
Geneviève Pigeon, Univ. du Québec–Montréal
[bio not provided]
“Her temper was still the same”: Women Resisting Colonialism
in Modern Viking Narratives
Margaret Sheble, Purdue Univ.
Winner of the Thomas
Ohlgren Award for Best Graduate Student Essay in Medieval and Renaissance
Studies
Margaret Sheble is a PhD candidate
at Purdue University studying English Literature where she also received her
MA. Additionally, she holds an MA in Arthurian Literature from Bangor
University, Wales and an Honors BA in Art History from Norther Arizona University.
Currently she works as an instructor on record for ENG 106 Introductory
Composition at Purdue University and has generated curriculum for the
equivalent online course. Other courses include ENGL 286 The Movies with
a focus on superhero films and ENGL 238 Intro to Fiction. Margaret is also a
graduate assistant for the Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship,
Assessment and Research. Other positions held have included museum development,
archival research assistant, and editorial assistant. In the Fall 2019 she will
be the graduate assistant for the journal Arthuriana and is
currently working on an Arthurian games database for The Camelot
Project. Her dissertation research is on suicide in the Arthurian tradition
and how the suicides that occur or are attempted within the Arthurian
texts reflect the wider concerns of ideal heteronormativity, gender roles, and
one’s faithfulness to the Arthurian community. Her talk “Her temper was the
same: Women Resisting Colonialism in Modern Viking Narratives” will appear
in New Feminist Voices in the Heroic Age this summer.
“I was born a god.
And so were you”: Mythic Norse Superheroes in God of War (2018) and Marvel Comics
Andrew Barton, Texas State Univ.–San Marcos
Andrew Barton is a lecturer at
Texas State University, where he teaches freshman composition courses. Upon
graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in Psychology and
English, he worked for several years in the nonprofit world, serving as a district
executive for an organization with a youth-serving focus. Eventually, Andrew
desired to return to literature and academia, and enrolled at Texas State
University. During his studies, he became interested in fantasy and children’s
literature. While a graduate student, Andrew worked as a Teaching Assistant,
covering classes in American and British literature, and was awarded multiple
scholarships for his academic achievements. He received a Master’s degree in
Literature in 2018, and wrote his thesis on medievalist literature in popular
culture as it relates to adventure and spatiality. He is especially interested
in medievalist and popular literature such as comics and film, and particularly
how those interact in digital media such as video games. He has presented
multiple papers at conferences, with topics including heterotopia, the Other,
the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, liminality, and Dr. Strange. He is currently working on
a project involving the medieval influences of Ready Player One, and assisting in a videocast project on
Diversifying the Western Canon for use in sophomore literature classes. He
lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, their dog, and their hedgehog.
NEASA Session Update
For those interested in attending our sponsored session on American medievalisms at the 2019 meeting of the Northeast American Studies Association, the organizers have forwarded the following:
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the New England American Studies Association (NEASA) Council, I’m very excited to invite you, your colleagues, and your students to join us at Fitchburg State University on June 8th for our 2019 NEASA Conference!
Co-sponsored by FSU and Roxbury Community College, our 2019 Conference will offer panels and roundtables on the theme of Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community. These sessions will feature undergraduate students from FSU and Bridgewater State University, graduate students and faculty from across New England, and presenters from Texas and Utah, among many other contributors. A full conference program will be available shortly at https://newenglandasa.wordpress.com/.
Our free attendee registration rate will allow attendees to join not only all those sessions, but also our two special events: a mid-conference luncheon featuring a keynote address from Fitchburg Art Museum Director Nick Capasso; and an end-of-conference cocktail reception at the Fitchburg Art Museum, featuring fajitas and margaritas from Fitchburg’s own Zapata restaurant! Attendance and food and beverages at both these events are complimentary for all conference attendees!
Here’s the link to register for the conference (at that free attendee rate):
https://www.regonline.com/registration/login.aspx?eventID=2562856&MethodId=0&EventsessionId=
We hope you and your colleagues and students will join us at FSU on June 8th! Please direct any conference questions to neasacouncil@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Ben Railton
NEASA President
Professor of English Studies and American Studies, Fitchburg State University
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the New England American Studies Association (NEASA) Council, I’m very excited to invite you, your colleagues, and your students to join us at Fitchburg State University on June 8th for our 2019 NEASA Conference!
Co-sponsored by FSU and Roxbury Community College, our 2019 Conference will offer panels and roundtables on the theme of Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community. These sessions will feature undergraduate students from FSU and Bridgewater State University, graduate students and faculty from across New England, and presenters from Texas and Utah, among many other contributors. A full conference program will be available shortly at https://newenglandasa.wordpress.com/.
Our free attendee registration rate will allow attendees to join not only all those sessions, but also our two special events: a mid-conference luncheon featuring a keynote address from Fitchburg Art Museum Director Nick Capasso; and an end-of-conference cocktail reception at the Fitchburg Art Museum, featuring fajitas and margaritas from Fitchburg’s own Zapata restaurant! Attendance and food and beverages at both these events are complimentary for all conference attendees!
Here’s the link to register for the conference (at that free attendee rate):
https://www.regonline.com/registration/login.aspx?eventID=2562856&MethodId=0&EventsessionId=
We hope you and your colleagues and students will join us at FSU on June 8th! Please direct any conference questions to neasacouncil@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Ben Railton
NEASA President
Professor of English Studies and American Studies, Fitchburg State University
Sunday, April 28, 2019
CFP How to Use Literature in the Italian Language Class (NeMLA Italian Studies Volume XLI) (6/30/2019)
Apologies for having just come across this. It seems of potential value.
CFP: How to Use Literature in the Italian Language Class (NeMLA Italian Studies Volume XLI)
http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/about/news.html
Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2018
NeMLA Italian Studies, the refereed journal published by NeMLA's Italian section under the sponsorship of NeMLA and The College of New Jersey, has a call for papers for Volume XLI, "How to Use Literature in the Italian Language Class."
The use of literature in language classes can be considered as one of the most effective way to teach language and culture. In this call for papers the editors welcome original contributions that investigate the relevance of the use of literary-based input for teaching and learning Italian language and culture, and highlight strategies educators can use to effectively engage students through literature in the classroom. Preferred contributions should address all levels of Italian courses, particularly the beginning and intermediate ones.
Submissions should not exceed 5,000 words (including notes and bibliography) and can be either in English or Italian (with preference given to English). Authors must comply with the MLA bibliographic standards for citations and documents of source. Contributors should send their manuscripts together with a 300-word abstract and 50-word bio and CV to the editors by June 30, 2019 with the subject line "NIS VOLUME XLI" to (please include all in email) Paola Nastri (paola.nastri@gmail.com), Paola Quadrini (paolaquadrini@gmail.com), and Simona Wright (simona@tcnj.edu).
CFP: How to Use Literature in the Italian Language Class (NeMLA Italian Studies Volume XLI)
http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/about/news.html
Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2018
NeMLA Italian Studies, the refereed journal published by NeMLA's Italian section under the sponsorship of NeMLA and The College of New Jersey, has a call for papers for Volume XLI, "How to Use Literature in the Italian Language Class."
The use of literature in language classes can be considered as one of the most effective way to teach language and culture. In this call for papers the editors welcome original contributions that investigate the relevance of the use of literary-based input for teaching and learning Italian language and culture, and highlight strategies educators can use to effectively engage students through literature in the classroom. Preferred contributions should address all levels of Italian courses, particularly the beginning and intermediate ones.
Submissions should not exceed 5,000 words (including notes and bibliography) and can be either in English or Italian (with preference given to English). Authors must comply with the MLA bibliographic standards for citations and documents of source. Contributors should send their manuscripts together with a 300-word abstract and 50-word bio and CV to the editors by June 30, 2019 with the subject line "NIS VOLUME XLI" to (please include all in email) Paola Nastri (paola.nastri@gmail.com), Paola Quadrini (paolaquadrini@gmail.com), and Simona Wright (simona@tcnj.edu).
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
CFP NeMLA’s 50 Anniversary Celebration Volume (proposals by 4/30/2019)
This seemed of potential interest:
NeMLA’s 50 Anniversary Celebration Volume
Posted Monday, April 8, 2019
http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/about/news.html
CFP NeMLA’s 50 Anniversary Celebration
Call for abstract submissions!
Title: Transnational Spaces: Intersections of Cultures, Languages and People
Contemporary reality is deeply affected by the phenomenon of globalization, which is understood as the diffusion and extension of economic, social, and political operations across national boundaries, alongside the emergence of supernational bodies of governance and control. As we witness daily, globalization has internationally produced a corollary of macro and micro phenomena, from empoverished national economies to war torn countries, from a dramatic rise in political and climate refugees and forced migration to the enactment of militarized border policing operations. Internally, it has produced growing economic inequalities and, in many countries, it has contributed to the rise of far-right and populist movements driven by a violent anti-immigrant agenda. As political and economic processes become more international, we recognize the proliferation of transnational non-state actors whose jurisdiction is larger and vastly more authoritative than national sovereign rule. Transnationalism is therefore first and foremost an economic and political phenomenon that has impacted the social structure in many, and in some cases undeniably foreseeable ways. We agree with William I. Robinson, when he argues that contemporary transnational conditions have produced a systemic mutation whose nature and implications need to be examined. Thus, as “social structure is becoming transnationalized; an epistemic shift is required in concurrence with this ontological shift” (1998, 561).[1] We can apply the same question Robinson asks of sociology studies to the humanities, as we believe that adopting a transnational and transdisciplinary perspective is necessary to examine and discuss both contemporary and classical ‘texts’ that address the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and class within a transnational, transcultural, and translingual framework. Thus, drawing from the theme of the 2019 NeMLA convention, "Transnational Spaces: Intersections of Cultures, Languages, and Peoples," our volume intends to present a transnational perspective/approach that, we hope, will contribute to a paradigmatic shift and possibly a reconceptualization of the humanities in a time when they often seem under attack, or unable to confront the complex realities we inhabit. We welcome essays that aim to challenge traditional notions of history, territory, and identity and that recognize the complex processes of transculturation which characterize modernity. Especially sought are submissions that approach texts from disciplines such as literature, cinema, gender and sexuality studies, media and cultural studies, eco- and environmental studies, postcolonial studies, migration and border studies, and human geography.
Send a 300-word proposal to cmardoro@buffalo.edu and simona@tcnj.edu by April 30th, 2019. Timeline for publication: Submission of completed individual manuscript (MLA stile) by July 31st, 2019. Revisions expected by October 31st, 2019. Expected publication, Spring 2020 with Vernon Press.
[1] See William I. Robinson, “Beyond Nation-State Paradigms: Globalization, Sociology, and the Challenge of Transnational Studies,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp. 561-594.
NeMLA’s 50 Anniversary Celebration Volume
Posted Monday, April 8, 2019
http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/about/news.html
CFP NeMLA’s 50 Anniversary Celebration
Call for abstract submissions!
Title: Transnational Spaces: Intersections of Cultures, Languages and People
Contemporary reality is deeply affected by the phenomenon of globalization, which is understood as the diffusion and extension of economic, social, and political operations across national boundaries, alongside the emergence of supernational bodies of governance and control. As we witness daily, globalization has internationally produced a corollary of macro and micro phenomena, from empoverished national economies to war torn countries, from a dramatic rise in political and climate refugees and forced migration to the enactment of militarized border policing operations. Internally, it has produced growing economic inequalities and, in many countries, it has contributed to the rise of far-right and populist movements driven by a violent anti-immigrant agenda. As political and economic processes become more international, we recognize the proliferation of transnational non-state actors whose jurisdiction is larger and vastly more authoritative than national sovereign rule. Transnationalism is therefore first and foremost an economic and political phenomenon that has impacted the social structure in many, and in some cases undeniably foreseeable ways. We agree with William I. Robinson, when he argues that contemporary transnational conditions have produced a systemic mutation whose nature and implications need to be examined. Thus, as “social structure is becoming transnationalized; an epistemic shift is required in concurrence with this ontological shift” (1998, 561).[1] We can apply the same question Robinson asks of sociology studies to the humanities, as we believe that adopting a transnational and transdisciplinary perspective is necessary to examine and discuss both contemporary and classical ‘texts’ that address the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and class within a transnational, transcultural, and translingual framework. Thus, drawing from the theme of the 2019 NeMLA convention, "Transnational Spaces: Intersections of Cultures, Languages, and Peoples," our volume intends to present a transnational perspective/approach that, we hope, will contribute to a paradigmatic shift and possibly a reconceptualization of the humanities in a time when they often seem under attack, or unable to confront the complex realities we inhabit. We welcome essays that aim to challenge traditional notions of history, territory, and identity and that recognize the complex processes of transculturation which characterize modernity. Especially sought are submissions that approach texts from disciplines such as literature, cinema, gender and sexuality studies, media and cultural studies, eco- and environmental studies, postcolonial studies, migration and border studies, and human geography.
Send a 300-word proposal to cmardoro@buffalo.edu and simona@tcnj.edu by April 30th, 2019. Timeline for publication: Submission of completed individual manuscript (MLA stile) by July 31st, 2019. Revisions expected by October 31st, 2019. Expected publication, Spring 2020 with Vernon Press.
[1] See William I. Robinson, “Beyond Nation-State Paradigms: Globalization, Sociology, and the Challenge of Transnational Studies,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp. 561-594.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Updated Panel for 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference
Here's the updated (and probably final) draft of our sponsored session for the New England American Studies Association. My thanks to the organizers for their interest in the topic and for my fellow panelists for their proposals.
Make Me Medieval: Appropriations of the Middle Ages in American Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community: 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference.
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA.
8 June 2019.
“All-American Arthuriana: The Appropriation of the Matter of Britain during the American Civil War Era,” Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
“Medievalism in America’s Mardi Gras Tradition,” Ann J. Pond (Bishop State Community College)
“Might Makes Right: Medieval Combat Sports and the Legitimization of a Fascist Middle Ages,” Ken Mondschein (University of Massachusetts-Amherst-Mt Ida)
“ ‘Beautiful, willful, and dead before her time’: Reclaiming Female Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Its Fandom,” Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar)
Make Me Medieval: Appropriations of the Middle Ages in American Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community: 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference.
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA.
8 June 2019.
“All-American Arthuriana: The Appropriation of the Matter of Britain during the American Civil War Era,” Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
“Medievalism in America’s Mardi Gras Tradition,” Ann J. Pond (Bishop State Community College)
“Might Makes Right: Medieval Combat Sports and the Legitimization of a Fascist Middle Ages,” Ken Mondschein (University of Massachusetts-Amherst-Mt Ida)
“ ‘Beautiful, willful, and dead before her time’: Reclaiming Female Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Its Fandom,” Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar)
Monday, April 15, 2019
Kalamazoo 2019 Updates
A much belated posting.
The program for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies, to be held at Western Michigan University from 9-12 May, is now available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/events.
Our three sponsored sessions on Norse mythology in popular culture comprise a virtual mini-conference and run on Saturday, 11 May, from 10 AM to 5 PM. There will be a business meeting held during the lunch break, with all welcome to attend.
I'll post full panel details closer to the conference.
Michael A Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
The program for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies, to be held at Western Michigan University from 9-12 May, is now available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/events.
Our three sponsored sessions on Norse mythology in popular culture comprise a virtual mini-conference and run on Saturday, 11 May, from 10 AM to 5 PM. There will be a business meeting held during the lunch break, with all welcome to attend.
I'll post full panel details closer to the conference.
Michael A Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
SATURDAY, MAY 11
10:00 AM
368 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture I: New Perspectives
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart Univ.
Adapting the Norse Myths: Risks, Challenges, and Creative
Choices
Erik A. Evensen, Univ. of Wisconsin–Stout
Erik A. Evensen, MFA, is an associate professor of design in the School of
Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin–Stout. He is a designer,
illustrator, and graphic novelist whose creative work often reinterprets topics
from history, mythology, and folklore. He is the author/illustrator of the graphic
novels Gods of Asgard and The Beast of Wolfe’s Bay, the game
artist for Marrying Mr. Darcy: The Pride
and Prejudice Card Game, and has
illustrated for the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future comic book series
from IDW Publishing. Gods of Asgard
won a Xeric Award in 2007, and has since been featured at the Field Museum of
Natural History, the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and the Wexner
Center for the Arts, and has been adopted as a textbook at Gustavus Adolphus
College, James Madison University, and Marshall University. It has been cited
in a wide variety of academic writing, including master’s theses, doctoral
dissertations, books, and journal articles. Other mythological works include
the 2013 graphic novel The Beast of
Wolfe’s Bay, a modernized retelling of Beowulf, and Angrvadil, an illustrated novel retelling of the Saga of Fridtjov
the Bold. Erik holds an MFA in Visual Communication Design from Ohio State
University, and studied fine art at the University of New Hampshire and the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Asgardians in the East: Norse Gods in Japanese Popular
Culture
Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar, Michigan State Univ.; Sarah
Kelley Brish, Independent Scholar
Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar
received her PhD in English from Western Michigan University and is an
assistant professor in the department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American
Cultures at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on representations
of the natural world and of death in Old English and Old Norse literatures. She
is also an acquisitions editor for Medieval Institute Publications, managing
series in New Queer Medievalisms and Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons.
Sarah Kelley Brish received her MA in Medieval Studies from Western
Michigan University. In 2011, she presented a paper at NTNU in Trondheim,
Norway, on the appropriations of Norse culture in World of Warcraft, so being able to view this particular topic
through the lens of another culture is very intriguing. Sarah currently works
as a freelance editor.
Hidden Bodies, Masculine Minds: Shield-Maidens in Video
Games, Norse Myth, and Legend
Shirley
McPhaul, Univ. de Puerto Rico–Recinto de Río Piedras
Shirley McPhaul holds two Master Degrees, one in Viking and
Medieval Norse Studies from the University of Iceland, and a second one in
Comparative Literature from the University of Puerto Rico. For her thesis in
both degrees, she chose to direct her research towards reception, Popular
Culture and Video Game Design, focusing in Fictional World Building for one project
and gender theory for the second. She is currently teaching Medieval Literature
and Popular Culture at the University of Puerto Rico, and Video Game
Conceptualization at Atlantic University College. Her current research is
geared towards interactive narratives in interactive media, such as Video
Games, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
“I did that once. They made a saga about it”: Metafiction
and Storytelling in Neil Gaiman’s Adaptations and Retellings of Norse Mythology
Fanny Geuzaine, Univ. catholique de Louvain
A graduate in English and French
literatures as well as in mathematics and musicology, Fanny Geuzaine is
currently pursuing her doctoral research as a F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellow in
the English Literature department of the Université catholique de Louvain
(Belgium). Her research focuses on metafiction, storytelling and transmediality
in the short works of fiction and non-fiction of Neil Gaiman. Her recent
publications tackle the question of transmediality and novelization processes
in Dave Eggers’s rewriting and adaptation for the screen of Maurice Sendak’s Where
the Wild Thing Are (L’Harmattan),
as well as the impact of context and co-text on metafictional issues in
Neil Gaiman’s short stories (Journal of the Short Story in English). Her
first monography, The Tripartite Nature of Speculative Fiction. The Shock of
the Strange through the Figure of the Creature, will be released in Autumn.
She is particularly interested in the way popular culture reinvests tales,
myths and literary traditions, and she simply loves a chilling ending to a good
story – but she won’t tell anyone if you don’t.
12:00 PM
Schneider 1280
Association for the Advancement of Schneider 1280
Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Business Meeting: All are welcome to attend.
01:30 PM
421 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture II: Character Spotlights
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Scott Manning, Independent Scholar
Reshaping the Scandinavian Saga through Hybridity: Thorgal, an Anti-Mythological Hero
Maxime Thiry, Univ. catholique de Louvain
A graduate in Roman and French
literatures, Maxime Thiry is currently pursuing his doctoral research as a
Teaching Assistant in the French & Roman Languages &Literatures
department of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). His research
focuses on intermediality in Belgian cotemporary literature and how it offers
an original angle to the mutations of representations following the Iconic
Turn. This question leads him to analyze both similarities and differences in
works (from narrative works to cinematographic and television products) that
grapple with postmodernist and pop paradigms, from their production to their
reception. His recent publications tackle the question of iconicity in novels
from the Belgian writers Jean-Philippe Toussaint and Guy Vaes, and the TV show American Horror Story.
The Misunderstood Wolf: Fenrir as Antihero in Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and Televassi’s Fenrir’s Saga
Travis Kane, Univ. of Houston
Travis Kane is a recent graduate of
the University of Houston. He is the recipient of the Gentile Scholarship in
literary criticism, and the PURS research award. He presented his paper “From
Demon to Disabled: Interpreting Grendel’s Monstrosity in Beowulf, John Gardner’s Grendel,
and Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf” at the
Southeastern Medieval Association (SEMA) conference on November 2017. His
research interests include Medieval Norse, Anglo Saxon, and Celtic literature,
Germanic and Celtic mythology, Medievalism, Translation, Adaptation, and
Fantasy literature.
Translating Trickster: Reading Loki for the Twenty-First
Century
Megan Fontenot, Michigan State Univ.
Megan N. Fontenot holds a dual BA
in English and Humanities from Milligan College and an MA in English Literature
from Michigan State University. Her work has been published in the journals Mythlore and Fafnir, with an article forthcoming in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review. Megan is also a
regular blogger for Tor.com and is currently working on a series exploring the
textual histories and developments of various Tolkien characters. She will be
pursuing a PhD in English Lit, with a focus in nineteenth century British
literature and Tolkien Studies, at the University of Georgia this fall.
Give Them Hel(a): The Norse Goddess of Death as the Great
Mother in Myth and Film
June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart Univ.
[need bio]
03:30 PM
473 SCHNEIDER 1280
More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in
Contemporary Popular Culture III: Channeling the Myths
Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and
Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Presider: Jolanta N. Komornicka, St. Jerome’s Univ., Univ.
of Waterloo
Medieval Motifs in DreamWorks
Dragons
Sandra Hartl, Otto-Friedrich-Univ. Bamberg
Sandra Hartl, M.A. studied English
literature and Classics at the universities of Bamberg (Germany) and Galway
(Ireland). She is doing a PhD and has presented several papers on J.R.R.
Tolkien’s classical mythological motifs.
Reinterpretation of Norse mythology in Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia
Geneviève Pigeon, Univ. du Québec–Montréal
[need bio]
“Her temper was still the same”: Women Resisting Colonialism
in Modern Viking Narratives
Margaret Sheble, Purdue Univ.
Winner of the Thomas
Ohlgren Award for Best Graduate Student Essay in Medieval and Renaissance
Studies
Margaret Sheble is a PhD candidate
at Purdue University studying English Literature where she also received her
MA. Additionally, she holds an MA in Arthurian Literature from Bangor
University, Wales and an Honors BA in Art History from Norther Arizona
University. Currently she works as an instructor on record for ENG 106
Introductory Composition at Purdue University and has generated curriculum for
the equivalent online course. Other courses include ENGL 286 The Movies with
a focus on superhero films and ENGL 238 Intro to Fiction. Margaret is also a
graduate assistant for the Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship,
Assessment and Research. Other positions held have included museum development,
archival research assistant, and editorial assistant. In the Fall 2019 she will
be the graduate assistant for the journal Arthuriana and is
currently working on an Arthurian games database for The Camelot
Project. Her dissertation research is on suicide in the Arthurian tradition
and how the suicides that occur or are attempted within the Arthurian
texts reflect the wider concerns of ideal heteronormativity, gender roles, and
one’s faithfulness to the Arthurian community. Her talk “Her temper was the
same: Women Resisting Colonialism in Modern Viking Narratives” will appear
in New Feminist Voices in the Heroic Age this summer.
“I was born a god.
And so were you”: Mythic Norse Superheroes in God of War (2018) and Marvel Comics
Andrew Barton, Texas State Univ.–San Marcos
Andrew Barton is a lecturer at
Texas State University, where he teaches freshman composition courses. Upon
graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in Psychology and
English, he worked for several years in the nonprofit world, serving as a
district executive for an organization with a youth-serving focus. Eventually,
Andrew desired to return to literature and academia, and enrolled at Texas
State University. During his studies, he became interested in fantasy and children’s
literature. While a graduate student, Andrew worked as a Teaching Assistant,
covering classes in American and British literature, and was awarded multiple
scholarships for his academic achievements. He received a Master’s degree in
Literature in 2018, and wrote his thesis on medievalist literature in popular
culture as it relates to adventure and spatiality. He is especially interested
in medievalist and popular literature such as comics and film, and particularly
how those interact in digital media such as video games. He has presented
multiple papers at conferences, with topics including heterotopia, the Other,
the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, liminality, and Dr. Strange. He is currently working on
a project involving the medieval influences of Ready Player One, and assisting in a videocast project on
Diversifying the Western Canon for use in sophomore literature classes. He
lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, their dog, and their hedgehog.
Medievalism in America Panel Draft
Here is the first draft of our proposed session for the 2019 meeting of the New England American Studies Association.
Make Me Medieval: Appropriations of the Middle Ages in American Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community: 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference.
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA.
8 June 2019.
“All-American Arthuriana: The Appropriation of the Matter of Britain during the American Civil War Era,” Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
“Might Makes Right: Medieval Combat Sports and the Legitimization of a Fascist Middle Ages,” Ken Mondschein (University of Massachusetts-Amherst-Mt Ida)
“ ‘Beautiful, willful, and dead before her time’: Reclaiming Female Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Its Fandom,” Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar)
(possibly a fourth presenter)
Make Me Medieval: Appropriations of the Middle Ages in American Culture
Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
Representation(s): Image and Reality, Identity and Community: 2019 New England American Studies Association Conference.
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA.
8 June 2019.
“All-American Arthuriana: The Appropriation of the Matter of Britain during the American Civil War Era,” Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)
“Might Makes Right: Medieval Combat Sports and the Legitimization of a Fascist Middle Ages,” Ken Mondschein (University of Massachusetts-Amherst-Mt Ida)
“ ‘Beautiful, willful, and dead before her time’: Reclaiming Female Characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and Its Fandom,” Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar)
(possibly a fourth presenter)
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Medievalism in America Panel (conference date 6/8/2019)
The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture is organizing a panel on American medievalisms for a session at the June meeting of the New England American Studies Association at Fitchburg State University (Fitchburg, MA) on Saturday, June 8.
We are in need of a third presenter. Please contact us ASAP at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com.
Further details on the conference are available at https://newenglandasa.wordpress.com/.
Detail on our work can be found at our website: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.
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