Medieval and Early Modern Studies Newsletter 9.15.21

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 13:11:46 -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 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.

Welcome Back!

The MEMS interdisciplinary minor looks forward to another great year of coursework, informal talks, events, and connections with a broader community of scholarship. You can learn more about the minor at our website: www.mems.umbc.edu and join the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Group at https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems to receive important updates. If you have questions about the minor, get in touch with Co-Directors Professor Amy Froide (froide@umbc.edu) and Professor Susan McDonough (mcdonoug@umbc.edu).

ON CAMPUS EVENTS

September 21, 7:30 PM Matt Nielson Guest Lecture. Shakespeare: Text and Performance. Online

The Department of English hosts Matthew Nielson, a sound designer and composer, who will discuss his work on a Shakespeare production. Based in the Washington, DC Area, Matthew M. Nielson is a Helen Hayes Award winning producer, composer, sound designer, recording engineer, audio post-production engineer, songwriter and orchestrater for Film, TV, Theater, Radio, Web and Music. He was a founding member of the audio theatre company The Audible Group (now Listenably) and he co-found Sound Lab Studios, a premier full-featured audio post-production house as well as The Curious Music Company, a production music library and custom music shop. To attend, please email mosherow@umbc.edu (Dr. Michele Osherow) for a Zoom link to join the ENGL 416/616 class session. Co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

September 16, 12-1 PM, Digital. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies hosts Premodern Critical Race Studies: New Directions

This roundtable brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to discuss new methodologies in premodern critical race studies. Branching from art history, history of the African diaspora, history of medicine in science, European history and more, these scholars will offer new lines of inquiry that enrich premodern critical race studies. Featuring the work of Herman Bennett, Surekha Davies, Cecile Fromont, Pablo F. Gomez and Hannah Murphy, this roundtable will ask: what futures can we imagine for premodern critical race studies with new methodologies and practices? This event is digital and open to the public. To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/premodern-critical-race-studies-new-directions-tickets-165818444431

September 24 at 5 PM: “The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender before Modernity”?

This free online talk by Leah DeVun, Associate Professor, Rutgers University, explores ideas and individuals who allegedly combined or crossed sex or gender categories in Europe from 200-1400 C.E. Focusing on several efforts to categorize sex in medical and naturalist contexts, DeVun looks at how and why efforts to define “the human” so often hinged on ideas about nonbinary sex. In a moment when questions about sex, gender, and identity have become incredibly urgent, this talk casts new light on a complex and often contradictory past. It examines how premodern thinkers contributed to a system of sex and embodiment that both anticipates and challenges modern beliefs about what it means to be male, female—and human. To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-shape-of-sex-nonbinary-gender-before-modernity-tickets-169328234307

September 25 at 5 PM: Premiere Broadcast of Alkemi: Hildgard Refracted. Experimental Chant, Whimsical Videos (available On Demand through October 11)

This Alkemie collaboration features experimental arrangements of the music of 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen, sung and played on old and new instruments-including medieval winds, synthesizers, and electric harp. Pieces are juxtaposed with lighthearted video content created by the performers that explore Hildegard’s medical and mystical writings. Tickets for the digital broadcast can be found at https://www.alkemie.org/

October 1, 12-1 PM CST, Zoom. The Newberry Center for Renaissance Studies presents Looking Forward to Attending to Premodern Women

In fall 2022, Attending to Premodern Women will return with a three-day conference focused on the theme of “Performance” at the Newberry Library. This multidisciplinary “teaser” roundtable on October 1st 2021 showcases four local experts moderated by long-time “Attending” organizer, Merry Weisner-Hanks. These scholars will come together for an invigorating discussion focused on premodern gender, sexuality, and the four thematic pillars of the 2022 conference: “Performing Power,” “Performing Art,” “Performing Gender,” and “Performing Pedagogy and Public Humanities,” with the hopes of inspiring proposals for presentations and workshops for the following fall. To register, complete the form: https://forms.gle/P4YCRStU5wiNwTCy8

October 9, 10:30-12 PM, PST Hybrid. The Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute presents “ American Origins with Dana Velasco Murillo: New Spain’s Nomadic Leaders and the Origins of Early America, 1580-1595”

For nearly four decades (c.1550-1587) nomadic native peoples, collectively called “Cichimecas,” engaged in a violent war of resistance against the colonial state, thwarting Spain’s northward expansion into the regions that eventually became the United States Southwest. This chapter retells the history of the end of the Chichimeca War through the lens of nomadic indigenous leaders. For the virtual url: https://dornsife.usc.edu/events/site/73/37758288437554/emsi-american-origins-with-dana-velasco-murillo/

PAPERS AND CONFERENCES

Call for Papers: ICMS Kalamazoo 2022, sponsored by the Marco Institute for Medieval & Renaissance Studies: “Religious Communities Across Time & Space” Roundtable”

This roundtable offers comparative exploration of premodern religious communities across and within confessional traditions in Europe, Arica, and the Middle East. Central questions include: what tensions and comforts emerged from efforts to live deliberately within global communal systems (oikumene, ummah, ecclesia) and local communities (mosques, monasteries, synagogues)? How did interactions between distinct religious communities contribute to their identities? How did daily practice within religious community shape memory and ethnicity? How did heresy, conversion, or apostasy complicate community? Submit proposals by September 15, 2021 to https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call?fbclid=IwAR3LasmcXVSUp0hpmrV5jEA7yPsODJ2PJWhmBajva-YPKnEQomRsNIHECK8

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

Check out the interactive New York Times article: “What a Tiny Masterpiece Reveals About Power and Beauty” by Jason Farago.

Zoom in and out of the details of a 17th century Mughal miniature, now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and created by an artist called Chitarman. The article also features the work of other medieval manuscript artists and is a terrific experiment in digital storytelling.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/02/arts/design/shah-jahan-chitarman.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

“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

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/

On our website!

Check out videos of:

· Curator Ashley Dimmig’s presentation: Exploring Islamic Manuscripts at the Walters Art Gallery

· MEMS faculty Dr. James Magruder’s presentations on Instrumental to Intellectual: Italian Female Artists, 1600s and Resurrection, Metamorphosis, and the Art of Nature in the Dutch Golden Age.

· MEMS faculty Dr. Paula Maust’s presentation: Imagined Beauty in the Eighteenth-Century Venetian Ospedali Grandi.

http://mems.umbc.edu.

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