Kalamazoo 2018 Business Meeting Agenda

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University

10- 13 May 2018

Saturday, 5/12, at 12:00 noon

SCHNEIDER 1160 Business Meeting

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

Agenda: 

Missions Statement:  Founded by Michael A. Torregrossa, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture is a community of scholars and enthusiasts organized to promote and foster research and discussion of representations of the medieval in post-medieval popular culture and mass media. We are the successor to the Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and affiliated with the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain. Membership is open  to and free for all. 

Kalamazoo 2018 Session Update 

Kalamazoo 2019 Session Proposals: “More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture” and “Quondam et Futurus? Reflections on Medieval-Themed Science Fiction”

NEPCA 2018 (Worcester State Univ): TBA

MAPACA 2018 (Baltimore) Sessions: “The Comics Get Medieval 2018 (A Roundtable)” and “Monsters and Medievalisms”

Advisory Board Information 

Advisory Board Update: Two members added so far (June-Ann Greeley and Scott Manning).

Co-Editor Opportunities

Journal Possibility

Other Business?

Promotional materials: Details on Advisory Board Applications and MAPACA 2018 sessions accessible at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.  Fliers available at business meeting and sessions; PDF versions for download at https://independent.academia.edu/MichaelTorregrossa. 

More Medievalism at Kalamazoo

I am still program-less for this week's Medieval Congress but have been gathering bits and pieces of programming. The International Society of the Study of Medievalism has just posted their list of sessions. Unfortunately, their offering conflicts with our own (ours on Saturday at 1:30and 3:30 in Schneider 1160), including an Arthurian film panel opposite our Arthurian monsters session. 


Saturday 10am Session 348 FETZER 1005
Medievalism, Racism, and the Academy (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism and the Medievalists of Color
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Wan-Chuan Kao, Washington and Lee Univ.
A roundtable discussion with Colleen C. Ho, Univ. of Maryland; Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach; Matthew Vernon, Univ. of California–Davis; Kavita Mudan Finn, Independent Scholar; and Pamela J. Clements, Siena College.


Saturday 1:30 Session 424 SCHNEIDER 1280
King Arthur 2017 (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Ann F. Howey, Brock Univ.
A roundtable discussion with Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyoming; Kathleen Kelly, Northeastern Univ.; Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan Univ.; Christine Neufeld, Eastern Michigan Univ.; Abby Ang, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington; and Ann Martinez, Kent State Univ.–Stark.


Saturday 3:30 p.m. session 476 SCHNEIDER 1280
The New “Dark Ages”
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Usha Vishnuvajjala
Religion, Science, and Conspiracy Theories: The Flat Earth in the Middle Ages and Today, Shiloh Carroll, Tennessee State Univ.
Not as Sexy as We Thought: Echoes of the Dark Ages in Modern Sexual Conduct for Women, Amy Burge, Cardiff Univ.
Medievalism, Medievalists, and Conditional Reproductive Justice, Rebecca Huffman, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor
A Dark Stage for the Dark Ages: Medieval Theatre as Protest (Then and Now), Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull


I also recommend, selfishly:


Friday, May 11, 7:30pm, Fetzer 1005
Juggling the Middle Ages (A Screening and Roundtable Discussion)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection; Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Jan M. Ziolkowski, Harvard Univ./Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Presider: Jan M. Ziolkowski
Discussants: Elizabeth Emery (Montclair State U); Richard Utz (Georgia Tech)
This session features screenings of two versions of the juggler of Notre-Dame story dating from the early 1950s: R. O. Blechman’s animated “The Juggler of Our Lady” and a performance featuring Nadine Gae that aired on The Fred Waring Show, followed by a roundtable discussion on medievalism.


Sunday, May 13, 8:30, Valley III Eldridge 309
Medievalism: A Manifesto (A Panel Discussion)
Organizer & Presider: Daniel T. Kline (Univ. of Alaska-Anchorage)
Panelists: Michael Evans (Delta College); Usha Vishnuvajjala (American Univ.); Jane Glaubman (Cornell Univ.); Lauryn S. Mayer (Washington & Jefferson College); Richard Utz (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Kalamazoo Reminder

Here again is the listing of our sponsored sessions for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies beginning next week at Kalamazoo:

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University

10- 13 May 2018

Saturday, 5/12, at 12:00 noon

SCHNEIDER 1160 Business Meeting

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

Saturday, 5/12, at 1:30 PM

417 SCHNEIDER 1160

Past, Present, Future: Medieval Monsters and Their Afterlives I

Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Presider: Anna Czarnowus, Univ. of Silesia

Giants in the History of England: The Final Frontier and Steven Spielberg’s The BFG

Geneviève Pigeon, Univ. du Québec–Montréal

The Monstrous Host: Hospitality and Hostility in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant

Matthew Vernon, Univ. of California–Davis

Merlin the White(washed): The Entertainment Industry’s Evasion of Merlin’s Demonic Heritage

Michael A. Torregrossa

A Rapacious Daemon in King Arthur’s Court: Re-designating Merlin as a Demonic Rapist in Arthuriana [note corrected title]

Tirumular Narayanan, California State Univ.–Chico

Saturday, 5/12, at 3:30 PM

469 SCHNEIDER 1160

Past, Present, Future: Medieval Monsters and Their Afterlives II

Sponsor: Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Presider: Whitney Dirks-Schuster, Grand Valley State Univ.

Haunting Poltergeists: Historical and Cinematic Representations of Ghosts as Demonic Monsters

Rex Barnes, Columbia Univ.

The Queer and the Dead: Medieval Revenants and Their Afterlives in In the Flesh

Elliot Mason, Concordia Univ. Montréal

The Witcher’s Anal Eye: Monstrous Technologies of the Medievalized Other in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Kevin Moberly , Old Dominion Univ.; Brent Addison Moberly, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington

The Monstrous Mongols in Medieval Eurasia and Modern Day Film

Colleen C. Ho, Univ. of Maryland

Second Possible Session for Kalamazoo 2019

Here is a second session proposal I have been working on.

Again, please post feedback in the comments and/or attend our buisness meeting next Saturday at Kalamazoo.

Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Quondam et Futurus?

Reflections on Medieval-Themed Science Fiction

For most of us, the Middle Ages exists in the past. We can connect to it through histories, literary texts, and post-medieval re-creations of the medieval, but we cannot envision a future for the Middle Ages. However, the science fiction genre does allow the possibility of imagining new versions of the medieval in futuristic settings. The Star Wars saga, begun in 1977 and having celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2017, represents one such attempt to create a medieval world of knights and wizards within a science-fictional setting filled—despite its promise that it exists “a long time ago”—with advanced technology, such as robots, spacecraft, world destroyers, and laser swords. Star Wars is not the only work that gives us a glimpse into a future for the Middle Ages; other texts have also offered updated examples of the Middle Ages, and still more of them have brought medieval figures and artifacts forward to engage with the humans and aliens of future ages. Furthermore, science fiction also allows reconsiderations of the origins of familiar medieval figures, beliefs, and practices to offer innovative beginnings to these elements through science-fictional tropes. However, despite the possibility for engaging with the medieval in these ways and the popularity of these works by fans, medievalists, in general, have been slow to catalogue such representations of medievalism, preferring, it seems, more familiar versions of the Middle Ages grounded in either the mundane or the fantastic rather than the speculative. Through this session, we hope to advance the dialogue between Medieval Studies and Science Fiction Studies by looking anew at how the creators of science fiction have engaged with medieval motifs and to begin to explore the value of these works in our classrooms and research.

 

Possible Kalamazoo Proposal for 2019

I've started drafting some ideas for paper proposals for next year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. One of them relates to Norse mythology in contemporary culture.

Please comment below. if you have any suggestions or attend our business meeting next Saturday at this year's conference.

Michael Torregrossa
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture

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

Myths and legends from the Middle Ages remain important links to the past, and there has been much interest in recasting this material into post-medieval contexts, forging a bridge between our forebears and our modern selves. Creators of our own time have been especially prolific in reviving these stories for new audiences. The tales told of the gods of the Norsemen are one such medieval legacy to find currency today, and they have appeared in a variety of media, including the comics. For example, Marvel Comics’ representation of the Norse god Thor has been an important element of its shared world since his debut in 1962, and, in its incorporation of the character into the Marvel Universe, the publisher has done much in the service of Medieval Studies through its widespread dissemination across the globe of a relatable depiction of the Norse Gods and the intricate mythology associated with them. Marvel’s account of Thor and his compatriots has also featured in an array of media beyond the pages of its long-running comic book series, and the recent release of three feature films centered around the Asgardian as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the world’s most popular and prosperous movie and television franchises, has provided additional texts to further knowledge of the Nine Worlds and its inhabitants. While Marvel remains the most prominent creator of modern tales of the Norse gods, the company does not hold the exclusive rights to this material. Other writers, comics creators, filmmakers, television producers, and game designers have also appropriated the stories and legends of the gods of Asgard and other individuals within the cosmology of the Nine Worlds for their own purposes, yet their work remain relatively unknown when compared to the phenomenal success and reach of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.

It is the intent of this session to shed the spotlight on these other examples of Nordic-inspired medievalisms and to bring them into ongoing conversations and debates about the reception of the medieval in the post-medieval world. We are especially interested in the reach of Marvel’s versions beyond the United States and how other approaches to the material engage with, react to, or ignore Marvel’s work. In addition, we hope to include coverage of texts from non-Western media (like anime and manga) that have embraced the traditions of the Norse gods in innovative ways. 

Advisory Board Update 4/30/18

I am pleased to announce the appointment of the first two members of our advisory board:

June-Ann Greeley, an associate professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University and fellow New Englander and UConn alum (profile at http://www.sacredheart.edu/academics/collegeofartssciences/academicdepartments/philosophytheologyreligiousstudies/theologyandreligiousstudies/facultystaff/june-anngreeleyphd/)

and

Scott Manning, a graduate student at the American Military University and fellow medieval comics scholar (profile a https://americanmilitary.academia.edu/ScottManning)

Michael Torregrossa,
Founder, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

New Medieval Catalog

A quick notice that Boydell & Brewer has released its 2018 catalog for Medieval Studies in anticipation of next month's conference at Kalamazoo.

The catalog can be accessed directly at https://boydellandbrewer.com/media/wysiwyg/Catalogues/Medieval_Studies_Catalogue_-_2018.pdf.

Advisory Board for the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture (7/1/2018)

Applications being accepted for an advisory board for the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Submissions due by 1 July 2018


The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks to assemble an advisory board to help further our twofold mission of promoting and fostering research and discussion of representations of the medieval in post-medieval popular culture and mass media.

Duties of board members are expected to include vetting conference paper submissions, planning future conference activities, advising and/or helping with maintaining the association’s web sites and discussion lists, offering advice on promoting the association, and possibly serving as peer reviewers of a prospective e-journal.

Scholars at all levels are invited to submit a short personal statement of their research in Medievalism Studies and a full CV. Submissions will be accepted until 1 July 2018.

Please send material to founder Michael A. Torregrossa at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com using “Advisory Board” as your subject line.

Further details on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be discovered at our current site The Medieval in Popular Culture at https://MedievalinPopularCulture.blogspot.com/.

The Comics Get Medieval Returns

I am pleased to announce the return of "The Comics Get Medieval" sessions this fall at the 29th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. My thanks to the Medieval & Renaissance Area chairs for their support.

Details on "The Comics Get Medieval 2018 (A Roundtable)" can be found on our outreach site, The Medieval Comics Project, at  https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2018/03/cfp-comics-get-medieval-2018-round.html.

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies Updates

The program and registration information is now available for the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies to be held at Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo from 10-13 May 2018. Both can be accessed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress.

Our sponsored sessions run on Saturday afternoon this year under our Medieval Studies on Screen outreach. Full details of the sessions can be found at https://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/2018/02/past-present-future-medieval-monsters.html.

From Iceland to the Americas Conference Information

I came across this on the Medieval Academy of America blog (http://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/conferences-from-iceland-to-the-americas/). The organizers offer limited information on the conference, but it seems this could have been so much more. Details to date follow.


From Iceland to the Americas
September 24-26, 2018
https://notredame-web.ungerboeck.com/coe/coe_p2_details.aspx?eventid=20156&sessionid=ff8fblfa6fg5ff2fan

The medieval Icelandic sagas claim that around the year 1000 Leif Eriksson and other Nordic explorers sailed westwards from Iceland to a place they called Vinland. Although archeological evidence has verified only one small, short-lived Norse settlement in Newfoundland, the contact initiated by Leif has had an outsized impact on cultural imagination in and of the Americas. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, indeed, novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, and now films and video games have all reflected a rising interest in the medieval Norse presence. In this three-day conference, 14 international authorities on archeology, mythology, literature, language, and cultural studies will gather to discuss this Nordic dynamic, not only exploring the connections among medieval Iceland and the modern Americas, but also probing why medieval contact has become a modern cultural touchstone.



Speakers: Christopher Abram, Adolf Friðriksson, Dustin Geeraert, Simon Halink, Kevin J. Harty, Jón Karl Helgason, Verena Höfig, Seth Lerer, Emily Lethbridge, T. W. Machan, Amy Mulligan, Heather O’Donoghue, Matthew Scribner, Angela Sorby, Bergur Þorgeirsson.


Short version:

A three-day international conference exploring the impact that brief medieval Norse settlements have had on cultural imagination in and of the Americas – in novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, films, and video games.

For additional information, contact Tim Machan (tmachan@nd.edu)


Promotional flier available for view at https://medieval.nd.edu/news-events/events/2018/09/26/from-iceland-to-the-americas/.


REGISTRATION: (link)

Registration includes meeting materials, refreshments, reception, Monday 24th, and lunch on Tuesday 25th.
Faculty Registration $50
Graduate Students/Post Doc $20
ND/St Mary’s Faculty/Student/Staff $0



REGISTRATION deadline September 17, 2018