Tag Archives: International Congress on Medieval Studies

Tolkien & medievalism at K’zoo 2016: sneak peek

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Old English, Tolkien

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

The preview of the conference program for the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies has now been posted. Although there may still be changes made to the program before the final version is published in February, I’m always eager to see what sessions have been accepted and to plan how I’m going to spend my days in Kalamazoo this year.

The conference runs from May 12 – 15 at Western Michigan University. Keep in mind that the following are excerpts from a preliminary program; for the final version and most accurate information, check out the published schedule when it comes online here.

I’ve highlighted sessions on Tolkien and on medievalism. Even with this narrowing down, you can see that it’s impossible to attend every panel that might be of interest.

Sessions on Tolkien

The conference always features two plenary addresses.  This year, one of those lectures will be delivered by Jane Chance, speaking on Tolkien.

Friday 8:30 a.m. Plenary Lecture:
How We Read J. R. R. Tolkien Reading Grendel’s Mother.  
Jane Chance (Rice Univ.)

Other sessions focusing on Tolkien:

Thursday 10:00 a.m.
Fathering, Fostering, Translating, and Creating in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien
Session 11 Fetzer 1040
Sponsor: Organizer: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce; Presider: Anne Reaves, Marian Univ.

  • Medieval Fostering in the First and Third Ages of Middle-earth: Elrond as Fóstri and Fóstr-son. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
  • A Stylistic Analysis of Fatherhood and Fostering in The Silmarillion. Robin Anne Reid, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
  • Tolkien’s Beowulf: A Translation of Scholar and Poet. Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College
  • Imagined: Tolkien in the Mind of God. Skyler King, College of the Desert

Thursday 1:30 p.m.
Tolkien and Beowulf
Session 58; Fetzer 1040
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
. Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ. Presider: Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar

  • “A Tight Fitt”: Strategies of Condensation in The Lay of Beowulf. John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
  • Tolkien’s “Freawaru and Ingeld”: A Love Story? Christopher T. Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
  • The Christian Singer in Tolkien’s Beowulf. Michael D. Miller, Aquinas College
  • Tolkien’s Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary as a Teaching Text. James L. Baugher, East Tennessee State Univ.

Thursday 3:30 p.m.
In Honor of Verlyn Flieger (A Roundtable)
Session 107; Fetzer 1040
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo. Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ. Presider: John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar

  • Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories” as a theory of literature. Curtis Gruenler, Hope College
  • The Well and the Book: Flieger and Tolkien on “the Past in the Past”. Deborah Sabo, Univ. of Arkansas–Fayetteville/Arkansas Archeological Survey
  • So Many Wonders: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight according to Tolkien and Flieger. Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College
  • “Linguistic Ghosts”: Anglo-Saxon Poetry as Tolkien’s Tether between Past and Present. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
  • An Elf by Any Other Name: Naming, Language, and Loss in Tolkien’s Legendarium. Benjamin S. W. Barootes, McGill Univ.

Friday 10:00 a.m.
Tolkien and Invented Languages
Session 219; Bernhard 209
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo. Organizer & Presider: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.

  • From Goldogrin to Sindarin, or, How Ilkorin Supplanted the “Sweet Tongue of the Gnomes”. Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ.
  • Early Explorers and Practicioners of a Shared “Secret Vice”. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
  • “Art Words”: Tolkien’s “Secret Vice” Manuscripts and Radical Linguistic Experimentation. Dimitra Fimi, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.
  • Tolkien’s Concept of “Native Language” and the English and Welsh Papers at the Bodleian Library.  Yoko Hemmi, Keio Univ.

Saturday 10:00 a.m.
Asterisk Tolkien: Filling Medieval Lacunae
Session 345; Fetzer 1060
Sponsor: Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School. Organizer and Presider: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School

  • The “Lost” Language of the Hobbits. Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar
  • “To Recall Forgotten Gods from Their Twilight”: Tolkien, Machen, and Lovecraft. John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar
  • “Backdreaming” Beowulf’s Scyld Scefing Legend. Anna Smol, Mount Saint Vincent Univ.
  • Bred in Mockery. Michael Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

Saturday noon
Tolkien at Kalamazoo business meeting. Bernhard 212.

Saturday 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Off-campus session sponsored by Tolkien at Kalamazoo:
Tolkien Unbound
Kalamazoo College, music recital hall, 2-5 p.m.  (Come to the business meeting to arrange transportation)

  • Readers’ theater performance of Tolkien’s Kalevala
  • Eileen Moore, Maidens of Middle-earth 6.

 

Other sessions on medievalism

Thursday 10 a.m.
Looking Back at the Middle Ages. Presider: Audrey Becker, Marygrove College. Session 35.

  • Discovering and Inventing Early Medieval Lincolnshire, 1710–1755. Dustin M. Frazier Wood, Bethany College
  • A Corruptly Nostalgic Crusade: Horace Walpole’s Medievalism of the Crusades in The Castle of Otranto. Rachel Landers, Univ. of Alabama–Birmingham
  • “Better than Anything Ancient”: Artifce, Authenticity, and William Morris’s Created Scandinavian Past. Mimi Ensley, Univ. of Notre Dame

Thursday 3:30 p.m.
Digitally Teaching the Middle Ages: Case Studies (A Poster Session)
Sponsor: Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organization (MEMO). Organizer: Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull
. Presider:Pamela Clements, Siena College. Session 138.

  • Teaching with King’s Quest Part I
. Kevin A. Moberly, Old Dominion Univ.
  • Teaching with King’s Quest Part II
. Jessica Dambruch, Old Dominion Univ.
  • Game Theories and Teaching Medieval Literature. John McLaughlin, East Stroudsburg Univ.
  • Teaching with Lord of the Rings Online. Carol L. Robinson
  • Role-Playing Games and the Multimedia Wife of Bath Project. Daniel-Raymond Nadon, Kent State Univ.

Friday 1:30 p.m.
Medievalism and Labor (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Organizer and Presider: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ. Session 276.

  • Adjunct Serfs in a Feudal Academy?. Michael R. Evans, Delta College
  • Life in Another Castle: Medieval Studies and Game Design. Serina Patterson, Univ. of British Columbia
  • King’s Scab: Economic Chivalry and Immaterial Labor in the Age of the Sharing Economy. Brent Addison Moberly, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington, and Kevin A. Moberly, Old Dominion Univ.
  • Should I Put This on My C.V.? Medievalism and Academic Labor in Graduate School. Usha Vishnuvajjala, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington
  • Contractions and Expulsions of the Retro-medieval toward the Female Body. Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull

Friday 3:30 p.m.
Medievalism and Anti-Semitism
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ. Presider:Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan Univ. Session 328.

  • Medieval Heritage and Nazi Rituals: Historical Pageants in the Upper Palatinate. Richard Utz, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • William Dudley Pelley: An American Nazi in King Arthur’s Court. Kevin J. Harty, La Salle Univ.
  • Medievalism in Contemporary American Anti-Semitism. Paul B. Sturtevant, Smithsonian Institution

Friday 3:30 p.m.
Premodern Rulers and Postmodern Viewers: Gender and Sex in Medieval Film and Television 
Sponsor: Royal Studies Journal. Organizer and Presider: Janice North, Univ of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Session 313.

  • Melusine, Magic, and Maternal Blood in The White Queen. Misty Urban, Muscatine Community College
  • “Men go to battle, women wage war”: Gender Politics in The White Queen (2013). Kavita Mudan Finn, Independent Scholar
  • A New Isabel for the Twenty-First Century. Emily S. Beck, College of Charleston
  • Queering Isabella: The “She-Wolf of France” in Film and Television. Michael R. Evans, Delta College

Friday 3:30 p.m.
Medieval Studies and Medievalism, Past and Present
Organizer: Christina M. Heckman, Augusta Univ. Presider: Christina Heckman. Session 295. [updated listing]

  • Gower among the Protestants: A Medieval Poet, Post-reform. F. Yeager, Univ. of West Florida
  • Church History and the Sound of Words in N. S. F. Grundtvig’s Brunanburh and Phoenix Ballads. Robert E. Bjork, Arizona State Univ.

Saturday 1:30 p.m.
A Session of Ice and Fire: Medievalism in the Game of Thrones Franchise
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society Organizer: Helen Young, La Trobe Univ. Presider: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Oklahoma State Univ.–Stillwell. Session 417.

  • Forging and Reforging Valyrian Steel: The Role of Arthurian Sword Motifs in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Alexandra Garner, Bowling Green State Univ.
  • Peaceweaving in Westeros. Carol Parrish Jamison, Armstrong State Univ.
  • Dragons, Alliances, Power, and Gold: Disruptor Beam’s Game of Thrones Ascent. Shiloh R. Carroll, Tennessee State Univ.

Saturday 1:30 p.m.
Childhood/Innocence in Victorian Medievalism
Organizer: Daniel Najork, Arizona State Univ.; Eileen A. Joy, BABEL Working Group Presider: Daniel Najork. Session 386.

  • Alice, Dream Visions, and Victorian Childhood. William Racicot, Independent Scholar
  • Victorian Medievalism and the Construction of the Innocent Male Body in the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Cheryl Jaworski, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara
  • Medieval Fantasy and the Neo-Victorian Child in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia Heather L. N. Hess, Univ. of Tennessee–Knoxville

Saturday 3:30 p.m.
In Fashions Reminiscent: The Overlapping Objects, Discourses, and Ideas of the Sixties and the Middle Ages
Sponsor: punctum books. Organizers & presiders: Geoffrey W. Gust, Stockton Univ.; John F. O’Hara, Stockton Univ.; Eileen A. Joy, BABEL Working Group
Geoffrey W. Gust, John F. O’Hara, and Eileen A. Joy. Session 465.

  • Chaucer in the Stoned Age. Candace Barrington, Central Connecticut State Univ.
  • Trees Again: Time Travel with Plants. Lara Farina, West Virginia Univ.
  • Medievalism and the End(s) of Empire in 1960s Science Fiction: Frank Herbert’s Dune and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Scott Wells, California State Univ.–Los Angeles
  • Sounds of Silence: Popular Existentialism and Medieval Autofiction. Christopher Jensen, Florida State Univ.

Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Fanfiction in Medieval Studies
Organizer: Anna Wilson, Univ. of Toronto Presider: Anna Wilson. Session 524.

  • Strange Attraction to Sacred Places: Reading Fannish Fantasies in a Copy of Mandevilles’s Travels. Alison Harper, Univ. of Rochester
  • Choose Your Own Arthur: Canon and Agency in Choice of Games’ Pendragon. Rebecca Slitt, Choice of Games, LLC
  • Code-Switching Media: Vernacular Medievalisms and the Queer Lives of Mulan. Jonathan Hsy, George Washington Univ.
  • Charlemagne Fanfiction and Collective Identity in Fourteenth-Century England. Elizabeth Williamsen, Minnesota State Univ.–Mankato

 

Let me know if I’ve missed any sessions on Tolkien or medievalism.

 

Eala! Unlock your word hoards!

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Medieval, Medievalisms, Old English, Old Norse, Publications, Tolkien

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve just heard about a new project, the journal Eala, which will publish compositions in Old English and other medieval Germanic languages. The founding editor and editor-in-chief of Word Hoard Press, Richard Littauer, plans to publish the journal online and include original compositions in Old English, Old Norse, and the like, as well as translations.

I can’t help thinking that Tolkien would be pleased to see this kind of venture, as he was a proponent of writing in the alliterative verse styles of Old English and Old Norse, either in the original languages or in modern English. As readers of his recently published Beowulf know, Tolkien was adept at composing in Old English – see his prose story “Sellic Spell” in that volume as an example. Tom Shippey has written about the difficulties of counting just how many poems and fragments Tolkien wrote in alliterative meter in both modern and Old English; in his essay “Tolkien as a Writer of Alliterative Poetry” in the book Tolkien’s Poetry, Shippey counts 22 compositions in modern English alliterative meter plus “The Homecoming”; another nine complete poems and five fragments in Old English, and that’s not including modern English poems imitating Old Norse alliterative style. In other words, Tolkien wrote a lot of alliterative verse.

Although Tolkien did write in other verse forms besides alliterative meter, he believed that alliterative verse was a natural form for English speakers and advocated its use – but who was listening? Lately, though, I’ve seen signs of interest in bringing medieval poetry more in contact with modern writers. Jane Chance, for example, is hosting an “Original Medievalistic Poetry Reading and Open Mic” at next year’s International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’ll have to check it out next May in the hopes of hearing some alliterative compositions. And here’s another sign of interest from a couple of years ago: Modern Poets on Viking Poetry: A Cultural Translation Project resulted in the publication of poems in modern English, which can be downloaded here.

These last two are projects that highlight the influence of medieval poetry on modern writers, but to write “correct” alliterative verse in a medieval language like Old English is another matter entirely. I’m looking forward to seeing what shows up in Eala.

Kalamazoo past and future

28 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

I’ve been away for some time now on conference and research trips — more posts to come on those in the next few days. My last post over a month ago listed Tolkien sessions in Kalamazoo at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, which has  come and gone. Happily, I realize there’s no need this year for me to summarize the Tolkien sessions or to compile accounts of various other presentations, as I’ve done in previous years. Instead, you can read the excellent Tolkien at Kalamazoo Round-Up by Dr. Andrew Higgins on his blog, Dr. Wotan’s Musings.

In addition, #Kzoo2015 hit the blogosphere from all directions, and if you want a taste of the many different topics that were presented and discussed, take a look at Jonathan Hsy’s #Kzoo2015 Blogroll, a feast of information that includes “links to blog postings and transcripts of individual paper presentations … archives of tweets, public notes from sessions, Prezi and YouTube presentations … and an alliterative poem.”

The organizers of ICMS waste no time in deciding on which sessions will be allowed for the following year. You can already take a look at the Sneak Preview of sessions for 2016. Sessions specifically dealing with Tolkien are the following:

The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group, organized by Brad Eden, has been allowed to sponsor three sessions.

  • Tolkien and Beowulf
  • Tolkien and Invented Languages
  • A roundtable in honor of Verlyn Flieger

The History Department at Texas A&M University – Commerce is sponsoring one session, organized by Judy Ann Ford:

  • Fathers, Sons, and Fosterage in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien

The Department of Religious Studies & Philosophy at The Hill School is sponsoring one session, organized by John Wm. Houghton:

  • Asterisk Tolkien: Filling Medieval Lacunae

Even with these three sponsors, the number of Tolkien sessions has decreased in the last two years — not from lack of interest (the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions are always extremely well attended) but as a result of a deliberate decision by the ICMS organizers, who have limited most sponsoring groups (although not all, which is puzzling in itself) to 3 or 4 sessions. For many years, the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group sponsored up to eight sessions per year, but that kind of thriving scholarly growth is being pruned back by the Congress organizers. Too bad, but of course, it’s their Congress, and they must have their reasons, though I think some sponsors would like to see more transparency in the decision-making.

K’zoo 2015 sessions on Tolkien and medievalisms

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

It’s that time of year again — planning for the International Congress on Medieval Studies, with its 500-plus sessions, at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.  Impossible to attend every session of interest, but in having to make decisions about which presentations to go to, I like to pull out a few possibilities. Here I have all the sessions that deal with Tolkien and then some that cover the broad topic of medievalisms. Of course, you should check the official program for the authoritative schedule and to double check times and rooms.

Tolkien sessions first of all:

Thursday 10 a.m. 
Session 33, Bernhard 204
Tolkien as Translator and Translated
Sponsor: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer and presider: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce

–Tolkien’s Beowulf and the “Correcting Style.” Dean Easton, Independent Scholar
—Sir Orfeo, the Classical Sources, and the Story of Beren and Lúthien. Sandra Hartl, Otto-Friedrich-Univ. Bamberg
–Translator and Language Change: On J. R. R. Tolkien’s Translation of Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.  Maria Volkonskaya, Higher School of Economics, National Research Univ.

Thursday 1:30 p.m. 
Session 49, Valley II, Eicher 202
Christopher Tolkien as Medieval Scholar (A Roundtable)
Organizer: Douglas A. Anderson, Independent Scholar
Presider: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School
A roundtable discussion with Douglas A. Anderson; John D. Rateliff, Independent
Scholar; Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.; and Brent Landon Johnson, Signum Univ.

Thursday 3:30 p.m. 
Session 127, Schneider 2355
Tolkien and Victorian Medievalism
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College

–J. R. R. Tolkien on the Origin of Stories: The Pardoner’s Tale Lectures and Nineteenth-Century Folklore Scholarship
. Sharin Schroeder, National Taipei Univ. of Technology
–Maps and Landscape in William Morris and J. R. R. Tolkien. 
Amanda Giebfried, St. Louis Univ.
–Tolkien’s Victorian Fairy-Story Beowulf .
Jane Chance, Rice Univ.

Thursday 7 p.m. 
Session 155, Fetzer 1045
Tolkien’s Beowulf (A Readers’ Theater Performance) and Maidens of Middle-earth
V, “Turin’s Women”
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Thom Foy, Univ. of Michigan-Dearborn
–Tolkien’s Beowulf
Thom Foy; Andrew Higgins, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.; Jewell Morrow,
Independent Scholar; Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar; Mark Lachniet,
Independent Scholar; Richard West, Independent Scholar; Jane Beal,
SanctuaryPoet.net; Brad Eden
–Maidens of Middle-earth V: “Turin’s Women”
Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ

Saturday noon.  Business Meeting, Tolkien at Kalamazoo. Bernhard 158

Sunday 8:30 a.m.   
Session 525. Schneider 1120
Tolkien as Linguist and Medievalist
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer and presider: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.

–The First Red Book: An Exploration of Tolkien’s Exeter College Essay Book
Andrew Higgins, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.
–Inter-Elvish Miscommunication and the Fall of Gondolin. Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ.
–A Scholar of the Old School: Tolkien’s Editing of Medieval Manuscripts. John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar
–Immram Roverandom. Kris Swank, Pima Community College

Sunday 10:30 a.m. 
Session 549. Fetzer 1055
Tolkien’s Beowulf
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Christopher Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont

–“That does not attract me”: Lang./Lit. and the Structure of Tolkien’s Beowulf Commentary. John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
–Can a Geat Be a Knight? Tolkien’s Use of Chivalric Terminology in His Translation of Beowulf. Brian McFadden, Texas Tech Univ.
–The Weird Word Wyrd
. Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College
—Beowulf Reimagined: Coming of Age in Tolkien’s Sellic spell. Amber Dunai, Texas A&M Univ.

Sessions or papers on medievalism:

Plenary lecture: Saturday 8:30 a.m.
The Notion of the Middle Ages: Our Middle Ages, Ourselves
Richard Utz
East Ballroom, Bernhard Cente

Thursday 10 a.m. Session 22
Looking Back at the Middle Ages
Presider: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Oklahoma State Univ.–Stillwater
–Abraham Wheelock and West Saxon Genealogy: Old English Rhythmical Prose in 1643/44. Patrick V. Day, Florida State Univ.
–Martin Sarmiento: A Medievalist at the Court of the Spanish Bourbon Kings. Maria Willstedt, Hamilton College
–Ghost of the Oak Gall: Scholarly Inheritance, Antiquarian Time, and Manuscript Cataloguing in the Medievalist Fiction of M. R. James. Patrick J. Murphy, Miami Univ.

Thursday 1:30 Session 95
Modernizing the Medieval for a New Generation: Medievalism in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Organizer: Alexandra Garner, Bowling Green State Univ. Presider: Alexandra Garner
–“Minstrels get about and so do students”: The Role of Emotional Attachment and Historical Accuracy in the Impact of Young Adult Fiction. Esther Bernstein, Graduate Center, CUNY
–What in the World Is Wattpad?: Examining the Platform of Merlin’s Gold, The Camelot Code, and Other Offerings for Young Readers. Christina Francis, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania
–Otherworld Boys and Modern Girls: The Medieval Irish Fairy Lover in Young Adult Fiction. Joanne Findon, Trent Univ.
–“Metaphorical Feudalisms”: Land, Obligations, and Power in the Young Adult Fiction of Tamora Pierce and Patricia A. McKillip. Amelia A. Rutledge, George Mason Univ.

Friday 10:00 a.m.  Session 214
False Friends: “Translation,” “Adaptation,” or “Creative Interpretation” of the Medieval Text?
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
eth press
 Chris Piuma, Univ. of Toronto, and David Hadbawnik, Univ. at Buffalo David Hadbawnik
–The Nonce Taxonomies of Translation and Mary Jo Bang’s Inferno. Lisa Ampleman, Univ. of Cincinnati
–The Well of Anachronism: Experimental Translation, Medievalism, and Gender in Contemporary Poetics. Shannon Maguire, Wilfrid Laurier Univ.
–Return to Sender: Re-Flemishing Chaucer’s Flemish Tales in Verhalen voor Canterbury. Jonathan Hsy, George Washington Univ.
–“The harlot is talkative and wandering”: Conduct Literature, Medbh McGuckian, and the Postcolonial Subject. Katharine W. Jager, Univ. of Houston-Downtown

Friday 10:00 a.m. Session 216
Quantum Medievalisms (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies
Eileen Joy, BABEL Working Group Angela R. Bennett Segler, New York Univ.
–Schroedinger’s Woman. Tara Mendola, New York Univ.
–The Piers Plowman Uncertainty Principle. James Eric Ensley, North Carolina State Univ.
–Bedetimematter. Christopher Roman, Kent State Univ.–Tuscarawas
–Quantum Memory and Medieval Poetics of Forgetting. Jenny Boyar, Univ. of Rochester
–Quantum Queerness. Karma Lochrie, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington

Friday 10:00 a.m.
Session 221
The Neomedieval Image
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organization (MEMO) Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull
Pamela Clements, Siena College
–A Digital Caliphate of Their Own: The Paradox of New Media and Neomedievalism in the New Islamic State. Kevin A. Moberly, Old Dominion Univ., and Brent Addison Moberly, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington
–Gesturing the Neomedieval Image and “Medievalizing” the Gesture. Carol L. Robinson
–Remix Culture and the Neomedieval Videogame. Michael Sarabia, Univ. of Iowa
–(Digital) Geography and the Making of Myth. Lesley A. Coote, Univ. of Hull

Friday 1:30 p.m. Session 259
Critical Mediations (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
International Society for the Study of Medievalism Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ. Amy S. Kaufman
–Le Roman de Jubal Sackett: Louis L’Amour reads Chrétien de Troyes. Cory James Rushton, St. Francis Xavier Univ.
–“What if your future was the past?”: Temporality, Gender and the “Isms” of
Outlander. Leah Haught, Georgia Institute of Technology
–Knighthood and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Identity and Posthuman Medievalism in Sons of Anarchy. Valerie B. Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology
–Studying Medieval Disabilities in the Post-Modern World. Wendy J. Turner, Georgia Regents Univ.
–Gothic Aesthetics. Dina Khapaeva, Georgia Institute of Technology

Friday 3:30
. Session 314
Political Medievalisms
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
International Society for the Study of Medievalism Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ. Amy S. Kaufman
–“D’Aliénor d’Aquitaine au bûcher de Montségur”: Medievalism and Identity in the Right-Wing Populism of the Ligue du Midi. Michael R. Evans, Central Michigan Univ.
–Blaming William of Ockham: The Far-Right’s Critique of Medieval Nominalism
Daniel Wollenberg, Univ. of Tampa
–Crusades, Templars, and Cyberjihad: Political Medievalisms in Social Media
Andrew B. R. Elliott, Univ. of Lincoln

Saturday 10:00 a.m. Session 370
Metaphysical Medievalisms
Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Middle Tennessee State Univ. Presider: Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull
–Medieval Elements in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” William Racicot, Independent Scholar
–The Grail, American Fascism, and William Dudley Pelley. Kevin J. Harty, La Salle Univ.
–“Miracle of the Meat”: The Relationship of Medieval Eucharistic Miracles to Eucharistic Miracles in Contemporary Native American Novels. Rebecca Fullan, Graduate Center, CUNY
–The Post-Medieval Reception of Heretical Movements: From Arnold of Brescia to Fra Dolcino. Riccardo Facchini, Univ. Europea di Roma

Saturday 1:30  
Session 442. Bernhard 158
From Frodo to Fidelma: Medievalisms in Popular Genres (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society
Organizer: Helen Young, Univ. of Sydney
Presider: Geoffrey B. Elliott, Oklahoma State Univ.–Stillwater
–Black in Sherwood: Race and Ethnicity in Robin Hood Media. Kris Swank, Pima Community College
–Hedgehogs and Tomb Raiders in King Arthur’s Court: The Influence of
Malory in Adventure Games. Serina Patterson, Univ. of British Columbia
–The Zombie Apocalypse in the Classroom and Medieval Plague. John Marino, Maryville Univ.
–Crimes and Conspiracies in Town and Court: Embodying Late Medieval Life. Candace Robb, Independent Scholar
–Found Footage: The Popular Credibility of the Grimms’ Tales. Thomas R. Leek, Univ. of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
–Arthuriana for Children: Narrative Integrity and the Medieval in Gerald
Morris’s Squires Tales. Alexandra Garner, Bowling Green State Univ.
–Medievalism and the Popular Romance Novel. Geneva Diamond, Albany State Univ.

Saturday 1:30
Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: Sources, Influences, Revisions, Scholarship
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:C. S. Lewis Society, Purdue Univ.; Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis and Friends, Taylor Univ. Joe Ricke, Taylor Univ.

–Ransom as Pilgrim: A Reflection of Dante’s Commedia in Out of the Silent Planet Marsha Daigle-Williamson, Spring Arbor Univ.
–Walking beneath Medieval Skies: C. S. Lewis’s Challenge to Modern Minds. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
–The Medieval Sources and Inspiration for C. S. Lewis’s Understanding of Self and Society. Hannah Oliver Depp, Politics and Prose Bookstore/American Univ.
–Bridging the Gap between Medieval and Modern Science: The Middle Way of C. S. Lewis. Dennis Fisher, Independent Scholar

Saturday 3:30
.Session 462
Women of the Medieval World/Medieval Women of the World
Sponsor: Organizer: Presider:
Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS) Seokyung Han, Binghamton Univ.
Sally Livingston, Ohio Wesleyan Univ.
–Non-Uppity Women Poets of al-Andalus in Their Apartment
Doaa Omran, Univ. of New Mexico
–On the Re-establishment of Gender Roles in Medieval Korea
Seokyung Han
–Same-Sex Intimacies in an Ethiopian Hagiography: The Queer Relations of the Ethiopian Orthodox Female Saint Walatta Petros. Wendy Laura Belcher, Princeton Univ.
–Medieval Feminisms and Antipodean Medievalisms. Elie Crookes, Univ. of Wollongong

Saturday 3:30. Session 496
Teaching Medieval in a General Education Context (A Roundtable)
Organizer: Alison Locke Perchuk, California State Univ.–Channel Islands Presider: Amy Caldwell, California State Univ.–Channel Islands
–Art History. Peter Scott Brown, Univ. of North Florida
–Medieval English Literature. Andrea Harbin, SUNY–Cortland
–Medievalisms and Popular Culture. A. Keith Kelly, Georgia Gwinnett College
–Astronomy. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
–Vernacular Languages. Marilyn Lawrence, New York Univ.
–Religion. Heidi Marx-Wolf, Univ. of Manitoba
–History. Susan Taylor, Univ. of Houston–Victoria

Saturday 3:30  
Session 501. Bernhard 158
Martin and More: Genre Medievalisms
Sponsor: Tales after Tolkien Society
Organizer: Helen Young, Univ. of Sydney
Presider: Stephanie Amsel, Southern Methodist Univ.
–Medievalism, Feminism, and “Realism” in Game of Thrones. Kavita Mudan Finn, Southern New Hampshire Univ.
–Save the Cheerleader, Save the World: Yesterday’s Heroism Today. Valerie Dawn Hampton, Western Michigan Univ./Univ. of Florida
–Detectives in the Middle Ages? The (Exceptionally) Popular Genre of Medievalist Crime Fiction. Anne McKendry, Univ. of Melbourne
–White Hats for White Plumes: The Western as Arthurian Romance
Reimagined. Geoffrey B. Elliott, Oklahoma State Univ.–Stillwater

And here is another chance to attend the astrolabe session by Tolkien scholar / astronomer Kristine Larsen:

Friday 9:30 p.m.
A Hands-On Introduction to Astrolabes (A Workshop)
Organizer: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.A hands-on workshop on the basic use of a medieval astrolabe, with examples taken from Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe. Each of the first forty attendees will take home a free cardboard astrolabe.

Tolkien conference season 2015

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s time to start organizing my travel to various conferences this spring and summer. I wish I could attend all of these meetings, but I’ll be fortunate enough to go to a couple of them at least. My list focuses on North American conferences because I know those best, but please let me know in the comments if there are others. I hope my list will demonstrate the healthy state of academic Tolkien Studies and maybe entice you to go to one of these events — if you’re not already booking your tickets. And while there will be plenty of professional scholars at these conferences,  most of these events draw a lively mix of academics, independent scholars, writers, artists, fans of all kinds.

The first meeting will be held in a few weeks – not exactly springtime where I live, but still it does kick off the conference season:

There and Back Again: Tolkien in 2015 OSU Tolkien 2015: There and Back Again Conference, Feb 20-21, 2015
The Ohio State University.
February 20-21, 2015

This is the second annual Popular Culture and the Deep Past event sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Ohio State U.  According to the event website: “this will be a full-fledged conference, itself nested in a broader ‘carnival’ of popular and traditional cultural events and activities.”  Sounds like there will be something for everyone.

Popular Culture/American Culture Association National Conference
Popular Culture Association logo
New Orleans Marriott
April 1-4, 2015

This is a massive conference that draws scholars from a huge variety of fields. The newly established Tolkien Studies area, organized by Robin Reid, is sponsoring eight sessions plus a business meeting for a second year in a row.  The final program should be posted soon on the website.

12th annual Tolkien in Vermont conference
Tolkien in Vermont conference
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT
April 10-11, 2015

This year’s theme is medieval narrative verse, with Michael Drout as the keynote speaker. According to the conference organizer, Chris Vaccaro, a program will be posted soon on the website. This is usually a small and friendly conference attended by faculty, students, and the general public, with an open mic night on Friday followed by a day of presentations on Saturday.

International Congress on Medieval Studies 
Kalamazoo campus swan pond
University of Western Michigan
Kalamazoo, MI
May  14-17, 2015

This annual conference draws thousands of medievalists every year, but it also includes anyone interested in the scholarly study of Tolkien (not always the same as a medievalist).  The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group sponsors as many sessions as are allowed by the Congress organizers, and other sponsoring groups have sessions on Tolkien or on medievalisms as well.  You can search through the conference program  for what interests you.

New York City Tolkien Conference
New York City Tolkien ConferenceBaruch College
New York
June 13, 2015

The call for papers is on the site, with a deadline for proposals of April 7, 2015.  The keynote speaker will be Janet Brennan Croft and musical guest of honour, John DiBartolo.

Mythopoeic Society Conference / Mythcon 46
Mythopoeic Society
Hotel Elegante
Colorado Springs, Colorado
July 31-August 3, 2015

The special theme is the Arthurian Mythos.  I expect that more details about the program will appear on the website soon. This conference is usually a nice combination of serious academic papers and fun social events, readings, and more.

International Medieval Congress 
IMC 2015 poster
University of Leeds
July 6-9, 2015

This is the largest conference on medieval studies in Europe. A search through the program found three sessions on Tolkien.

Update February 12: Dr. Dimitra Fimi, who has organized some of these sessions, has more details about sessions on Tolkien, medievalism, fantasy, Arthurian tradition and more on her blog.

And looking ahead towards the end of the summer,  there is always
The Tolkien Society’s Oxonmoot
Tolkien Society
September 10-13, 2015.
St. Anthony’s  College, Oxford

And here are a couple of other conferences that focus on medievalism and that could very well end up sponsoring sessions on Tolkien:

The Middle Ages in the Modern World (MAMO)
June 29 – July 2, 2015
University of Lincoln, Lincoln UK

Update Feb. 12:  The provisional programme is now available. One session on Tolkien and lots of other good panels on various medievalism topics.

International Conference on Medievalism
This conference usually takes place in the fall.  I don’t see any information on the website yet about the next meeting.

I realize on looking over this list that it is heavily skewed towards Tolkien as a medievalist. If there are any other conferences you feel people should know about, please feel free to add them in the comments. It would also be interesting to know about other Tolkien conferences beyond North America and the UK.

Update Feb. 12:  Thanks to Marcel Aubron Bülles  here is another conference program:

German Tolkien Society
University of Aachen
May 1-3, 2015

Talking about medievalisms

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

While my focus here is often on Tolkien, I’ve collected some calls for papers on medievalism generally (although I do include below one conference on Tolkien specifically). The proliferation of conferences and sessions on medievalism – that is, “the reception of the Middle Ages in postmedieval times” — is a healthy indicator of the academic acceptance of medievalism studies, something that earlier scholars such as Leslie Workman, founder of Studies in Medievalism and the International Conference on Medievalism had to fight for at times in the 1970s and 80s. Today medievalism continues to be an evolving multidisciplinary study open to many different approaches. If you follow the links and read the calls for papers, you’ll get a good sense of how diverse and far-ranging topics in medievalism studies can be — and you’ll see that there’s plenty of talking about medievalisms these days.

The Middle Ages in the Modern World (MAMO). June 29-July 2, 2015 at the University of Lincoln, UK.  Individual paper proposals should be submitted by September 15, 2014 and panel proposals by August 31, 2014. This is the second conference in a planned series of biennial meetings. According to the MAMO Facebook page, plans are in the works to hold a 2017 conference in Manchester and a 2019 meeting in Rome. You can follow conference news on Twitter:  @TheMAMOConf.

Medievalisms on the Move. 29th International Conference on Medievalism. October 24-25, 2014 at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, US. The conference aims  “to investigate the manifold transformations that happen when recreations, reinventions, and redefinitions of the ‘medieval’ move from one cultural space and time to another.” The deadline for proposals has passed, but if you’re interested in attending, a program should be posted soon.

I listed the following two sessions in my previous post on K’zoo 2015 Tolkien and medievalism sessions, but the CFPs for both of these give further details if you follow the links:

Studies in Medievalism: Kalamazoo 2015 Call for Papers. May 14-17, 2015. International Conference on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, Michigan, US. Further details on the three sessions sponsored by the International Society for the Study of Medievalism:  Metaphysical Medievalisms, Political Medievalisms, and Critical Mediations.  Proposals should be sent before September 15, 2014.

MEMO: Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organization: Kalamazoo 2015 Call for Papers. May 14-17, 2015. International Conference on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, US. Further details on two sessions: Playing Medieval: A Festive Video Game Workshop and Poster Session and on a paper session, The Neomedieval Image. Proposals should be sent by September 15, 2014.

And finally, here is the most recent call for papers I’ve received for an event at The Ohio State University’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, focusing on Tolkien. Of course, almost any conference on Tolkien qualifies as a study in medievalism since a sense of medieval languages, genres, histories pervades his work. And any conference on medievalisms, such as the ones listed above, could potentially include work on Tolkien too.

There and Back Again: Tolkien in 2015 at The Ohio State University February 20-21, 2015.  Second annual conference on Popular Culture and the Deep Past, with a focus on Tolkien and especially The Hobbit for 2015. This will be an academic conference that is “nested in a broader ‘carnival’ of popular and traditional cultural events and activities.” Proposals for both academic and non-academic presentations are requested by October 1, 2014.

 

Tolkien and medievalism sessions, K’zoo 2015

29 Sunday Jun 2014

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

The International Congress on Medieval Studies has released a preview of the sessions that have been approved for the 2015 conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You can find the full information for each call for papers on the Congress sessions page. While there are hundreds of sessions on medieval topics, I have listed the ones that deal with Tolkien specifically and with medievalisms more generally. The deadline for submissions is in September, but many sessions are filled well before that date, so if you’re interested in submitting a proposal, the sooner the better.

First, the sessions specifically dealing with Tolkien:

  • The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group, organized by Brad Eden, has had three sessions approved:
    1. Tolkien’s Beowulf
    2. Tolkien and Medieval Victorianism
    3. Tolkien as Linguist and Medievalist
  • Brad is also the organizer of a readers’ theater performance of Tolkien’s Beowulf and “Sellic Spell” and  the continuing series of “Maidens of Middle-earth: Turin’s Women.”
  • “Tolkien as Translator and Translated” is a special session organized by Judy Ann Ford.
  • Doug Anderson is the organizer of a roundtable discussion on “Christopher Tolkien as Medieval Scholar.”

Other sessions that deal with medievalisms:

  • The Tales after Tolkien Society is organizing two sessions:
    1.  From Frodo to Fidelma: Medievalisms in Popular Genres (A Roundtable)
    2.  Martin and More: Genre Medievalisms.
  • postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies is offering “Quantum Medievalisms” (A Roundtable).
  • Alexandra Garner is organizing a special session: “Modernizing the Medieval for a New Generation: Medievalism in Young Adult and Children’s Literature.”
  • C. S. Lewis Society, Purdue University and the Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis and Friends, Taylor University has two sessions:
    1. Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: Sources, Influences, Revisions, Scholarship
    2. Phantom Limb: The Presence of the Problem of Pain in the Works of C. S. Lewis
  • a special session / poetry reading, “Medieval Poetry / Modern Poets” organized by Gerard P. NeCastro.
  • And finally, although this special session has nothing to do with Tolkien, I wanted to mention the workshop that will be conducted by well-known Tolkienist and astronomy professor Kristine Larsen: “A hands-on introduction to astrolabes.”

Kalamazoo blogs and videos

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Conferences, Medieval, Medievalisms, Tolkien

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kalamazoo campus swan pondIf you regret not being able to go to the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan (or you just didn’t get to all the sessions you wanted, or you want to review the ones that you did attend), I’ve collected some blog posts and videos that might give you a taste of the kinds of topics that were discussed. This conference is huge, with over 500 sessions in all fields of medieval studies, so my list is not representative, but the following links will lead you to a few summaries of presentations and in some cases, even entire conference papers.

I’ll start with the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions. Although I sometimes write up summaries of Tolkien conference sessions for this blog, this year Andrew Higgins has done the work with an excellent “Kalamazoo 2014 Round-Up” for the Tolkien Society.

Kisha Tracy also commented on the Fall of Arthur session, as well as other Thursday presentations on the Mass Medieval blog.

Kalamazoo 2014Moving away from the Tolkien sessions, you can sample some of the following:

  •  Anticipations of the conference experience: “Kalamazoo Rendezvous” by Kisha Tracy on Mass Medieval.
  • J.P. Sexton and Kisha Tracy on Mass Medieval describe their experiences in various sessions on each day of the conference, including topics such as disability studies, Celtic studies, the Anglo-Scandinavian world, teaching history of the English language, and more. Days 1-2; Thursday; Friday and another Friday report; and Saturday.

Kalamazoo spring 2014The Babel Working Group sponsored a session on punctuation, and some of the presentations are available in their entirety:

  • Jonathan Hsy:  “&.”  Guest post on Mass Medieval.
  • Josh Eyler:  “, (A Breath).” Guest post on Mass Medieval.

Kzoo 2014Medievalists.net also published a few Kalamazoo features. First, two presentations on video:

And two reports:

And finally, a video with John France, Elizabeth Koza and Danielle Trynoski discussing personal highlights of the conference in “The Medievalverse Roundtable from Kalamazoo.”

Added May 22:

  • Heather Rose Jones has posted a series in which she was “Live-blogging Kalamazoo” including sessions on Dress and Textiles, Latin Homoerotics, Medieval Magic, Warrior Women in Medieval Eurasia, Merlin’s Colleagues, and more.

Added May 23:

  • Yvonne Seale’s summaries of various sessions including Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age, Colette of Corbie, Advances in Medieval Archaeology, Beyond Medieval Women and Power, The Afterlives of Medieval Women, and the plenary on The Libel of the Lamb, on her blog, Furta Sacra.

Added May 25:  Megan Arnott’s recap of various Anglo-Saxon and Norse sessions and one on Harry Potter on her blog, The Modern Historian, the Canadian Medievalist, and other such Oxymorons

Added May 27:  not exactly a blog post but a webpage for Kristine Larsen’s Intro. to the Astrolabe workshop (see below):  Using Astrolabes: Resources for Medievalists and the Astronomers Who Love Them.  The page includes a link to the workshop handout and promises more how-to guides and sample problems over the summer.

Added May 28:

  • Rick Godden has added the text of his talk for the Disability Studies and Digital Humanities roundtable in “Humanities Accessed” as well as the conclusion to his paper “Prosthetic Neighbors: Enabling Community in the Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.” in “Kalamazoo paper, in closing” on his blog, Parasynchronies.

Added May 29:  Jonathan Hsy’s look back on twitter use at Kzoo 2014, focusing on the usefulness and transformative value of twitter for medievalists (and all academics):  “#medievaltwitter revisited: #kzoo2014 (BuzzFeed-style wrap-up)” on In the Middle.

Added June 4:

  • Laura Saetveit Miles has posted her talk, “Once and Future Feminism” on In the Middle. Her talk was part of the “Writing the Middle Ages for Multiple Audiences” panel. (See the link above for David Perry’s paper from that session).

Added June 6:

Added June 10:  A brief summary of the session on “Gower and Science at ICMS 2014″ on The Gower Project blog.

Any other links that can be added to this list?

Intro to the astrolabe, Kzoo 2014

Intro to the astrolabe, with astronomer Kristine Larsen teaching a packed audience.

Kzoo astrolabe