Tag Archives: International Congress on Medieval Studies

Fall term and summer reviews

18 Monday Oct 2021

Posted by in Conferences, Fan studies, Medievalisms, Research, Talks on Tolkien, Tolkien

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I am halfway into the fall term — always a busy time with meetings, grading, and class preparations. It’s hard to find time for research — or blogging. But one thing that I like to do whenever I have a half hour or so is to review videos of past conference presentations or listen to chats with other Tolkien scholars and fans.

One benefit of the move to online or hybrid conferences has been that we have in many cases a recording of the talks that were given. If you missed one, or if you just want to refresh your memory, there is plenty to listen to.

Tolkien Society logo

The Tolkien Society summer seminar, held July 3-4, offers 15 talks by Tolkien scholars here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoyx2jXs6Le_MelDj_rJsmiYSYQBeVYxQ

Mythcon 51 logo

Mythcon 51, held July 31-August 1, has posted 15 talks about Tolkien and more on other fantasy writers. https://dc.swosu.edu/mythcon/mc51/

Tolkien at Kalamazoo Symposium, May 8. I have previously linked to my talk and 6 other recorded presentations that were given on that day here: https://annasmol.net/2021/05/24/tolkien-symposium-2021-tolkien-the-playwright/

Other recorded talks for registered attendees. Those who registered for certain conferences that included Tolkien sessions, such as the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Western Michigan University) in May, the Popular Culture Association conference in June, the International Medieval Congress (Leeds) in July, or Oxonmoot Online in September, will have had access to recorded talks for a certain time after each conference. Only the Oxonmoot talks are still available to registered delegates.

Tolkien Experience Podcast logo

And if you’re not feeling up to listening to scholarly presentations, you can always tune in to the Tolkien Experience Podcast, which features a mix of scholars and fans chatting about their experiences with reading Tolkien’s works and what they mean to them today. I was interviewed by my friend, Dr. Sara Brown, in September. You can listen to my interview, TEP #38, here. Or select from a list of recent interviews here: https://luke-shelton.com/tolkienexperiencepodcast/

And more talks are coming up!

The Tolkien Society Autumn Seminar will be held online on November 6. The theme is Translating and Illustrating Tolkien. Registration is free and still open: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-society-autumn-seminar/

And something new to add to the roster: the Mythopoeic Society is sponsoring an online winter seminar on The Inklings and Horror: Fantasy’s Dark Corners on February 4-5. The Call for Papers is open until November 15 if you’re interested in presenting. You can find more information here: https://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/ows-2022.htm

What are Tolkien scholars talking about? Previews of spring & summer conferences

26 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in Calls for Papers, Conferences, Medievalisms, Research, Tolkien

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I usually post full details of various conference programs closer to the time of the events, but for now, I’ll just post session titles for an overview of the upcoming Tolkien conference season this spring and summer. Details may change over the next few months, so always follow the links to the official programs for final details.

Tolkien at Vermont: April 4

Tolkien in Vermont conference

April 4, 2020
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Organizer: Dr. Chris Vaccaro

[May 12 edit: conference cancelled due to COVID-19]

Special theme:  Tolkien and Classical Antiquities

The Tolkien in Vermont website describes the conference as “an annual weekend of academic papers, fireside readings, and bonhomie, bringing together seasoned academics, students, independent scholars, and the general public…”  — very true, in my experience.

The program hasn’t been posted yet, but this 17th annual event at the University of Vermont has announced its keynote speaker, John Wm. Houghton, well known to Tolkien scholars for his various publications and editorial work.  Go to the website for more details.

Tolkien at Popular Culture Association: April 15 – 18

April 15 – 18, 2020
Philadelphia, US
Organizer: Dr. Robin Anne Reid

[May 12 edit: conference cancelled due to COVID-19]

Tolkien Studies Area PCA 2020
Registration is open.
All of the Tolkien sessions take place on Saturday, April 18. View the schedule here.

Tolkien Studies I:  Race and Tolkien

Tolkien Studies II: The Legendarium

Tolkien Studies III: Multidisciplinary Tolkien

Tolkien Studies IV: The Future Of Tolkien Studies

Kalamazoo, Michigan: May 6 – 10

Kalamazoo campus swan pond

Tolkien Symposium

May 6, 2020
Kalamazoo, MI
Organizers: Dr. Yvette Kisor and Dr. Chris Vaccaro

[May 12 edit: conference cancelled due to COVID-19]

The Seminar is usually scheduled the day before the International Congress on Medieval Studies sessions begin. The deadline for proposals has just passed, but the program hasn’t been announced yet.

International Congress on Medieval Studies  

May 7 – 10, 2020
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

[May 12 edit: conference cancelled due to COVID-19]

For more details about these sessions, you can check the sneak preview of the Congress program. Registration opens in February.

Thursday, May 7. 10 a.m.
Medieval World-Building: Tolkien, His Precursors and Legacies
Sponsor: Fantasy Research Hub, School of Critical Studies, Univ. of Glasgow
Organizer: Dimitra Fimi, Fantasy Research Hub, School of Critical Studies, Univ. of Glasgow; Kristine A. Swank, Univ. of Glasgow
Presider: Kristine A. Swank

Friday, May 8. 1:30 p.m.
Deadscapes: Wastelands, Necropoli, and Other Tolkien-inspired Places of Death, Decay, and Corruption (A Panel Discussion)
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society
Organizer: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Independent Scholar
Presider: Carrie Pagels, Independent Scholar

Saturday, May 9. 10 a.m.
Tolkien and Se Wyrm
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College

Saturday, May 9. 1:30 p.m.
Tolkien’s Paratexts, Appendices, Annals, and Marginalia (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.

Saturday, May 9. 3:30 p.m.
Tolkien’s Chaucer
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Christopher Vaccaro

Sunday, May 10. 8:30 a.m.
Tolkien and Manuscript Studies
Organizer: William Fliss, Marquette Univ.
Presider: William Fliss

For more details about these sessions, go to the sneak preview of Congress sessions. The final program will be posted on the ICMS site.

Leeds, UK: July 5 – 9

International Medieval Congress, Leeds

Tolkien Society Seminar

July 5, 2020

The Tolkien Society sponsors a day-long series of presentations the day before the International Medieval Congress begins. No details available yet, but check the Tolkien Society Seminar page later.

International Medieval Congress

[May 12 edit: conference cancelled due to COVID-19. A pared-down version will be available online. Check later posts for more details.]

July 6 – 9, 2020
Co-organizers: Dr. Dimitra Fimi and Dr. Andrew Higgins
Go to Dr. Higgins’s blog for more details about the program.

The special theme of the 2020 Congress is “Borders,” which explains why there are three sessions on Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism. Registration opens on February 10th.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches
Sponsor: School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow
Organiser: Dr. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
Moderator/Chair: Deirdre Dawson, Independent Scholar
Session Day/Time: Monday 6 July (11:15-12:45)  

New Sources and Approaches to Tolkien’s Medievalism – A Round Table Discussion
Sponsor: School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow
Organiser and Moderator: Dr. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
Session Day/Time: Tuesday 7 July (19:00-20:00)   

Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism I     
Sponsor: School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow 
Organiser: Dr. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar 
Moderator/Chair: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University 
Session Day/Time: Thursday 9 July (9:00-10:30)  

Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism II 
Sponsor: School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow 
Organiser: Dr. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar 
Moderator/Chair: Sara Brown, Independent Scholar  
Session Day/Time:  Thursday 9 July (11:15-12:45)  

Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism III
Sponsor: School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow  
Organiser and Moderator/Chair: Dr. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
Session Day/Time: Thursday 9 July (14:15-15:45)  

And looking ahead to the summer:

Mythcon: July 31-August 3

Mythopoeic Society

July 31 – August 3, 2020
Mythopoeic Society – Mythcon 51
Albuquerque, New Mexico

[May 12 edit: conference postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19]

Theme: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien

Registration is now open but the call for papers and program haven’t appeared yet.

Oxonmoot: September 3 – 6

Tolkien Society

The Tolkien Society – Oxonmoot
September 3 – 6
St. Anne’s College, Oxford

[June 6 edit: Oxonmoot will be held online. Oxonmoot Online will take place September 18-20. Check the Tolkien Society website for more details as they become available.]

Registration is now open but a program will come later. The call for papers will open February 9th.

I’d be happy to hear about any conferences I’ve missed in the comments.

Last-minute Tolkien CFPs: Kalamazoo and Leeds

30 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in Calls for Papers, Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Research, Tolkien

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With the summer conference season in Tolkien studies barely over, it’s time to plan for next year. Here are the calls for papers for Tolkien sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, May 7-10, 2020 and for the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, July 6-9, 2020.

ICMS Kalamazoo May 7-10, 2020

You can find the submission guidelines here. Different sponsoring groups have different deadlines. For example, the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group would like proposals by September 1st (tomorrow!) while the final deadline for ICMS proposals generally is September 15th — though no one is advised to wait that long. You can search the complete call for papers for the Congress here.

Tolkien at Kalamazoo is sponsoring 3 sessions:

Tolkien’s Paratexts: Appendices, Annals, and Marginalia (Roundtable)
Following the medieval manuscript tradition, Tolkien’s literary fiction includes charts, maps, annals and other paratextual elements, many found in the Appendices. These elements deserve further critical study. Taking his father’s lead, Christopher Tolkien has been meticulously editing J.R.R. Tolkien’s manuscripts, supplying commentary and emendations concerning the many cruxes within the notes and typescripts. As medievalists, we will bring this often ignored back matter and marginalia to the foreground.

Tolkien and Se Wyrm
Tolkien admits to being influenced by the dragons of Beowulf and the Volsungasaga. In those medieval epic texts, the dragon is monstrous but somewhat uncanny and familiar to human kind; distinctions are blurred. Something similar happens in Tolkien’s fictions, presenting exciting new considerations on the subject of monstrosity. Papers could explore the interdisciplinary relationships between the dragons of medieval legend and those of Middle-earth.

Tolkien’s Chaucer
With the upcoming publication of Tolkien’s Lost Chaucer (edited by John M. Bowers, Oxford University Press, 2019) readers of Tolkien have the opportunity to explore how Tolkien read Chaucer as well as how that reading influenced his fiction. This paper session might explore fourteenth-century ideas of romance, neoplatonism, self in relation to society, constructions of gender, etc., as they related to Tolkien’s texts.

Proposals for the above sessions should be sent to:

Dr. Christopher Vaccaro
Email: cvaccaro@uvm.edu

You can also send Chris a proposal for the Tolkien Symposium which takes place on the Wednesday before the start of the conference. While the official CFP will come out later with a January deadline, the Symposium usually has an open theme and you can propose a paper now.

University of Glasgow, Fantasy Research Hub

Medieval World-Building: Tolkien, his Precursors and Legacies
The recent volume Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Works, its Precursors, and Legacies (2019), edited by D. Fimi and T. Honegger, examines the importance of invented story-worlds as spaces for primary-world social commentary, or as means for visualizing times and places not accessible to the reader. Tolkien was one of the foremost proponents of literary world-building, what he called “sub-creation,” and his Middle-earth has had unrivaled influence on subsequent world-building efforts. Yet, Tolkien’s own sub-creations were born from medieval story-worlds such as Beowulf, Kalevala, Volsungasaga, and others. This paper session examines the emergent, interdisciplinary research field of world-building through Tolkien’s Middle-earth, its medieval precursors, and/or its modern legacies. Papers might be on such topics as mythopoeia, design, systems of magic, geology, geography, cartography, cosmology, ecology, sociology, demographics, cultural anthropology, materiality, religion, philosophy, language—literally anything that goes into world-building—in conjunction with the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, or his medieval/medievalist precursors, or his worldbuilding legacy in literature or other fields. Papers on interdisciplinary topics are welcome.

Download this session CFP here.

Please send your proposals with “Tolkien World-Building” in the subject line to: Dimitra Fimi (Dimitra.Fimi@glasgow.ac.uk) AND Kris Swank (KSwank@pima.edu).

Marquette University Archives

Tolkien and Manuscript Studies
J.R.R. Tolkien the scholar studied and taught medieval manuscripts. In imitation of these, Tolkien the author incorporated fictional manuscripts into his tales. He produced an enormous quantity of his own manuscripts in the course of crafting his Legendarium, which his son Christopher and others have closely examined. In his influential essay “The Great Chain of Reading: (Inter-)textual Relations and the Technique of Mythopoesis in the Túrin Story” (2002), Gergely Nagy explains that Tolkien’s mode of narrative development was akin to that of the medieval European tradition, writing, redacting, and expanding of numerous versions.

This session proposal invites papers on the role of manuscripts (as mise-en-page and mise-en-scène) in the life and works of Tolkien.

Contact: William Fliss
Phone: (414) 288-5906
Email: william.fliss@marquette.edu

Tales After Tolkien Society

2 sessions:

Deadscapes: Wastelands, Necropoli, and Other Tolkien Inspired Places of Death, Decay, and Corruption (A Panel Discussion)

Legacies of Tolkien’s Whiteness in Contemporary Medievalisms (A Roundtable)

Contact: Geoffrey B. Elliott
PO Box 292970
Kerrville, TX 78028
email: geoffrey.b.elliott@gmail.com

IMC Leeds July 6-9, 2020

The deadline for Tolkien proposals is September 6.

Sessions 1-3: Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism – paper sessions
These sessions will directly address the overall theme of the conference (“Borders”). Papers in these sessions can explore all aspects of borders in Tolkien’s works in its broadest sense. These can be explorations of geographical, conceptual, political and linguistic borders in Tolkien’s work as well as the role and impact of borders on the peoples and cultures of Tolkien’s world-building and in his other creative and academic explorations. 

Sessions 4-5: Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches – paper sessions
These sessions can accommodate wider topics and new approaches to Tolkien’s medievalism, ranging from source studies and theoretical readings, to comparative studies (including Tolkien’s legacy).

Session 6 – New Sources and Approaches to Tolkien’s Medievalism
This roundtable discussion provides a forum to explore new sources and approaches to Tolkien’s work. This can explore new academic work drawn from the most recent published editions of Tolkien’s work including The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (ed. Verlyn Flieger, 2017), The Tale of Beren and Lúthien (ed. Christopher Tolkien, 2017), The Fall of Gondolin (ed. Christopher Tolkien, 2018) as well as new academic works such as Tolkien’s Library – An Annotated Checklist (Cilli, forthcoming August 2019) and Tolkien’s Lost Chaucer (OUP: Bowers, forthcoming September 2019).

If you are interested in participating:

Please submit a paper/round table contribution title and abstract to Dr. Dimitra Fimi (dimitrafimi@gmail.com) and Dr. Andrew Higgins (asthiggins@me.com) by 6th September

Length of abstracts: 100 words.
(Papers will be 15-20 minutes long while roundtable contributions will be 10-12 minutes long).
With your abstract, please include name and details of contributor (affiliation, address, and preferred e-mail address).

A note on how Kalamazoo and Leeds organizers select papers differently: for the ICMS in Kalamazoo, the session topics are first approved by the Congress organizers and then the session sponsors select presenters to fill the sessions. At Leeds, the session sponsors select presenters and send in the full session proposal to the Congress organizers to await approval. Sometimes, sessions are not approved.

On the day before the Congress begins (Sunday 5 July), the Tolkien Society sponsors a Tolkien Seminar, a full day of presentations. The call for papers will be available later this year.

Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2019

04 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

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It’s going to be a busy week coming up in Kalamazoo Michigan for Tolkien scholars. The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group, led by Chris Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor, is planning what has now become an annual symposium one day ahead of the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University. The Symposium, to be held off campus on Wednesday, May 8th, features a day of papers, some music, and a free screening in the evening of the new Tolkien biopic. 

Following the Tolkien Symposium, the Medieval Congress kicks into high gear starting on Thursday, May 9th, with several Tolkien sessions organized by Tolkien at Kalamazoo and other departments or groups. 

I used to compile this schedule to keep track of all the papers I wanted to hear. I’m not going to Kalamazoo this year, but it’s still intriguing to see what topics people are working on. Take a look if you’re curious, or plan your schedule if you’re going!

Tolkien at Kalamazoo Symposium

Wednesday, May 8th
Kazoo Books [2413 Parkview Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49008] 

11:30-12:00 Lunch [Subway selections, cookies, coffee and teas, water; $5-$10 each]

12:00 – 1:00 
Reconstructing the library of Michael H.R. Tolkien (1920-84) 
Brad Eden

 1:00 – 1:30 
Queer Hobbits: Language for the Strange, the Odd, and the Peculiar in Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings
Yvette Kisor

1:30 – 2:00
Who maketh Morwinyon, and Menelmacar, and Remmirath, and the inner parts of the south (where the stars are strange): Tolkien’s Astronomical Choices and the Books of Job and Amos
Kristine Larsen

 2:00–2:30  
Tolkien’s Early Para-Texts;  A Lit and Lang Exploration of The Heraldic Devices of Tol-Etherin
Andrew Higgins

2:30 – 3:00    BREAK    / Maidens of Middle-earth  IX (music)
Eileen Moore

3:00 – 3:30   
The Grisaille Havens, Verdaille Dragon, and Brunaille Lands: Brushwork in Tolkien’s Watercolors
John Holmes

3:30 –4:15 
Marquette’s Tolkien Manuscripts in a Digital Age.
Bill Fliss and John Rateliff

4:15-4:45   
“Dreamlike it was, and yet no dream:” Faramir’s Vision of the Passing of Boromir
Vickie Holtz Wodzak 

A SELECT SCREENING OF TOLKIEN (FOX SEARCHLIGHT, 2019)
6:00 pm (Seating at 5:30!) AMC, 10 Portage Street. FREE

[EDIT May 5]: If you would like to attend the movie screening, you have to give your name to the organizer Chris Vaccaro before 5:30 that evening. You can email Chris at cvaccaro@uvm.edu.

International Congress on Medieval Studies,
Thursday, May 9 –  Sunday, May 12

Thursday 10:00 a.m.
Session 17 FETZER 2016
Misappropriations of Tolkien’s medievalism (a roundtable)
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Richard West, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madiso

A roundtable discussion with Leigh Smith, East Stroudsburg Univ.; Robin Anne Reid, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce; Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.; Anna Czarnowus, Univ. of Silesia; Stephen Yandell, Xavier Univ.

Thursday 1:30 p.m.
Session 64 FETZER 2016 
Tolkien and Medieval Constructions of Race
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar

Sun-Soot: Ragnarok and the Servants of Sauron
Larry J. Swain, Bemidji State Univ.
Medievalist, Modernist, and Postmodernist Readings of Tolkien’s constructions of Race
Robin Anne Reid, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Jihad / Crusade or Race War? The News from the Battle of Helm’s Deep
Michael A. Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

Thursday 3:30 p.m.
Session 112 FETZER 2016
Tolkien and Temporality: Medieval Constructions of Time
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
Presider: Brad Eden, Independent Scholar

Of Niggle and Ringwraiths: Tolkien on Time and Eternity as the Deepest Stratum of His Work
Robert Dobie, La Salle Univ.
Tolkien’s Anglo-Saxon Women: A Journey into the Medieval through the Moder­nity of Middle-Earth
Annie Brust, Kent State Univ./Kenston High School
The Eschatological Catholic: J. R. R. Tolkien and a Multi-Modal Temporality
Stephen Yandell, Xavier Univ.

Saturday 10:00 a.m.
Session 350 FETZER 2016
Medieval Song, Verse, and Versification in Tolkien’s Works
Organizer: Annie Brust, Kent State Univ.
Presider: Annie Brust

Noldorin and Sindarin Verse in the Lord of the Rings
Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ.
Boethian Philosophy and Splintered Music: Decay through Time in Tolkien’s Legendarium
Brad Eden, Independent Scholar
Tolkien, the Beowulf-Poet, and the Phenomenology of Song and Identity
Paul Fortunato, Univ. of Houston-Downtown

Saturday 12:00 noon
Tolkien at Kalamazoo Business Meeting
Bernhard 211

Saturday 1:30 p.m.
Session 397 BERNHARD BROWN & GOLD ROOM
The Medieval Roots of Tolkien’s The Fall of Gondolin
Organizer: William Fliss, Marquette Univ.
Presider: William Fliss

Four Brethren Heroes of the Gondolindrim: Egalmoth, Ecthelion, Glorfindel, and Legolas: A Mythic and Linguistic Exploration
Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
“Ic eom sæliden”: Medieval Romance Motifs in Tolkien’s Fall of Gondolin
John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
From the Deeds of the Youth to the Arrival of a King
Anne Reaves, Marian Univ.

Saturday 3:30 p.m.
Session 449 BERNHARD BROWN & GOLD ROOM
Tolkien’s Legendarium and Medieval Cosmology
Sponsor: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Presider: Judy Ann Ford

“It Lies Behind the Stars”: Situating Tolkien’s Work within the Aesthetics of Medieval Cosmology“
Connie Tate, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Cynewulf, Copernicus, and Conjunctions: The Problem of Cytherean Motions  in Tolkine’s Medieval Cosmology”
Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
Binding Faerie with the Chains of Time: Tolkien’s Failure to Finish The Silmarillion
John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar

Sunday 8:30 a.m.
Session 509 FETZER 2016
The Legacy of Tolkien’s Medievalism in Contemporary Works
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society
Organizer: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Independent Scholar
Presider: Geoffrey B. Elliott

Caines Cynne in Azeroth: Tolkien’s Medievalism in the Warcraft Series
Benjamin C. Parker, Northern Illinois Univ.
The Two Eyes of the Dragon: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Beowulf as an Introduction to English Literature in Academic Enviroments
Isabella Aparecida Leite Nogueira, Univ. Federal de Juiz de Fora; Mariana Mello Alves de Souza, Univ. Federal de Juiz de Fora
Diluting Divinity: Connecting Genesis to Diablo by Way of Numenor
Rachel Cooper, Univ. of Saskatchewan

Kalamazoo campus swan pond
Western Michigan University campus

Kzoo 2018 Tolkien and medievalism sessions

06 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

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Kalamazoo campus swan pondAs is my annual custom, I’m posting a list of sessions on Tolkien and on medievalism to be held at The International Congress on Medieval Studies on May 10 – 13. Conference organizers have announced that the print program has been damaged in a flood, so mailing of copies will be delayed, but the full program is posted online here.

Of course, you should always double check my list against the final program. And don’t forget that in addition to the official ICMS panels, the Tolkien Seminar will take place on Wednesday May 9 with a full day of presentations and entertainment.

Sessions devoted entirely to Tolkien

Thursday 10:00 a.m.
Session 21 SCHNEIDER 1255
Tolkien and the Celtic Tradition
Sponsor: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Presider: Judy Ann Ford

  • “Queer” Border, “Hidden Kingdom”: Perceptions of Wales in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Work. Dimitra Fimi, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.
  • Bran and Brendan, and Eriol and Ælfwine. Kris Swank, Pima Community College
  • The Development of Imagery from “The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun” in The Lord of the Rings. Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College

Thursday 1:30
Session 49 VALLEY 3 STINSON LOUNGE
“Eald Enta Geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition
Sponsor: Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School
Organizer: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School
Presider: Michael A. Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

  • The Classical Origins of Tolkien’s Elvish Language Invention. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
  • “Sing, Muse, the Wrath of Boromir, Denethor’s Son”: The Workings of Thumos and Lofgeornost in J. R. R. Tolkien. Dennis Wilson Wise, Univ. of Arizona
  • Tolkien’s Classical Beowulf. Jane Chance, Rice Univ.

Friday 1:30
Session 264 BERNHARD 209
Medievalism and Environmentalism in Tolkien’s Works
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville

  • Smaug’s Hoard, Durin’s Bane, and Agricola’s De re metallica: Cautionary Tales against Mining in Tolkien’s Legendarium and the Classical Tradition. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
  • Tolkien’s Franciscan Environmentalism. Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar
  • The Franciscan and Dominican Roots of Tolkien’s Environmentalism. Victoria Holtz Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

Friday 3:30
Session 321 BERNHARD 209
Tolkien’s Re-envisioning of the Medieval Lay: The Lay of Beren and Luthien and the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Brad Eden

  • The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, Breton Lays, and Gwerziou. Matthieu Boyd, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.
  • Tolkien’s Lays: Songs of Love, Faith, and Devotion?  Aurelie Bremont, Centre d’Etudes Medievales Anglaises (CEMA), Univ. de Paris–Sorbonne
  • Matiere de Terre de Milieu: Jean Bodel’s Formula and Tolkien’s Legendarium. John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville

Saturday 12:00 noon Tolkien at Kalamazoo Business Meeting Bernhard 210

Sessions that include papers on Tolkien

Saturday 1:30
Session 407 FETZER 2020
Studies in Honor of Charles D. Wright I: Old English Poetry
Sponsor: Program in Medieval Studies, Univ. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
Organizer: Dabney A. Bankert, James Madison Univ.
Presider: Paul Battles, Hanover College

  • The Digressions in the Old English Andreas.  Thomas D. Hill, Cornell Univ.
  • Into the Jaws of Hell: Swallowing and Damnation in Old English Poetry. Jill Hamilton Clements, Univ. of Alabama–Birmingham
  • The Wisdom Tradition and Irish Learning in CCCC 41. Tiffany Beechy, Univ. of Colorado–Boulder
  • “Éala éarendel”: Old English Euphony and Tolkien’s Hidden God. Alfred Kentigern Siewers, Bucknell Univ.

Saturday 3:30
Session 498 BERNHARD 213
Teaching Boethius (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Boethius Society
Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Presider: Philip Edward Phillips

  • Boethius and a Pedagogy of Imagination. Anthony G. Cirilla, Niagara Univ.
  • Boethius and the Biology of Desire. Sarah Powrie, St. Thomas More College
  • Teaching the Consolation of Philosophy in Prison. Brandy N. Brown, Rhodes College
  • The Consolation of Philosophy for Honors Freshmen. Kenneth C. Hawley, Lubbock Christian Univ.
  • Intellectual Relevance of Boethian Studies in the First Quarter of the Twenty-First Century. Noel Harold Kaylor Jr., Troy Univ.
  • Tolkien and Boethius: Chance Meetings and Doomed Heroes. Brian McFadden, Texas Tech Univ.

Sessions on medievalisms

Session 20 SCHNEIDER 1245
De Musica Vulgari Eloquentia
Sponsor: Musicology at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Anna Kathryn Grau, DePaul Univ.; Cathy Ann Elias, DePaul Univ.; Daniel J. DiCenso, College of the Holy Cross
Presider: Anna Kathryn Grau

  • “Gode is the lay, swete is the note!”: Music as a Liberal Art in Sir Orfeo. Tiffany Schubert, Univ. of Dallas; Matthew Brumit, Univ. of Mary
  • “Gaudete”: A Case of Musical Medievalism in Contemporary England. Jacob Sagrans, Independent Scholar
  • Music and Musicians, Sacred, Profane and Imaginary, in the Luttrell Psalter. Marijim Thoene, Independent Scholar

Session 60 FETZER 2030
Medievalism and the Rediscovery of Medieval Art
Organizer: Thalia Allington-Wood, Univ. College London
Presider: Imogen Tedbury, Courtauld Institute of Art/National Gallery of Art

  • Antiquarian Aesthetics and the Revaluing of Medieval Art in Early Modern Britain. Dustin M. Frazier Wood, Univ. of Roehampton
  • Anonymous Immortality: Chasing Down the Ghosts of Patrons Past. Lynley Anne Herbert, Walters Art Museum
  • Living in the New [New] Middle Ages. Matthew Reeve, Queen’s Univ. Kingston

Session 107 FETZER 2030
Architectural Medievalism
Presider: Elizabeth Emery, Montclair State Univ.

  • Southwark Cathedral’s East End: A Faithful Restoration?. Regina Noto, The Clark Art Institute
  • Between Memory and Phantasy: Re-building Frankfurt Old Town. Esther Laura Heeg, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
  • Tracing Medieval Stones. Kaarel Truu, Estonian Academy of Arts

Session 119 SCHNEIDER 1330
The “Medieval” in Popular Culture
Presider: Audrey Becker, Marygrove College

  • Constructing Demons: The Origins of Normalizing Portrayals of Marginalized Groups as Threats. Karra Shimabukuro, Univ. of New Mexico
  • Dice Rolling for Racism: White Supremacy and Role Playing Games. Donald Burke, Cerro Coso Community College
  • The Cult of the Lady: Arthurian Medievalisms in The Witcher 3 and Total War: Warhammer. Kyle Dase, Univ. of Saskatchewan

Session 123 SCHNEIDER 1350
“Lesser” English Arthuriana
Organizer: Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, Univ. of Northern Colorado

  • “Muse on My Mirrour”: Precarious Reflections and Reform in The Awntyrs off Arthure. William Biel, Univ. of Connecticut
  • The Redemption of the Arthurian Queen: How the Depiction of Guinevere as a Nun in British Art and Literature of the Nineteenth Century Complicates our Understanding of British Medievalism and Its Intersection with Discourses of Gender. Ellie Crookes, Macquarie Univ.
  • “She was recouered of that that she was defoylyd”: Recuperating Dame Ragnell’s Lute. Crystal N. Beamer, McMaster Univ.
  • Heroism Both Lesser and Greater: De-Romanticizing Aristocracy in “Sir Percyvell of Gales” Randy Schiff, Univ. at Buffalo

Session 153 BERNHARD 106
Theorizing the Problematic Medievalisms of Dungeons & Dragons and Popular Fantasy Narrative (A Panel Discussion)
Sponsor: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Organizer: Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Stud­ies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Presider: Ilan Mitchell-Smith

A panel discussion with Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.; Edmond Chang, Ohio Univ.; Robert Rouse, Univ. of British Columbia; and Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyo­ming.

Session 269 BERNHARD BROWN & GOLD ROOM
Monstrous Medievalism: Toxic Appropriations of the Middle Ages in Modern Popular Culture and Thought
Sponsor: Monsters: The Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory and Practical Application (MEARCSTAPA)
Organizer: Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Presider: Larissa Tracy, Longwood Univ.

  • White Nationalism, Scottish Identity, and the Declaration of Arbroath. Mark P. Bruce, Bethel Univ.
  • The Problem of Loki, Again: Norse Mythology as a Battleground for Separatism or Inclusion. Ali Frauman, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington
  • “Celtic” Crosses and White Supremacism. Maggie M. Williams, William Paterson Univ./Material Collective

Session 312 SCHNEIDER 1355
Contemporary Medieval Poetry II: Forms and Histories
Sponsor: Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, King’s College London
Organizer: Josh Davies, King’s College London; Clare A. Lees, King’s College London
Presider: Josh Davies

  • O Cadoiro: Falling into Medieval Galician-Portuguese Love Lyric. Harriet Cook, King’s College London
  • Unthought Medievalisms and the Survival of Lyric Forms: The Case of the Alba. Marisa Galvez, Stanford Univ.
  • Contemporary British Poetry and the Earliest Medieval Cultures in Britain and Ireland. Clare A. Lees

Session 348 FETZER 1005
Medievalism, Racism, and the Academy (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Fellowship of Medievalists of Color (MOC); International Society for the Study of Medievalism
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.

Session 357 SCHNEIDER 1120
Towards a Medieval Transgender Studies
Sponsor: Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS)
Organizer: M. W. Bychowski, Case Western Reserve Univ.
Presider: Micah Goodrich, Univ. of Connecticut

  • That Detestable, Unmentionable, and Ignominious Vice: Trans Women and Sex Work in Cross-Cultural and Cross-Temporal Perspectives. Alina Boyden, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Trans Knights, Then and Now. Ced Block, Independent Scholar
  • Radical Pedagogy and New Medievalisms: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and the Medieval Imaginary. Nicholas Hoffman, Ohio State Univ.; Joy Ellison, Ohio State Univ.
  • The Future of Medieval Transgender Studies. M. W. Bychowski

Session 374 SCHNEIDER 1330
Medievalisms and Marguerite Porete: The Mirror of Simple Souls in the Age of #Resistance
Sponsor: International Marguerite Porete Society
Organizer: Robert Stauffer, Dominican College
Presider: Robert Stauffer

  • The Legacy of Marguerite Porete as Symbol of Resistance. Danielle Dubois, Univ. of Manitoba
  • Silence as Resistance in the Life of Marguerite Porete and in The Mirror of Simple Souls. Jonathan Juilfs, Redeemer Univ. College
  • The Pseudo-Mulier in an Age of #Resistance: Dismantling the Organism in The Mirror of Simple Souls. Jessica Zisa, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara

Session 378 SCHNEIDER 1350
National Medievalisms
Presider: Amber Dunai, Texas A&M Univ.–Central Texas

  • The West Remembers (Its Premodern Self). Matthias D. Berger, Univ. Bern
  • Mother Earth, Plough Monday and the Re-invention of the Germanic Farming Community: Wartime Agro-politics and Its (Mis)use of Anglo-Saxon Fertility Rituals. Karel Fraaije, Univ. College London

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.

Session 462 SCHNEIDER 1120
“Can These Bones Come to Life?” II: Issues of Authority in Reconstructing, Reenacting, and Recreating the Past (and in Medieval Studies)
Sponsor: Societas Johannis Higginsis
Organizer: Kenneth Mondschein, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies/Anna Maria College
Presider: Karen Cook, Hartt School, Univ. of Hartford

  • Experimental Archaeology as Fieldwork. V. M. Roberts, York Univ.
  • Crowd Sourcing Culture: The Death of Expertise. Michael A. Cramer, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY
  • The Perception of Legitimacy: How Culture Wars Hurt (or Help) the Authority of Academic Medievalism. Kenneth Mondschein

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

Session 501 VALLEY 3 ELDRIDGE 309
Medievalism: A Manifesto (A Panel Discussion)
Organizer: Daniel T. Kline, Univ. of Alaska–Anchorage
Presider: Daniel T. Kline

A panel discussion with Michael Evans, Delta College; Alexandra Garner, Univ. of Oregon; Jane Glaubman, Cornell Univ.; Lauryn S. Mayer, Washington & Jefferson College; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.; and with respondent Richard Utz, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Session 507 FETZER 1045
Teaching Medieval Studies with/without Objects and Collections (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Material Collective; TEAMS (Teaching Association for Medieval Studies)
Organizer: B. Joy Ambler, Dwight-Englewood School
Presider: Danielle B. Joyner, Southern Methodist Univ.

  • Architectural Medievalism and Undergraduate Research: Learning about Two Pasts through One Building. Jennifer Borland, Oklahoma State Univ./Material Collective
  • Objects in the Medieval History Classroom. Kelly Gibson, Univ. of Dallas
  • Manuscripts in the Undergraduate Non-Specialist Curriculum: Students Find Their “Inner-Medievalist”. David T. Gura, Hesburgh Library, Univ. of Notre Dame
  • Making Multimodal Miscellanies at a Public, Urban, Minority-Serving Institution. Katharine W. Jager, Univ. of Houston–Downtown
  • The Use, Disuse, and Abuse of Objects: Some Thoughts on Libraries and Pedagogy. Anna Siebach-Larsen, Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center for English, Univ. of Rochester

Session 533 FETZER 1045
How to Engage Now: Medieval Studies and Public Discourse in 2018 (A Round­table)
Sponsor: Material Collective
Organizer: Luke Fidler, Univ. of Chicago; Nancy Thompson, Material Col­lective/St. Olaf College
Presider: Luke Fidler

  • Craftivism as Public Medievalism: Re-Constructing Medieval Textile Work. Marian Bleeke, Cleveland State Univ.
  • All the Chaucer That’s Fit to Print. Amy Goodwin, Randolph-Macon College
  • Fuck This Shit: How Can You Not Say Something?. Eileen Joy, Punctum Books
  • Turning Academic Articles into Web and Magazine Articles. Peter Konieczny

CFP: 1-Day Tolkien Seminar K’zoo 2018

09 Saturday Sep 2017

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This message comes from Brad Eden, organizer of the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies. In addition to the Congress sessions, Brad is once again organizing a one-day Tolkien seminar on the Wednesday before the Congress starts. His call for papers follows; Brad writes:

****

I have tentatively arranged with the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo (345 W. Michigan Ave., two blocks from the Radisson Downtown) to hold a one-day Tolkien Seminar similar to the one we held in the WMU Library last year on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 from 12 noon to 7 p.m. prior to the IMC Congress. This is a call for papers for this seminar; technology will be available for Powerpoint. In addition, instead of holding a Tolkien Unbound this year, the culmination of this seminar will be Eileen Moore’s song cycle performance of Maidens of Middle-earth VIII: Women of the Edain.

Please send you paper proposals to me no later than Monday, October 16. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks. Brad

Brad.Eden@valpo.edu

****

CfP: Tolkien at Kzoo 2018

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Calls for Papers, Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

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It seems as if the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions just finished up for this year, and here we are already with next year’s calls for papers. You can find all the CFPs and information on how to propose a talk on the International Congress on Medieval Studies website. The conference will take place May 10 – 13, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, US. Here are the four approved sessions on Tolkien for 2018:

The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group has two sessions.
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso University

Tolkien’s re-envisioning of the medieval lay:  the Lay of Beren and Luthien and the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun.

This will be a session of papers exploring two recent posthumous Tolkien publications by his son Christopher, and how they fit into the production of Tolkien’s legendarium.

Medievalism and environmentalism in Tolkien’s works

This will be a session of papers exploring the influences of environmentalism in Tolkien’s works, both his own beliefs as well as influences from the medieval world.

The deadline for submission of proposals is September 1, 2017 to Dr. Brad Eden at brad.eden@valpo.edu.

Contact: Brad Eden
353 Harrison Blvd.
Valparaiso, IN 46383
Phone: 702-732-7885
Email: brad.eden@valpo.edu

 “Eald Enta Geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition
Sponsored by The Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School.
Organizer John Wm. Houghton

“Finnish,” J. R. R. Tolkien famously commented, “nearly ruined my Honor Mods,” but even a bottom-of-the-barrel Second on the first examination in Litterae Humaniores in 1913 reflects a considerable depth of classical learning by our standards a century later. Despite his academically dangerous attraction to the northern fringes of Europe, Tolkien’s scholarly and literary projects could no more escape the intellectual relics of Greco-Roman civilization than could the Anglo Saxons whose landscape still showed its physical ruins, the ‘old work of giants.’ This session seeks papers which will consider Tolkien the medievalist as receiver and transmitter of the classical heritage.

Contact: John Wm. Houghton
The Hill School
860 Beech St.
Pottstown, PA 19464
Phone: 610-906-9690
Fax: 610-705-1328

Email: jhoughton@thehill.org
or
numenor001@gmail.com

Please submit proposals (consisting of a one-page abstract and the Congress Participant Information Form) by September 1st.

Tolkien and the Celtic Tradition
Sponsored by the History Department, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford

Papers may focus on the impact of the Celtic tradition on any aspect of Tolkien’s work, either fictional or scholarly.

Contact: Judy Ann Ford
Email: Judy.Ford@tamuc.edu (preferred); or
Physical Address:
History Department
Texas A&M University–Commerce
PO Box 3011
Commerce, TX 75429; or

Fax: 903-468-3230.

The deadline is September 15, 2017.

 

 

Kalamazoo: Tolkien Symposium and ICMS Conference

28 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

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The program for the  International Congress on Medieval Studies  is now online, and there are numerous sessions for those interested in Tolkien and medievalism.  I’ve copied these from the preview program; of course, you should read the final program to double check the accuracy of this list.

The Congress has been cutting back the number of sessions available to the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group, so to counteract that, a pre-conference Tolkien Symposium has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 10 in the Western Michigan University Library. I’ve previously posted the schedule, but a revised version is posted again below in case you’re planning to attend the ICMS and can add on the Symposium, which will occur on the first afternoon that the Congress opens its doors. The theme of the Symposium is Tolkien Anniversaries.

Please note: you will not find the Tolkien Symposium schedule in the Congress program. This Symposium is not connected with the Congress organization.

Tolkien Symposium.  Wednesday, May 10. 1:00 – 5:00. Western Michigan University Library (revised schedule, April 19)

Western Michigan University Library

1:00-1:30 p.m.
Kristine Larson, Ragnarok and the Rekindling of the Magic Sun

1:40-2:10 p.m.
Sandra Hartl, The Ainur and the Greek Pantheon: From The Book of Lost Tales to The Silmarillion

2:20-2:50 p.m.
Erik Mueller Harder, The river Swanfleet: A journey from the Misty Mountains to flat fenlands and half way back again; or, How the discovery of Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth by Blackwell’s Rare Books in Oxford extricates Pauline Baynes’ cartographic reputation from the marsh of Nîn-in-Eilph

3:00-3:30 p.m.
Michael Wodzak, An Auto-Ethnographic Study of Bilbo’s Party

3:40-4:10 p.m.
Andrew Higgins, Mapping Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales: Exploring ‘I Vene Kemen’ (‘The Ship of the Earth’)

4:20-5:00 p.m.
Victoria Holtz-Wodzak, ‘On Golden Grove Unleaving’: Tolkien, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Inscape of Middle-earth

You can find abstracts of the papers here (revised April 19)


Tolkien Unbound.  Thursday evening, May 11.  Kalamazoo College Recital Hall.

[This item added here Feb.2nd] Another event that will not appear in the Congress program is Tolkien Unbound, an annual night of entertainment that last year moved out of the Congress-approved sessions and into nearby Kalamazoo College, where it will be held again this year. The 2017 program features:

A dramatic reading of Leaf by Niggle, directed by Thom Foy
Maidens of Middle-earth VII: Treaty Brides. A musical performance by Eileen Marie Moore.

 [added April 9]: Download the Tolkien Unbound Flyer [pdf] with directions and information about rides.

ICMS sessions on Tolkien and on medievalism, May 11 -14.

Kalamazoo campus swan pond

Organization of this list: 1. sessions devoted entirely to Tolkien studies; 2. sessions that include Tolkien; 3. sessions on medievalism, starting with the ones sponsored by the International Society for the Study of Medievalism; 4. an invitation to a rogue workshop (also not in the official program) on Whiteness in Medieval Studies; and 5. Kristine Larsen’s Astrolabe Workshop

1. Sessions devoted entirely to Tolkien Studies

Friday 10 a.m.
348 VALLEY I HADLEY 102
“Eald enta geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition
Sponsor: Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School
Organizer: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School
Presider: John Wm. Houghton

  • The “Other” Classicism: Tolkien, Homer, and the Greek Novel. John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
  • The Winnowing Oar: Odysseus, Frodo, and the Search for Peace. Victoria Holtz Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.
  • The Politics of Tragedy: Plato’s Athenian Atlantis, Tolkien’s Numenorian Atalante, and the Nazi Reich. Joshua Hren, George Fox Univ.
  • J.R.R. Tolkien and Plato’s Timaeus. Christopher T. Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont

Saturday noon: Tolkien at Kalamazoo business meeting. Bernhard 106

Saturday 1:30
402 FETZER 1010
Tolkien and Language
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Brad Eden

  • “O’er the Moon, Below the Daylight”: Tolkien’s Blue Bee, Pliny, and the Kalevala. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
  • Music: The One Language in Which the Noldor Were Not Fluent. Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ.
  • Elvish Practitioners of the “Secret Vice.” Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
  • Tolkien and Constructed Languages. Dean Easton, Independent Scholar


Saturday 3:30
454 FETZER 1010
Asterisk Tolkien
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.

  • The “Third Spring”: New Discoveries and Connections. Brad Eden
  • “He came alone, and in bear’s shape”: Tolkien’s Attempt at Correcting the Thwarting of Bodvar Bjarki. Michael David Elam, Regent Univ.
  • Landscape as Character in The Lord of the Rings. Robert Dobie, La Salle Univ.
  • Tolkien’s Monsters: An Asterisk in his Translation of Beowulf. Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College


2. Sessions that include Tolkien

Thursday 7:30 p.m.
161 BERNHARD 210
The Teaching of Old English (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Old English Forum, Modern Language Association
Organizer: Matthew T. Hussey, Simon Fraser Univ.
Presider: Robin Norris, Carleton Univ.

  • A Course in Beowulf and Tolkien. Paul Acker, St. Louis Univ.
  • Teaching Old English in History of the English Language. Heide Estes, Monmouth Univ.
  • Assignments to Enliven a Dead Language. Jacqueline A. Fay, Univ. of Texas–Arlington
  • An Anglo-Saxon Sampler. Damian Fleming, Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ.–Fort Wayne
  • Material Culture and Old English Pedagogy. Breann Leake, Univ. of Connecticut
  • Reading Like Anglo-Saxons. Erica Weaver, Harvard University

This next one is interesting: a performance of Leaf by Niggle (in the same evening as a “filthy French farce”)  A one-man Leaf by Niggle show was a hit last year in the UK; it will be interesting to hear how this version is performed.

Thursday night 8 p.m. Gilmore Theatre Complex

  • Leaf-by-Niggle . Univ. of Maryland
  • It’s a Miracle! The Harlotry Players, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor
  • Cooch E. Whippet (Farce of Martin of Cambray). Radford Univ.

$15.00 General Admission. $10.00 presale through online Congress registration
Shuttles leave Valley III (Eldridge-Fox) beginning at 7:15 p.m.

A triple bill featuring a Tolkien fairy tale staged in a medieval style, a florilegium of fakery from the Harlotry Players, and a filthy French farce.

Saturday 1:30
434 SCHNEIDER 2355
Teaching the Edda and Sagas in the Undergraduate Classroom: Strategies and Approaches (A Roundtable)
Organizer: Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar, Grand Valley State Univ.
Presider: Rachel S. Anderson, Grand Valley State Univ.

  • Using Tolkien as a Gateway to the Edda and Sagas in the Undergraduate Classroom. Lee Templeton, North Carolina Wesleyan College
  • “I advise you, Loddfafnir, to take this council”: Teaching College Writing and Research Using the Eddas. Gregory L. Laing, Harding Univ.
  • Teaching Germanic Mythology 101. Johanna Denzin, Columbia College
  • Material Culture and Norse Mythology. Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar


3. Sessions on medievalism

International Society for the Study of Medievalism

Thursday 7:30
157 BERNHARD 204
Performing Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Presider: Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull

  • The One True Hero: Performing Medievalism in ABC’s The Quest
    Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyoming
  • Negotiating the Future: Subversive Southern Medievalism in The House behind the Cedars. Alexandra Cook, Univ. of Alabama
  • “An Indifferent Nebula”: Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Leisure Culture, and the Simulated Middle Ages. Gerald Nachtwey, Eastern Kentucky Univ.
  • Playing Chaucer: Performance, Adaptation, and Its Importance in Fandom in Medieval Studies. Hillary Yeager, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
  • Habits and Habitus: The Western Martial Arts Revival and Embodied Hermeneutics. Robert Rouse, Univ. of British Columbia

Friday 10:00
218 BERNHARD BROWN & GOLD ROOM
The United States of Medievalism
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyoming
Presider: Susan Aronstein

  • Philadelphia’s Medievalist Jewels: Bryn Athyn Cathedral and Glencairn. Kevin J. Harty, La Salle Univ.
  • The Vikings are Due on Main Street: Norse Incursion into Minnesota’s Literary Imagination. Glenn Davis, St. Cloud State Univ.
  • Robin Hood’s Greenwood in Texas: Sherwood Forest Faire. Lorraine Kochanske Stock, Univ. of Houston
  • Orlando: Theme Park Medievalisms. Tison Pugh, Univ. of Central Florida
  • Las Vegas: Getting Medieval in Sin City. Laurie A. Finke, Kenyon College; Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan Univ.


Friday 1:30
270 BERNHARD 208
Medievalism and Immigration I
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Presider: Pamela J. Clements, Siena College

  • Images of Immigration and Notions of Nation in Early Modern Medievalism. Sarah A. Kelen, Nebraska Wesleyan Univ.
  • Medieval Religion in New France: Marie de l’Incarnation and the Ursuline Nuns of Québec. Nancy Bradley Warren, Texas A&M Univ.
  • Arthur Hugh Clough’s Mari Mango, or, How to “Victorianize” The Canterbury Tales. William C. Calin, Univ. of Florida


Friday 3:30
329 BERNHARD 208
Medievalism and Immigration II
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Presider: Elizabeth Wawrzyniak, Marquette Univ.

  • Medievalism, Brexit, and the Myth of Nations. Andrew B. R. Elliott, Univ. of Lincoln
  • “I’m 20% Viking”: Englishness, Immigration, and the Public Reception of Histor­ical DNA. Michael Evans, Delta

Other sessions on medievalism

Friday 10:00
190 SCHNEIDER 1225
Growing Up Medieval: The Middle Ages in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society
Organizer: Helen Young, Univ. of Sydney
Presider: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Independent Scholar

  • The Dream Frame of Baum’s Wizard of Oz. William Racicot, Independent Scholar
  • Women Piercing through the Medieval Fantasy Genre: A Look at Tamora Pierce’s Influence on Women in Medieval Fantasy. Rachel Cooper, Univ. of Saskatchewan
  • Heralds of the Queen: Upholding and Subverting the Medieval Ideal through
    Girl Power, Sexuality, and le Merveilleux in Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar Series
    Carrie Pagels, St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame


Saturday 10:00
389 BERNHARD 210
Atmospheric Medievalisms/Medieval Atmospheres (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies
Organizer: Myra Seaman, College of Charleston
Presider: Myra Seaman

  • Anglo-Saxon Atmospheres. Edward J. Christie, Georgia State Univ.
  • The Water Subtext of The Book of the Duchess. Brantley L. Bryant, Sonoma State Univ.
  • An Atmosphere of Anxiety in Late Medieval English Drama. Christina M. Fitzgerald, Univ. of Toledo
  • The Air of Fiction. Julie Orlemanski, Univ. of Chicago
  • Racialized Sound. Molly Lewis, George Washington Univ.
  • Airing Out the Senses. Richard Newhauser, Arizona State Univ.


Saturday 1:30
440 BERNHARD 209
Medievalism and Pedagogy
Sponsor: Medieval Association of the Midwest (MAM)
Organizer: Audrey Becker, Marygrove College
Presider: Audrey Becker

  • Play, Games, and the Medieval World: Teaching Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The White Company. Robert Sirabian, Univ. of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
  • Teaching Westeros: Medieval Studies, Medievalism, and George R. R. Martin. Carol Jamison, Armstrong State Univ.
  • “Medieval” Rhetoric, ISIS, and the Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Lesson for Teaching Political Medievalisms in the Undergraduate Classroom. Erin S. Lynch, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
  • “Have you ever heard of Robin Longstride?”: Anachronism, Authenticity, and Teaching Robin Hood. Christian Sheridan, Bridgewater College


Sunday 8:30 a.m.
527 BERNHARD 158
Medievalism and Disability (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Society for the Study of Disability in the Middle Ages
Organizer: Joshua Eyler, Rice Univ.
Presider: John P. Sexton, Bridgewater State Univ.

  • Urs Graf ’s Daughter Courage: Violence and Disability in Late Medieval Europe. Jess Genevieve Bailey, Univ. of California–Berkeley
  • A Visual Database for Medieval Disability. Christopher Baswell, Barnard College
  • Impaired in Camelot: An Analysis of Ableism in Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant. Tirumular Narayanan, California State Univ.–Chico
  • Trope or Truth? Medievalism and the Ubiquity of Disability. Kisha G. Tracy, Fitchburg State Univ.
  • Life Was Like That: The Grotesque Medieval in the Modern Imagination. Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Sunday 10:30
549 SCHNEIDER 1225
Settlement and Landscape II: Textual Approaches to the Medieval in the Modern
Organizer: Vicky McAlister, Southeast Missouri State Univ.; Jennifer L. Immich, Metropolitan State Univ. of Denver
Presider: Jennifer L. Immich

  • Approaching the Medieval in Comic: How the Adventures of an Arthurian Knight are Appropriated for a Contemporary Audience. Annegret Oehme, Univ. of Washington–Seattle
  • Hive Minds: Interdisciplinarity in Research and Pedagogy. Lahney Preston-Matto, Adelphi Univ.
  • America’s “Poisoned Landscape”: Medievalism and the Alt-right. Mary A. Valante, Appalachian State Univ.

Finally, I’m signal-boosting this workshop and invitation:

4. Rogue Workshop (not in the official program)

Saturday, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Fetzer 1005

From In the Middle: Whiteness in Medieval Studies: a rogue workshop on racial politics that will explore how medievalists in all areas of study can be effective allies for diversity and inclusion within our institutions and across our field.

 5. Kristine Larsen’s Astrolabe Workshop

[This item added here Feb. 2] Tolkien scholar and astronomer Kristine Larsen has run a very popular astrolabe workshop for several years now at the Congress, and she’s at it again this year.

Friday 9:30 p.m. A Hands-On Introduction to Astrolabes: Valley III Eldridge 309
Calculating Traditional Prayer Times in the Christian Monastery (A Workshop)
Organizer: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
Presider: Kristine Larsen
A hands-on workshop on the use of a medieval astrolabe to calculate the Christian monastery’s traditional times of prayer. The first 50 participants will receive a cardboard astrolabe that can be taken home.

Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed something that belongs in this list. I’m not planning to go to Kalamazoo this year, but, my friends, please blog and tweet all kinds of reports from these sessions!  And have an extra dance for me.

Note: This post was edited on February 2nd to add information on the Tolkien Unbound session, listed above, and on item 5. Kristine Larsen’s Astrolabe Workshop

Kzoo 2017 calls for Tolkien papers

30 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Calls for Papers, Conferences, Medievalisms, Tolkien

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The approved sessions for Kalamazoo (the International Congress on Medieval Studies) have just been announced. In spite of very well attended sessions in the past and plenty of paper submissions, the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group has once again been reduced by the conference organizers, as have other groups attending the Congress.  For 2017, only two sessions were approved for the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group, and one other as a separately-sponsored session. The ICMS organizers seem determined to downsize their conference, a process that has been ongoing for a few years now. As far as I know, those proposing sessions are not given explanations for the selection or rejection of their submissions, leaving everyone to guess which topics might “go” and which might be turned down every year — and how many might be allowed.

In any case, here are the calls for papers for the three Tolkien sessions in 2017. The complete list of calls for all sessions can be viewed here.

Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions

Tolkien and languages

This session will explore Tolkien’s contributions as a philologist of both early languages as well as the creation of his own languages.

Asterisk Tolkien

This session will examine various threads and tangents related to Tolkien studies and research.  This may include papers on influences, lacunae, and other related topics important to the field.

The deadline for submission of proposals is September 1, 2016 to Dr. Brad Eden at brad.eden@valpo.edu.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Brad.

The Hill School session

“Eald enta geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition

“Finnish,” J. R. R. Tolkien famously commented, “nearly ruined my Honor Mods”: but even a bottom-of-the-barrel Second on the first examination in Litterae Humaniores in 1913 reflects a considerable depth of classical learning by our standards a century later. Despite his academically dangerous attraction to the northern fringes of Europe, Tolkien’s scholarly and literary projects could no more escape the intellectual relics of Greco-Roman civilization than could the Anglo Saxons whose landscape still showed its physical ruins, the “old work of giants.” This session seeks papers which will consider Tolkien the medievalist as receiver and transmitter of the classical heritage.

organizer: John Wm. Houghton
The Hill School
Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy
717 E. High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
jhoughton@thehill.org

Anyone thinking of submitting a proposal to these or any other sessions should read the information on the conference website about the forms that need to be sent in with abstracts. You can also contact the session organizers for information.

Tolkien’s King Sheave story

27 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Conferences, Old English, Research, Tolkien

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Atlantic seashore

I’m finding Tolkien’s Notion Club Papers* a fascinating and deep well of ideas. Last summer at the New York Tolkien Conference, I commented on the sub-creators who appear in the story; this year, for my conference presentation at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, I talked about another part of Notion Club, the embedded legend of King Sheave (which was also part of the Tolkien’s plan for the earlier and unfinished The Lost Road).

According to Christopher, his father called the King Sheave legends “an astonishing tangle.” My presentation was an attempt to untangle at least one or two threads, but I had to ignore how tightly woven into the picture are texts such as  “The Seafarer” and “The Death of St. Brendan.” There’s only so much you can do in a 15-minute presentation.

I started with what is likely to be the most recognizable appearance of Sheave in English literature: the Scyld Scefing story that opens the Old English poem Beowulf. The Beowulf-poet merges two mythical or legendary figures. The first is the warlike Scyld, the eponymous founder of the Scyldings, another name for the Danes in the poem; (“sc” is pronounced like “sh” in Old English). The other figure is Scef (or Scéaf / Scéafa): Sheaf, who is an ancient culture-hero or corn-god. In numerous sources, this Sheaf is said to arrive from an unknown land as a child sleeping on a boat with a sheaf of grain by his head. In his Beowulf commentary, Tolkien finds this Sheaf figure “the more mysterious, far older and more poetical myth” of the two.

Atlantic salt marsh

Other medieval sources also mention one or both of these figures. Alexander Bruce, in his book Scyld and Scef, publishes and discusses 43 references from English, Danish, and Icelandic sources, in chronicles, poems, and genealogies, covering several centuries — in other words, the legends must have been well known in early Germanic cultures. In my talk, I enumerated a few sources that Tolkien used and reshaped in his own version of Sheaf / Sheave (Tolkien spells it differently in different places), including the one unique version of the legend, the Beowulf story in which Scyld Scefing is given a ship burial at the end of his life, sent back out to an unknown destination with treasures piled around his body.

But what is even more interesting to me are the ways in which Tolkien’s version is different from his medieval sources.  For one thing, Tolkien’s story is remarkable for its vivid visualization of details added to the legend. Here you can see Tolkien’s characteristic descriptive style, with an attention to the visual qualities of light: “a ship came sailing, shining-timbered, without oar or mast, eastward floating. The sun behind it sinking westward with flame kindled the fallow water.” (NCP 273-74).

Tolkien adds other elements to the story, such as the harp that comes with the child, and how Sceaf reveals his extraordinary powers through song. In most legends, Sheaf is meant to bring agricultural fertility; in Tolkien’s version, he also brings linguistic and artistic ripeness to the people. Tolkien’s version brings us right into the events of the story imaginatively and vividly, as if we too are there witnessing the scene along with the other marvelling people who rush out of their houses to gaze on and listen to Sheaf.

Atlantic seashore and clouds

Finally, Tolkien adds hints or glimpses of how his King Sheave is tied to his own mythology of Númenor and the Blessed Lands to the West. For example, Sheaf’s ship sails in from the West to a dark, shadowed, deprived Middle-earth. There are also premonitions of the Eagles of the Lords of the West, a repeated refrain in NCP deriving from the story of Númenor as several characters experience or see it.

As interesting as I find Tolkien’s version of King Sheave, the full meaning of the story has to take into account not only what Tolkien makes of the legend but where he puts it. For Tolkien’s story of Sheaf is only one layer, deeply embedded, in a narrative about envisioning the past and about sea-longing. The Sheaf story is told in an Anglo-Saxon hall in King Éadweard’s reign, recited by Tréowine and concluded by his friend Ælfwine. This layer comprising of Ælfwine and Tréowine is in turn framed by the 20th-century story of Lowdham and Jeremy, two members of the Notion Club who are experimenting with time travel and are telling the story of Ælfwine and Tréowine to their friends.

Layer upon layer upon layer, with connections in word and image between layers “coming through” or “glimpsed” as the characters frequently say — the layers create a palimpsest or a pattern of recurring elements, made up of history and myth, including Tolkien’s own mythology. Verlyn Flieger has pointed out that framing has thematic significance in NCP, and the framing of the King Sheave story in several layers of time creates a tightly woven pattern that is impossible to unravel completely in this short summary.  Obviously, I have more untangling work to do this summer.

* NCP is an unfinished text published by Christopher Tolkien in Sauron Defeated, volume 9 of The History of Middle-earth.