Medieval and Early Modern Studies Newsletter 10.15.21

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:48:02 -0400

The MEMS monthly e-newsletter shares information about events, conferences, calls for papers, student and faculty work in the field, and digital resources that enrich our understanding of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. If you have questions about the minor, get in touch with Co-Directors Professor Amy Froide (froide@umbc.edu) and Professor Susan McDonough. If you have any items you would like to share in the newsletter, please send them to Laurel Bassett at lburgg1@umbc.edu by the 13th of each month.

MEMS EVENTS

Monday, November 1, 12:15 PM, Online. Law and Order in Ancient Rome and Beyond: a return of Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns!

Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns are opportunities for professors working in Medieval and Early Modern Studies to informally share their work through brief presentations followed by Q and A sessions. Our first Lunch and Learn of the school year will be led by Dr. Molly Jones-Lewis in Ancient Studies.

Law & Order in Ancient Rome and Beyond

You probably know that Roman Law formed the basis for modern European law, but what was that law like? How do we know what it was, and what can it tell us about law today? This will be a crash course in the way Romans tried to regulate their society with an interactive hypothetical case that we’ll work through together. Be prepared for traffic drama, murderous barbers, and sketchy doctors with questionable business models!

Join on Webex:

Join Webex meeting

ID: 26244251493
Password: uWqcDMpX336

(US) +1 202-860-2110 (toll)

Access code: 2624 425 1493

26244251493@umbc.webex.com

Stay tuned for more on our next virtual Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learn on December 1 with Dr. Timothy Phin!

ON CAMPUS EVENTS

Tuesday, October 26, 6 PM in Fine Arts 424. Screening of The VVitch (The Witch), A New England Folktale

The History Department and the Human Context of Science and Technology Program will host a screening and discussion with Dr. Bonneau of The VVitch, a film set in 1630s New England. In the film, panic and despair envelop a farmer, his wife and their young children when their youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin, the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings Mercy and Jonas suspect Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan’s faith, loyalty and love to one another.

Masks are required for this event.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Wednesday, October 20, 6 PM, Online. The Folger Shakespeare Library presents: Early Music Seminar: Henry Purcell and Music of 17th-Century London

Folger Consort Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein leads a lively seminar that offers a sneak peek at the music in the Folger Consort’s upcoming concert Henry Purcell and Music of 17th-Century London.

AND

Friday, October 22, 8 PM, Online (streaming through June 30). The Folger Shakespeare Library presents the Concert: Henry Purcell and Music of 17th-Century London

Folger Consort celebrates the musical treasures of Restoration London and its leading composer, Henry Purcell. The program also includes earlier instrumental works, such as the rarely-performed suites of William Lawes and Matthew Locke which foreshadow the intricacy of Purcell’s instrumental music, and vocal selections illustrating the various styles of songwriting popular in 17th-century London.

For information on both events: https://www.folger.edu/events/early-music-seminar-henry-purcell-and-music-of-17th-century-london

Friday, October 22, 12 PM CST, Online. The Newberry Center for Renaissance Studies presents: The Launch of Trans Historical: Gender Plurality Before the Modern

This virtual roundtable celebrates the launch of Trans Historical: Gender Plurality Before the Modern (Cornell University Press, 2021), a multidisciplinary edited collection that explores the politics, poetics, and aesthetics of trans histories prior to modernity. The book argues for an expansive understanding of trans pasts and foregrounds a range of methodologies that acknowledge the plurality of gender experiences in early sources and material records. Essays highlight pre-normative understandings of gender that flourished in the medieval and early modern worlds in a wide range of locations from colonial North America to Renaissance Poland, from Byzantine and Ottoman Greece and Turkey to Korea. For more information about this program, including a list of speakers and a link to register, please visit the even calendar page here: https://bbox.blackbaudhosting.com/webforms/linkredirect?srcid=33846346&srctid=1&erid=2088239324&trid=e9413f04-e556-4b4a-ac5b-2c948e7051a8&linkid=254068980&isbbox=1&pid=0

November 4, 5:30-6:30 PM, Online. The Walters Art Museum presents: Mapping Indigenous and African-American Stories

Join Ashley Minner and Vince Leggett in conversation with Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr. Associate Curator of the Art of the Americas, as they discuss the importance of mapping cultural sites and the strategy of using maps to confront the erasure and colonial whitewashing of Indigenous and Native Cultures. For more information on the presenters and how to access the talk, see: https://thewalters.org/event/mapping-stories/

PUBLICATIONS

Congratulations to Dr. McDonough on Her New Article! Check out her publication in Gender and History

This is Dr. McDonough’s first publication on her new project on prostitutes in the medieval Mediterranean with more still to come. Based in archival research from Barcelona, Marseille, Valencia and Palermo, this article argues for a reconsideration of the gendering of the medieval Mediterranean. It focuses on prostitutes and their movement to and from Mediterranean port cities and queries how they used the institutions of the law courts and the notariat to integrate themselves into the everyday workings of the city. The article concludes with a call to rethink whose movement counts in the medieval Mediterranean when scholars think of the region as a whole. Access the article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12574

PAPERS AND CONFERENCES

Moravian Undergraduate Conference in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Dec 4, 2021.

This in-person conference will be held on Moravian’s campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They welcome contributions from students in explorations of connections to the period between approx.. 500 C.E. and 1800 C.E. These contributions could take the form of papers, panels, poster presentations or artistic performances. Registration and proposal submissions will open October 1 and be handled via the conference website. The conference will also feature a display of illuminated medieval manuscripts and an early-music concert. For more information, consult www.moravian.edu/medieval or email jrblack@moravian.edu or sandybardsley@moravian.edu.

Call for Proposals Podcast Series: The Multicultural Middle Ages, Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America

Now welcoming proposals for single episodes to be featured in its new podcast series: The Multicultural Middle Ages. The widespread realization of the Middle Ages as a period comprised of a number of economic, material, and intellectual networks of exchange across cultures is long overdue. This podcast aims to build upon the work spearheaded by scholars of color to rectify general understandings of the Middle Ages. This will be a space from which to speak to fellow medievalists and the wider public in order to better inform our audience about the multicultural reality of the Middle Ages and the fact that the study of the medieval period extends well beyond the study of Western Europe. We invite proposals from individuals and collaborators of all ranks and disciplines for single podcast episodes on innovative, thoughtful, and culturally responsible approaches to the study of the Middle Ages that can engage fellow medievalists and the wider public. The GSC will host a series of free workshops in November 2021 to offer an introduction into podcasting. For more information see http://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/. The deadline for submitting proposals is October 24, 2021.

DIGITAL RESOURCES

“Adventures in Libraries: The Present and Future of Medieval Manuscript Studies”

The Newberry’s Center for Renaissance Studies presents a series of recorded conversations exploring the past, present, and future of research, teaching, and learning using archival collections. Participants shared their own paths to working with medieval manuscripts, described the challenges along the way, and considered strategies for making the field more diverse, accessible, and engaging for a variety of publics. You can see the full video here:

https://bbox.blackbaudhosting.com/webforms/linkredirect?srcid=30249079&srctid=1&erid=1910902413&trid=5d4a2b6b-6cd9-4097-b91d-32f3902cadc2&linkid=249773774&isbbox=1&pid=0

“Houston, we have a problem:” Erasing Black Scholars in Old English Literature.”

This article, posted at ACMRS Arizona, details experiences of Black students and professors as they work with premodern texts and grammars. The hyperlinks liberally splashed across this article all take the reader to powerful further research and commentary on the subject.

https://medium.com/the-sundial-acmrs/houston-we-have-a-problem-erasing-black-scholars-in-old-english-821121495dc

Hill Museum and Manuscript Library Creates New Database to Assist Scholars of Understudied Manuscript Traditions

Because of HMML’s focus on materials historically underrepresented in western scholarship, the scale of HMML’s collections, and its investment in preservation technology, HMML is uniquely positioned to build the scholarly infrastructure that currently does not exist for many traditions. This service-focused scholarship will in turn broaden the impact of digital preservation efforts around the world. Created as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the https://haf.vhmml.org/ (HMML Authority File) is an open-access database that will support librarians and scholars around the world to recognize previously unknown contributors to manuscripts; differentiate authors and texts that had been treated homogeneously; reunited separated materials; and trace the migration of handwritten texts across religious traditions and geographic, political, and linguistic divides. For more information, consult: www.HMML.org.

For ongoing digital updates from the Medieval (academic) world, check out #medievaltwitter, #shakeRace, and #raceB4Race.

MASTER OF ARTS PROGRAM

Syracuse University offers a Master of Arts program devoted to the study of Italian Renaissance art, where most of the study is conducted in Italy. It offers highly motivated students an opportunity to carry out advanced, original research grounded in the first-hand examination of art, architecture, and urban settings. Students are offered various levels of financial support, including full tuition fellowships and partial tuition scholarships. The Florence MA Program’s focus is early modern Italian art and students are encouraged to think broadly about the ways in which the visual culture of the period relates to larger Mediterranean and global historical and artistic contexts. The application deadline is January 15. For more information about the Program, go to: https://thecollege.syr.edu/art-music-histories/graduate-programs-art-history/florence-ma-renaissance-art/

For more information, please join the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Group: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems and see our website: www.mems.umbc.edu