Proposals are invited for papers for a conference on International Medievalisms in June 2019 in the Arts and Humanities Institute at Maynooth University. In 2014, Louise D’Arcens and Andrew Lynch defined international medievalism as ‘a domain of cultural practice in which geographical, cultural, and temporal demarcations are brought into question’. The aim of this conference is to take a broad chronological view of medievalism as a cross-cultural and transnational practice, from its earliest stages during the Reformation to recent online ‘banal medievalism’ (Andrew Elliott, 2017). It will explore the ways in which members of (imagined) communities and cultural groupings have made use and mis-use of apparently medieval texts, images, and ideas which are associated, or perceived to be associated, with the pasts of other communities, regions, or nations. The conference aims to chart and debate international medievalisms from a variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives including literature, languages, architecture, and the visual arts. Topics could include, but are not limited to:
Methodologies and approaches
· is medieval reception inherently cross-cultural?
· popular and/or scholarly international medievalisms
· religious and cultural approaches to international medievalisms
· medievalisms and postcolonial theory
· international architectural medievalisms
Does place matter?
· global medievalisms
· international (mis)use of medieval imagery
· temporal and geographical alterity
· the impact of Eurocentric medievalisms
· country-specific approaches
From chapbooks to the internet
· cyclical medievalisms
· early international medievalisms
· Reformation medievalism
· period-specific approaches
· international medievalisms and the contemporary world
· international medievalisms in the visual arts
Papers should be 30 minutes in duration. Proposals should include name, affiliation, and contact details (including email address) for all authors, as well as a brief (max. 200 words) abstract and paper title. Please send all proposals to international.medievalisms@gmail.com by 15th December 2018. All general enquiries should be sent to the same address.