I don’t always keep up with posting about Tolkien conference programs – if you want a more thorough weekly list of all kinds of Tolkien-related events, I would recommend subscribing to Marcel R. Bülles’s  “Roving Ranger” newsletter.

However, I do try to list conference sessions when I can get to it. Why, you might wonder?

Because scholarship is an ongoing conversation among people with various approaches and different ideas, and it’s important to know what these conversations are about if you are a Tolkien scholar, or if you want to be one. And even if you don’t have any aspirations to becoming a scholar, you might find that hearing about new ideas can challenge or inform your thinking about Tolkien.

By the way, Tolkien studies has a rich history of “fans” becoming “scholars.” Most “scholars” would consider themselves “fans” anyway. And many “fans” have become “independent scholars” by participating in the conversation. Don’t let these labels hold you back or make you think that there’s an insurmountable divide among all those who love thinking about Tolkien’s works.

Today’s post is a list of the Tolkien sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Leeds in the UK. This is a rather expensive conference, though it helps that the sessions are online as well as in person, so you don’t have to add the cost of travel. (There are other less expensive or free seminars elsewhere during the year). As you will see, many of the papers speak to this year’s Congress theme of “Worlds of Learning.”  There are hundreds of sessions scheduled over 4 days, but below you will find the ones dealing with Tolkien topics.

The following sessions are organized by Dr. Andrew Higgins, Centre for Fantasy & the Fantastic / School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow.

Tuesday 8 July

Session 634:  J.R.R. Tolkien as Teacher and Mentor at the University of Leeds and Beyond

• Exploring J. R. R. Tolkien’s Interpretation of an Academic Teacher
  Joana Kadir, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Other papers may be added to this session.

Session 734:  Learning, Lore, and Craft in Tolkien’s Medieval World, I

• Threads of Medieval Memory: Textiles and the Transmission of Knowledge in Tolkien’s Legendarium
  Jackie Sheppard, Independent Scholar
  
• A World of Learning in the Halls of Mandos: Míriel’s Weaving as Instruction
  Cami Agan, Oklahoma Christian University

• The Light of Learning: Medieval Scholar-Kings and Loremasters in the Line of Eärendil
  Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Session 834   Learning, Lore, and Craft in Tolkien’s Medieval World, II

• No One Listens to Melian: When Women Speak and Men Ignore Them in Middle-Earth
  Sara Brown, Signum University, New Hampshire

• Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf
  Ali Mirzabayati, University of British Columbia

• Portrayals of Learning in The Lord of the Rings versus Tolkien’s Other Work
  Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College of New Jersey

Session 934: Approaches to Teaching Tolkien in the 21^st Century – a Roundtable Discussion

Wednesday 9 July

Session 1245: Oral Tradition and Medieval Transmission in Tolkien’s Works

• Creating a ‘Red Book’: Hobbits, Tolkien, and Irish Monks
  Aurelie Bremont, Sorbonne Université, Paris

• Tolkien’s Early Work: Examining ‘Enȝlaȝesíþ’
  Lillian Hammen, Independent Scholar

Session 1345  Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches

• How Not to Go to Hell: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Non-Traditional Representations of the Afterlife – What We Can Learn from Them
  Amy Amendt-Raduege, Western Washington University

• Socially Unruly: How Aredhel Disables and Enables the Narrative of The Fall of Gondolin
  Clare Moore, University of Glasgow

• Exploring Tolkien’s Mago/Magol Language Invention
  Andrew Higgins, University of Glasgow

• J. R. R. Tolkien’s On Fairy-Stories in the Context of Folktale and Literary Studies
  Andrzej Wicher, Uniwersytet Łódzki

in addition:

On Tuesday 8 July, session 710 sponsored by Beijing Normal University / Peking University includes the following paper:

• Quest for the Foreign Forgotten Realms: How Tolkienesque Video Games Met Chinese Modernisation in the Chinese Younger Generation of Medievalists
  Yahuai Lu, Yangtze University

On Wednesday 9 July the IMC Programming Committee-sponsored session 1134 includes:

• The Thomist Legacy behind J. R. R. Tolkien’s Concept of Angelic Cognition
  Bartłomiej Błaszkiewicz, Uniwersytet Warszawski

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If you can’t attend, either virtually or in person, and you’re interested in some of these topics, you might find these presentations making their way into print at a later date.

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Scenes from the medieval fair held on the last day of the conference at the University of Leeds