Columbia Global Centers | Paris (Reid Hall)
5-6 November 2018
Due: 14 May 2018
Methods in the Analysis of Medieval and Renaissance Images: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
The study of medieval and Renaissance images is no longer the exclusive domain of art historians. Today, it stands at the crossroads of several disciplines that take their own approaches to visual material. The impact of historical anthropology has also opened up new methodological perspectives favoring more thorough consideration of social and cultural contexts. With the increasing number of publications in history, literature and musicology focused on images, has emerged the need to redefine the scope and the implications of the methods employed in the analysis of images.
The aim of this international, interdisciplinary workshop is to establish a methodological and historiographical dialogue among specialists in various areas of medieval and Renaissance studies whose research relies on the analysis of images. This two-day workshop will bring together selected MA and Ph.D. students from Columbia and Paris 1 (in art history, history, literature, musicology, and other fields) to present their work in progress in a closed workshop that will offer young scholars the opportunity to reflect collectively on their working methods. Senior scholars will provide detailed commentaries and responses, and will present their own papers, to which the students will respond. Each 30-minute paper will be precirculated to participants. The languages of presentation will be English and French.
The workshop will address questions such as the following: what does the study of images bring to research on the Middle Ages or Renaissance, in any discipline, and how does it affect the interpretation of nonvisual sources? How do approaches to and understandings of visual materials in art history compare to the use of textual or musical sources in musicology, history, and literature? What is the role of traditional iconography in this research and, more generally, how does it make use of scholarship on images and visual studies?
The workshop will provide a rare opportunity to reflect collectively and explicitly on methods of analysis and interpretation from various disciplinary perspectives. Drawing on all the senses of the French word “enjeux” (“implications”), we will explore the implications of images in and of themselves and the broader methodological implications of using visual materials in humanities research.
All Columbia participants’ travel to Paris and lodging will be covered by the grant.
The workshop will include lunch and dinner on both days.
Location:
Columbia Global Centers | Paris
4 rue de Chevreuse
75006 Paris
Organizers:
Susan Boynton (Columbia University) and Anne-Orange Poilpré (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne). The workshop is made possible by the Alliance Joint Project – Grant 20.
Eligibility:
MA and PhD students at Columbia in the humanities pursuing research in medieval or Renaissance studies
Applications will consist of the following materials:
1. A 5-page summary of the proposed paper, indicating clearly the methodological implications in relation to images, with a bibliography (one file)
2. A curriculum vitae (one file)
Application deadline: May 14, 2018
Send applications by email to Susan Boynton ([email protected]) and Anne-Orange Poilpré ([email protected]); send applications to both addresses.
Decisions will be communicated by July 1, 2018.
The papers must be written and sent (with illustrations) to the organizers before October 1, 2018. The texts should be limited to about 3200 words (not including footnotes).