CFP: K’zoo sessions (2011)

The Medieval Studies Workshop is sponsoring two sessions at Kalamazoo this year. Please consider submitting an abstract!


Session Descriptions:

1.) Images of Medieval Kingship

This session will explore different approaches to the depiction of kings and
kingship in the Middle Ages. The figures of kings appeared in a range of
European contexts, both visual and textual, including legal documents,
chronicles, architecture, seals, and a wide range of works of art. Representations
of kings and kingship still have much to tell us about the cultural and social
priorities of medieval Europe. This session hopes to examine textual and visual
representations of kings from a range of contexts, asking what these historical
sources might tell us about medieval notions of kingship. We invite papers that
take up the question of how particular representations define kingship, of how
they relate to historical ideals and realities, of how the representation of the
medieval king may have changed over time, and/or how representations of
kings and kingship interacted with other contemporary notions of rulership.

2.) Devotion and Reform in the Middle Ages

This session is geared towards scholars interested in the relationship between
devotion and reform. Medieval reform movements invariably involved changes in
devotional practices as the men and women associated with them tried to
revivify Christian religious life. Although reformers generally sought a return to
earlier traditions, these movements often resulted in devotional innovation as
older notions of religiosity were confronted with new ideas of what it meant to
live as a pious Christian. In this session, we hope to explore how the pursuit of
reform produced changes in devotional practice and, in turn, how the practice of
devotion inflected, and even reinflected reformist ideals and ambitions. We
welcome papers that explore the intersection of devotion and reform in the
Middle Ages, including but not limited to developments in prayer and liturgy,
reading and meditative practices, the visual arts, music, and literary production,
considered from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

If you are interested in presenting at one of these sessions, please send your abstract to tedstam@uchicago.edu along with the Participant Information Form available on the Kalamazoo Congress website (http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html) by WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 15.
Requests for further information may also be directed to tedstam@uchicago.edu.

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