Conferences, Calls for Papers, and Special Events

Call for Papers
Gender and Transgression in the Middle Ages
23rd- 24th April 2010

We are pleased to announce a call for papers to Gender and Transgression 2010, a two-day interdisciplinary postgraduate conference hosted by the St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Now in its third year, the conference aims to create a lively and welcoming forum for postgraduate students and academic staff to build contacts, present research and participate in creative discussion on the topics of gender and transgression in the Middle Ages. We are especially keen to explore the ways in which these topics, frequently studied in reference to points of rupture or breakdown, may also be discussed in their relation to growth and change in the past.
We invite speakers working in the areas of History, Language, Literature, Art History, Theology, Philosophy, and any other relevant discipline to submit proposals for papers of approximately 20 minutes in length which engage with the themes of gender and/or transgression in the mediaeval period. This year’s keynote speaker will be Emeritus Professor R I Moore (School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle), author of The Birth of Popular Heresy (1975), The Formation of a Persecuting Society (1987), and The First European Revolution (2000).
Possible topics for papers might include, but are by no means limited to:
How may concepts of gender and/or transgression have been significant in mediaeval contexts?
In what ways do these categories of analysis affect our study of religious (both ortho- and heterodox), social, economic or political history?
Can transgression be seen as a constructive force in the Middle Ages?
To what extent can the analytical categories of gender and transgression be usefully combined?
Against what did mediaeval people transgress? (a point raised at the 2009 conference by keynote speaker Professor John Arnold)
All delegates are invited to attend an evening meal after the first day’s sessions. Refreshments will be provided throughout the second day, which will conclude with an informal roundtable discussion and wine reception. Please send abstracts for papers of approximately 300 words to: HYPERLINK "mailto:genderandtransgression@st-andrews.ac.uk" genderandtransgression@st-andrews.ac.uk.
The deadline for submission is 14th February 2010.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims/Gender%202010.html

Studium Conference: Sacred Space and their Cities

An international conference, Tours (France), 10-12 June, 2010
Keynote speaker: Maureen Miller, University of California Berkeley

The history of many European cities was shaped by one or more saintly figures whose ties to the city—real or imagined—had both spiritual and tangible consequences. The topography of the city, its economy, its institutions, its liturgy, its reputation, and even its inhabitants’ sense of civic pride, could all be shaped by and were dependent upon an idiosyncratic understanding of the saint’s association with the city. The figure of the bishop-saint, moreover, bestowed with extraordinary spiritual and temporal prerogatives, represents a distinctive type which this conference seeks to address. What was his impact on religious, political, and cultural practices and institutions in a given city? What are some of the privileges associated with promoting his cult? In what ways do local claims on the bishop-saint evince tensions on a regional/national level or between elites and the masses? Possible perspectives on these and other related issues may include, but are not restricted to, liturgy, music, hagiography, art history, theology, history, and paleography.
The conference organizers are soliciting abstracts for individual papers and proposals for complete sessions for its 2010 Conference, and are inviting scholars from a wide variety of disciplines to offer their perspectives on issues coinciding with the Conference’s theme. Ideally, papers will deal with different parts of Europe and address periods ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. Abstracts in French or English of 300 words or less for a 20-minute paper should be emailed to Christine Bousquet (Christine.bousquet@univ-tours.fr) or to Yossi Maurey (ymaurey@mscc.huji.ac.il) no later than 30 January, 2010. Authors of accepted papers will be responsible for their own travel costs and conference registration fee (reduced for students and post-docs).
The conference is sponsored by the Université François-Rabelais de Tours, and by Le Studium
Program committee: Christine Bousquet (University of Tours), Yossi Maurey (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem/ Le Studium).

Source:http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/medieval/conferences.html