It is our pleasure to announce that the Bristol Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS - http://www.bristol.ac.uk/medieval/) will be sponsoring two sessions at the Leeds International Medieval Congress 2018, 2-5 July 2018*.
If you would like to propose a 20-min paper, please make sure to submit your proposal to the session organiser, Dr Benjamin Pohl (benjamin.pohl@bristol.ac.uk), no later than Friday 15 September 2017. All proposals should consist of a paper title, short abstract (250 words max.) and CV.
Session 1 - Memory and the materiality of medieval texts I: Codices and communities
Abstract: This is the first of two related sessions sponsored by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Medieval Studies that together explore the complex and fascinating relationship between memory and the materiality of medieval texts. The session’s thematic focus will be on the various ways in which medieval manuscript codices facilitated, or even created, a sense of community and belonging amongst their users, thanks not only to their textual contents, but also, and particularly, to their material attributes. It is the crucial role of the codex as a physical object and aide-mémoire that will be at the heart of our discussion.
Possible topics might (but do not have to) include:
- The relationships between medieval books and their users
- Cultures of collective reading and memorising
- The use of manuscripts for purposes other than reading
- Manuscripts as objects of performance and veneration
- The relevance of codices as focal points of communal life and identity
- Commemoration based on material experience
- …
Session 2 - Memory and the materiality of medieval texts II: Beyond the book
Abstract: This is the second of two related sessions sponsored by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Medieval Studies that together explore the complex and fascinating relationship between memory and the materiality of medieval texts. The thematic focus of this session will be on material sources and objects other than manuscripts that played a key role in how medieval individuals and/or communities remembered, interpreted and celebrated the past. Particular attention will be paid to the narrative qualities exhibited by these objects, as well as to their potential applications within the context of medieval performative culture, commemoration, celebration and ritual.
Possible topics might (but do not have to) include:
- The interplay between medieval material, visual and textual cultures
- The rendering of texts in material form other than books
- Physical objects and storytelling
- The performative and commemorative qualities of objects
- Material sources as embodiments of the past
- The use of material objects in addition to/in lieu of books
- …