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Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns are chances for professors working with the Medieval and Early Modern Studies minors to informally share their work through brief presentations and Q and A. 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!
ID:
26244251493
Password: uWqcDMpX336
Access code: 2624 425 1493
]]>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:
ID:
26244251493
Password: uWqcDMpX336
Access code: 2624 425 1493
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:
“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.
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
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Please join the Ancient Studies department for a week-long celebration of the ancient world!
Tuesday, October 5th, 10am-6pm, PAHB Forum
‘Homerathon’: A Reading of Selections of Homer’s Odyssey. If you would like to read, please contact Dr. Kutner (mabailey@umbc.edu).
Wednesday, October 6th, 7-9pm, PAHB 132
Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, Student and Faculty Reading of the Play
The Lysistrata is Aristophanes' best known comedy. It dramatizes how the women of Greece band together to go on a sex strike and take control of the Athenian Acropolis to achieve reconciliation between Athens and Sparta and an end to the Peloponnesian War. Limited in-person capacity. If you would like to attend, please email Emily Hubbard ehubbard@umbc.edu. If you are interested in reading, please contact Dr. Rosenbloom (dsrose@umbc.edu).
Thursday, October 7th, 4pm, AOK library gallery
ANCS Week Keynote Lecture by Dr. Duane W. Roller, Professor Emeritus of Classics, Ohio State University, “Cleopatra: the Most Famous Woman of Classical Antiquity.” Co-sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities. For more information, including remote access details, visit the web page https://dreshercenter.umbc.edu/events/upcoming/current-humanities-forum/event/95190/.
Limited in-person capacity. If you would like to attend, please email Emily Hubbard ehubbard@umbc.edu. The lecture will also be live-streamed.
Friday, October 8th, 11am-2pm, PAHB 2nd floor Lobby
Exhibition of the Department of Ancient Studies’ Spiro Collection of Antiquities
]]>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.
“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:
“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.
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.
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
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