Yale University Medieval Studies Program and Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Sessions International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo

Call for Papers: 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies,  western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 9-14, 2022 

Yale University Medieval Studies Program and Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Sponsored Sessions 

We ask that you email abstracts (300 word limit) for 15-minute papers to the session  organizer(s) by September 7, 2021. All interested must also submit proposals through  the Confex system available on the ICMS website (https://icms.confex.com/icms/2022am/ cfp.cgi). Please contact session organizers with any questions. 

Forensic Manuscript Studies 

Organizers: Gina Marie Hurley ([email protected]), Kristen Herdman  ([email protected]), and Raymond Clemens ([email protected]) 

As new scientific approaches are increasingly available to a wider range of scholars, what new  discoveries have been made, and what discoveries are on the horizon? When we can use XRF  and multispectral imaging to see what the naked eye cannot, what previously inaccessible texts  and images come to light? From DNA testing to dendrochronology, forensic techniques are  opening up new interdisciplinary possibilities, allowing scholars to get a fuller picture of the  lives of books at every stage. Scholars can now garner information about the production of the  book from the animal DNA retrieved from parchment to the ingredients used in certain kinds of  ink. Closer examination of dirt and damage can offer a glimpse of how books were actually  used by medieval readers. Lastly, scholars can attend to patterns of circulation and reuse, for  example, in the study of palimpsests. This panel will consider the ways that this new access to  information has revolutionized our approach to book history writ large.  

Returning to the Archives: Perspectives and Experiences Organizer:s Gina Marie Hurley ([email protected]), Katherine Hindley  ([email protected]), and Raymond Clemens ([email protected]) 

As libraries and collections across the world closed during COVID-19, instructors of book and  art history accustomed to teaching with objects were faced with their absence. They rose to the  occasion with creativity and verve: students folded up notebook paper into quartos, practiced  codicology on modern books to better understand medieval ones, and mixed their own ink  using medieval recipes. This panel will consider the following question: after a year of remote  or distanced instruction, what lessons did we learn, and how can we bring them back into the  physical classroom with us? In encountering the affordances of digital teaching platforms,  instructors have learned to understand, assess, and address their limitations. Moreover, these  experiences have taught instructors to be more attentive to issues of access, even as they have  shown curators and instructional specialists that the boundaries of the campus need not define a  boundary around their collection’s use. As access both contracted and expanded, instructors  have used this opportunity to work across collections, reorienting their course materials around  a more global perspective, putting local collections in conversation with ones from around the  world. We invite panelists to share the tools and techniques that they’ve developed, and how  they’ve adjusted them between different teaching modes. We also invite curators and special  collections experts to discuss the ways they’ve facilitated instruction at their university and  well beyond.

Yale University Medieval Studies Program and 

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Sponsored Sessions  (continued) 

Simulating Sacred Space 

Organizers: Kristen Herdman ([email protected]) and Gina Marie Hurley  [email protected]) 

The creation of sacred space is multidimensional: a church is sanctioned not only by its  liturgical use or architectural features, but also by religious authority, communal tradition,  and personal devotion. This intersection is crucial to how a given space is demarcated,  understood, and sacralized. But what of simulated sacred space or sacred objects?  Imaginary pilgrimages, meditations on an absent nail, conjurations constructed by  instruction alone - medieval devotional practice routinely asked the faithful to engage their  mind’s eye. This panel seeks papers that engage with practices, devotional or otherwise,  that address the question of imaginary or virtual sacred space. Some questions papers may  consider include: How are experiences transported across time and space? How are  unattainable objects recreated in the minds of the devout? How does an interest in  recreation and imitation impact liturgical practices or personal devotion? We welcome  papers from all disciplines, geographical regions, and methodologies. 

Rethinking Anachronism in and out of the Middle Ages  

Organizer: Alexander Peña Bethencourt ([email protected]) 

Scholars have often debated the role played by anachronism in medieval thought and  culture. To what extent did pre-modern societies exhibit a sense of separation between past  and present? Are examples of anachronism flaws or features of medieval conceptions and  representations of the past? Some scholars have suggested that debates about medieval  anachronism often perpetuate modern assumptions that “anachronism” is itself an  inherently negative quality. As scholars across medieval studies commit to interrogating  and redefining our own present-day relationships to, and study of, the medieval past, they  often navigate accusations of anachronism themselves. “Rethinking Anachronism” offers a  space for debating the functions, values, and limits of anachronism in the Middle Ages as  well as in modern scholarship. We welcome papers considering innovative theoretical  interventions and geographical and cultural breadth across various disciplines.