Check the updated list of Medieval Conferences for 2018 – and don’t forget to write to us if we are missing yours!
We aim to mention all major conferences, symposia, workshops with an international focus and covering several days. Don’t hesitate to send us a notice about upcoming conferences organised by medieval societies or associations. However, do note: we don’t post the CfP’s for specific sessions, study days or local conferences for graduate students etc.
2019
MARCH
The Global Turn in Medieval Studies
The Global Turn in Medieval Studies
94th Annual Meeting of Medieval Academy
University of Pennsylvania
07.03.2019 – 09.03.2019
Deadline for CfP: 15.06.2018
The 94th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place in Philadelphia on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The meeting is jointly hosted by the Medieval Academy of America, Bryn Mawr College, Delaware Valley Medieval Association, Haverford College, St. Joseph’s University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Villanova University.
Medievalists across various disciplines are taking a more geographically and methodologically global approach to the study of the Middle Ages. While the Organizing Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies, this year’s conference spotlights the “global turn” in medieval studies. To this end, we encourage session and paper proposals that treat the Middle Ages as a broad historical and cultural phenomenon, encompassing the full extent of Europe as well as the Middle East, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, and beyond. We also invite proposals that explore departures from traditional teleological discourses rooted in national interests, ones that apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods to study a broad array of subjects.
2018
OCTOBER
Transatlantic Perspectives
Transatlantic Perspectives. GEMELA Biennial Conference 2018
A Conference to Be Held Simultaneously at The UNED in Madrid and The College of Charleston, SC, with Live Streamed Plenaries and Business Meeting
25.10.2018 – 27.10.2018
Deadline for CfP: 21.03.2018
We seek individual papers and full panels on any topic related to GEMELA’s mission—women’s cultural production in Iberia or Latin America pre-1800—and particularly on the following conference themes:
· The state of our fields
· Transatlantic, global, and local methodologies
· Digital Humanities resources and methods for research and teaching
Papers may be presented in English or Spanish
Please upload 300-500 word abstracts and 500 word CVs here by March 21, indicating whether you wish to present in Madrid or Charleston
Graduate Students: please submit full papers and 500 word CVs.
Acceptances will be mailed by April 15 and the conference program will be available on the conference website in early May.
Questions? Contact gemela2018@gemela.org
SEPTEMBER
Secrecy and Surveillance in Medieval and Early Modern England
Secrecy and Surveillance in Medieval and Early Modern England13.09.2018 – 14.09 2018
Deadline for CFP: 25.03.2018
JULY
The Micropolitics of Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
The Micropolitics of Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.
2nd Research Forum of the Tübingen Center of Advanced Studies: “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages”
Tübingen, Germany
19.07.2018 – 20.07.2018
Narratives of the age of migrations tend to privilege the large-scale mobility of ethnically denominated groups. Recent research has questioned this focus from many angles and has led to a growing consensus that new approaches are needed which put the large-scale migrations into perspective, integrate other forms of mobility into the picture, and develop a clearer understanding of the social processes involved, both among the mobile groups and individuals as well as within the societies where they arrive. This conference proposes to explore an approach to the age of migrations that takes account of these redirections in scholarship by focusing on the micropolitics of mobility in late antique and early medieval local societies in a broad timeframe from ca. 250 to 900 CE.
By exploring the micropolitics of mobility on a broad basis of case studies we hope to achieve a clearer understanding of a number of key problems in the social history of migration and mobility in the period. Papers are invited from younger as well as established scholars working in all relevant fields (history, archaeology, literature) which discuss these or other related aspects of the micropolitics of mobility. Applicants are requested to submit a short abstract for a paper of 25 minutes, a title, and a short CV by 22 January 2018 to luisa.luiz@altegeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de .
For organizational questions, please contact luisa.luiz@altegeschichte.uni-tuebingen.de, for all other issues write to mischa.meier@uni-tuebingen.de, steffen.patzold@uni-tuebingen.de or sebastian.schmidt-hofner@uni-tuebingen.de.
Grave Concerns: Death, Landscape, and Locality in Medieval Society
Grave Concerns: Death, Landscape, and Locality in Medieval Society
Durham University
13.07.2018 – 15.07.2018
Organised by the Society doe Medieval Archaeology, this conference brings together established and early career researchers working on aspects of death, dying and burial from AD 300-1500 in Britain, Ireland and further afield. The focus is state-of-the-art research on the landscape context of early medieval and medieval funerary rites. Themes include cemetery locations, monumentality and memory and changing approaches to mortuary studies. The conference will take place at Durham University. Keynotes and speakers include: Bonnie Effros, Roberta Gilchrist, Duncan Sayer, Mary Lewis, John Hines, Jean Soulat, Adrian Maldonado, Dries Tys, Jure Šućur and Anouk Bussett. Visit the website for information on registration and payment.
JUNE
Between Heaven and Everyday World. Knowledge and Community from the High Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era
Between Heaven and Everyday World. Knowledge and Community from the High Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era
Stiftungssaal K.0.0.1, University of Klagenfurt/Austria
07.06.2018 – 08.07.2018
Life in a community shapes the cultural expressions of the Middle Ages in manifold ways, be these in literature and the arts, in the religious context, or in the realm of science.
References to knowledge and frequent adaptations of knowledge horizons play a significant role in this; they can support community and can also be of existential relevance when salvation itself is at stake. Consequently, communities rely on coherent stocks of knowledge, on authorities and on tried and tested interpretation models. They are prone to a didactically governed form of controlling knowledge and passing it on, both in the highly abstract sphere of theoretical knowledge and in instances of application-oriented knowledge.
The conference aims to examine the diverse medieval communities – these being urban, political, social, and religious – and their knowledge management, their modes of transferring knowledge, as well as their educational ideals and their systematizing discourses.
Attention will be focused on 1) the arts and sciences, 2) the social and cultural aspects of knowledge (e.g. religious orders, elites), 3) the contemporary methodology and the processes of knowledge organisation, 4) the reflection upon knowledge, 5) transfer activities.
APRIL
Pleasure and Leisure: Toys, Games, and Entertainment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age
Pleasure and Leisure: Toys, Games, and Entertainment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age
15th International Symposium on Medieval and Early Modern Studies
The University of Arizona, Tucson
29.04.2018 – 01.05.2018
Deadline for CfP: 31.01.2018
This is a self-sustaining academic symposium. Participants are expected to secure travel funds and other resources to cover their costs (housing, registration) from their home institution. Registration: $100. This will not only cover the conference, but also provide you with a free copy of the subsequent volume, for which I will do intensive research together with all contributors. Selected papers will be accepted for publication in a planned volume (de Gruyte). Each contributor to the volume will receive a free copy and can negotiate with the publisher reduced prices for any of the volumes in our series. Organizer and Chair: Dr. Albrecht Classen, University Distinguished Professor
aclassen@u.arizona.edu; aclassen.faculty.arizona.edu
Image and Visual Experience in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Image and Visual Experience in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
39th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum
Keene State College, Keene, NH, USA
13.04.2018 – 14.04.2018
Deadline for CFP: Abstract deadline: January 15, 2018, rresenters and early registration: March 15, 2018
The organisers welcome abstracts (one page or less) or panel proposals that discuss images and visual experience in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Papers and sessions, however, need not be confined to this theme but may cover other aspects of medieval and Renaissance life, literature, languages, art, philosophy, theology, history, and music. This year’s keynote speaker is Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture at Harvard University who will speak on “The Diagram Paradigm in the Middle Ages—and Beyond.” All papers presented at this year’s Forum are eligible for inclusion in Selected Proceedings of the 39th Medieval and Renaissance Forum, to be published by Cambridge Scholars Press. Contributors interested in publishing their work in this volume should submit their revised essays by May 15, 2018. Please submit abstracts, audio/visual needs, and full contact information to Dr. Robert G. Sullivan, Assistant Forum Director at sullivan@german.umass.edu.
MARCH
Inside Out: Dress and Identity in the Middle Ages
38th Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, New York
24.03.2018 – 25.03.2018
Deadline for CfP: 15.09.2017
Dress was a primary expression of identity in the European middle age when individuals made strategic choices about clothing and bodily adornment (including hairstyle, jewellery, and other accessories) in order to communicate gender, ethnicity, status, occupation, and other personal and group identities. Because outward appearances were often interpreted as a reliable reflection of inner selves, medieval dress, in its material embodiment as well as in literary and artistic representations, carried extraordinary moral and social meaning, as well as offering seductive possibilities for self-presentation. This conference aims to bring together recent research on the material culture and social meanings of dress in the Middle Ages. Please read more at the website and submit an abstract and cover letter with contact information by September 15, 2017 to Center for Medieval Studies, FMH 405B, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458, or by email to medievals@fordham.edu
New Directions in the Study of Medieval Sculpture
New Directions in the Study of Medieval Sculpture
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK
16.03.2018 – 17.03.2018
The focus on the materiality of medieval sculpture has proven crucial to its study and has expanded our historical understanding of sculpture itself. Whether monumental relief sculpture in stone, wooden sculptures in the round, sculpted altarpieces, ivory plaques or enamelled reliquaries, the possibilities for research on medieval sculpture now extend far beyond the established canon.
Contemporary medieval sculpture studies have opened the field to comparative and inclusive research that embraces the social, performative, gendered and ritual uses of medieval sculpture. This two-day conference provides an opportunity for scholars and students to reflect on the field and ask how do we investigate medieval sculpture today and what might come ‘after’ materiality?
This two-day international conference assesses the state of the field of medieval sculpture, exploring new directions, approaches and technologies for research. The discussion-based format of the conference will provide an opportunity for conversation amongst delegates and speakers. For questions and further information, please contact the conference organiser, Dr Elisa Foster (elisa.foster@henry-moore.org).
FEBRUARY
Reading the Natural World: Perceptions of the Environment and Ecology in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance
Reading the Natural World: Perceptions of the Environment and Ecology in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance
24th Annual ACMRS Conference (2018)
08.02.2018 -10.02.2018
Embassy Suites Phoenix-Scottsdale Hotel, 4415 E Paradise Village Pkwy S, Phoenix, AZ 85032
Deadline for CfP: 01.12.2017
ACMRS invites session and paper proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference to be held February 8-10, 2018 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Scottsdale. We welcome papers that explore any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance and especially those that focus on the general theme of “Reading the Natural World: Perceptions of the Environment and Ecology in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance.” In 2018 we would like to open up our conference to students and members of the general public who may be interested in attending. We are offering a discounted registration rate of $100 for the full conference or $50 for a one-day pass to attendees who are not presenting a paper. The $100 fee includes 2 evening receptions, all conference sessions, a plenary lecture and performance, and all coffee-snack breaks. The one-day pass includes access to all events taking place that day. Email acmrs@acmrs.org with any questions.