Monthly Archives: June 2015

Netherlandish Art and Luxury Goods in Renaissance Spain – Call For Papers

Netherlandish Art and Luxury Goods in Renaissance Spain
University of Leuven, Belgium
4-6 February, 2016

Conference Website

Trade, Patronage and Consumption International conference Initiated and organized by Illuminare – Centre for the Study of Medieval Art | KU Leuven http://www.illuminare.be

In 2010, Illuminare – Centre for the Study of Medieval Art (KU Leuven) acquired the archive of the eminent Belgian art historian professor Jan Karel Steppe (1918-2009). Steppe is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking research on the influx of Netherlandish art and luxury goods in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain. By springtime 2016, his documentation will be archived and the inventory made accessible online. To celebrate this accomplishment, Illuminare is organizing an international conference on Steppe’s long-term and much loved research topic. This conference will focus on a large variety of media, ranging from painting and tapestry to broadcloth and astrolabes. Special attention will be paid to the driving forces behind this export-driven market, such as artists, patrons, collectors and merchants. By taking into account cultural, religious, political and socio-economic dynamics, this conference aims to shed new light on the multifaceted artistic impact of the Low Countries on the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. We welcome 20-minute papers by established and early career scholars that revisit or expand Steppe’s topics of research and, equally important, enhance these with recent methodologies and theoretical frameworks.

The official language of the conference is English, although papers in French might be taken into consideration. Proposals of no more than 300 words and a brief CV should be submitted to drs. Robrecht Janssen (robrecht.janssen@arts.kuleuven.be) and drs. Daan van Heesch (daan.vanheesch@arts.kuleuven.be) by the 1 October, 2015.

Speakers will be invited to submit their papers for a peer-reviewed publication on the topic.

Eighteen: Poems from the Greek Anthology – Limited Edition Publication

Brendan O’Brien of Fernbank Press in Wellington returns to Dunedin as University Library Printer in Residence, University of Otago. Brendan will spend a month in the Otakou Press Room, University Library, hand-printing a limited edition of 100 copies of 18 poems and epigrams translated from the fourth-century Greek Anthology by the current poet laureate, Vincent O’Sullivan. The work is titled Eighteen: Poems from the Greek Anthology.

In addition, the work will be illustrated by Barry Cleavin, one of New Zealand’s best known artist-engravers. Both O’Sullivan and Cleavin now live in Dunedin; an exciting collaboration is envisaged.

When not hand-printing, Brendan is curatorial technician in the Conservation Department of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. He was last here as Printer in Residence in 2005, when he printed Ralph Hotere’s PINE and Joanna Paul’s access to lilac.

Orders are now being taken for this limited edition publication, which will retail at $150.00 (incl gst). Please contact Dr. Donald Kerr for any further information:

Dr. Donald Kerr
Special Collections Librarian, University of Otago
P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
Phone: (03) 479-8330
Email: donald.kerr@otago.ac.nz

University of Toronto: Assistant Professor (Early Modern Latin America and Spanish World) – Call For Applications

Assistant Professor (Early Modern Latin America and Spanish World)
University of Toronto

Location: Ontario
Job Field: Contractually Limited Term (Professoriate)
Faculty / Division: Faculty of Arts and Science
Department: History
Campus: St. George (downtown Toronto)
Reference: 1500692
Job Closing: July 20, 2015 Open Until Filled

The Department of History, University of Toronto, invites applications for a two-year contractually-limited term appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in the history of Early Modern Latin America and the Spanish World. The expected start date of the appointment is August 15, 2015, ending on June 30, 2017.

The successful candidate will be expected to teach courses ranging from a first year survey through a fourth year seminar. Preference will be given to candidates who can teach both the Spanish Atlantic and the Spanish Pacific worlds.

Evidence of excellence in teaching and research is required. Candidates with demonstrated excellence in teaching, at both the introductory and upper-level undergraduate levels, are of particular interest.

Applicants should have a Ph.D. in History by the time of appointment or shortly thereafter; university teaching experience in the area of early modern Latin America and the Spanish world, with strong teaching evaluations; and an established or emerging record of scholarly accomplishment, as evidenced by refereed publications, conference presentations, and grants and awards.

Salary will be commensurate with the successful candidate’s qualifications and experience.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply online by clicking on the link https://utoronto.taleo.net/careersection/10050/jobdetail.ftl?job=1500692. If you have questions about this position, please contact history.chair@utoronto.ca. All application materials should be submitted online.

Complete applications will include:

  1. a curriculum vitae;
  2. a cover letter of no more than 2 single-spaced pages;
  3. a two-page statement explaining your teaching philosophy, and a proposal for a “dream” course intended for advanced undergraduates;
  4. one writing selection of no more than 30pp. (for example, an article, conference paper or excerpt drawn from a dissertation chapter); finalists without a PhD in hand may be requested to submit their a copy of their completed dissertations;
  5. the names and e-mail addresses of three referees. Three letters of reference should be sent under separate cover by the July 16, 2015 deadline, preferably as signed PDF documents on letterhead to Heidi Berry at history.chair@utoronto.ca (with “Latin America Search” and the applicant’s name in the subject line).

The committee will begin to review applications on July 20, 2015 and the position will remain open until filled.

Submission guidelines can be found at: http://uoft.me/how-to-apply. We recommend combining attached documents into one or two files in PDF/MS Word format.

For more information about the History Department, please visit http://www.history.utoronto.ca.

The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to further diversification of ideas.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and Permanent Residents will be given priority.

University of Liverpool: Three Lectureships in History – Call For Applications

Lecturer in Early Modern History, University of Liverpool
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Histories, Languages and Cultures

Location: University Campus

Ref: A-588119/WWW

Closing date for receipt of applications: Friday, 3 Jul, 2015 17:00:00 BST.

We are seeking to appoint up to 3 Lecturers in History, with specialisations in the History of Slavery, Early Modern History, or Modern European History, respectively. You will have a PhD in History or a relevant discipline and a strong publication record. Experience of teaching in Higher Education at undergraduate level is essential and teaching experience at postgraduate level is desirable.

For full information and to apply, please visit: http://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/academic/a-588119.

Heaven, Hell, and Little Rock – Call For Papers

“Heaven, Hell, and Little Rock”
Forty-First Annual Conference Southeastern Medieval Association
Little Rock, AR
October 22-24, 2015

You are cordially invited to participate in the 2015 meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association. This year’s meeting will take place at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock, Arkansas on Thursday, October 22, 2015 through Saturday, October 24, 2015, and is sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas.

The theme of this year’s meeting is “Heaven, Hell, and Little Rock,” in celebration of a host of anniversaries celebrated this year (the Fourth Lateran Council, the 750th anniversary of Dante’s birth, the burning of Jan Hus, the signing of the Magna Carta). We welcome submissions and encourage panels related to these anniversaries or on other medieval topics.

Further, recognizing the pivotal role that Little Rock, this year’s conference location, played in the American civil rights movement, we would like to encourage for this conference an emphasis on the “Other” Middle Ages, and encourage panels on East Asia, South Asia, and Islam at the time of the European Middle Ages, as well as panels on the “Other” within medieval Christendom (e.g., Jews and other non-Christians, Norse encounters with “Skraelingas,” or the treatment of the disabled, diseased, sexually “deviant,” or “mad” in Christian society).

In addition, this year’s meeting will include several sessions devoted to undergraduate research. Please encourage students who have done especially good work to submit abstracts. Please submit proposals for sessions and individual papers using the link at http://goo.gl/forms/KDyCGVPqoN no later than July 1, 2015.

Plenary Speakers:

Dr. Peter S. Hawkins of the Yale Divinity School (author of Dante’s Testaments: Essays on Scriptural Imagination and Dante: A Brief History among others) will give a plenary address called “Dante’s ‘Other’: Thinking outside the Christian Box.”

Dr. Thomas A. Fudge of the University of New England (author of Heresy and Hussites in Late Medieval Europe and The Trial of Jan Hus: Medieval Heresy and Criminal Procedure, among others) will give a plenary address on Hus and his martyrdom.

Dr. Stephen Owen of Harvard University (author of The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860) and The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry among others) will give a plenary address on Tang poetry and culture.

The Thomas Nashe Project, at Newcastle University: Research Associate – Call For Applications

Research Associate (3 years) for The Thomas Nashe Project, at Newcastle University

Salary: £28,395 – £29,552

Applications are invited for the post of Research Associate to work at Newcastle University on The Thomas Nashe Project, funded by the AHRC. This is an ambitious programme of scholarly editing, contracted by Oxford University Press. A unique feature of the project is the importance we attach to the performance potential of Nashe’s writing, both his prose fiction and his sole-authored play Summers Last Will and Testament, and thus to the relationship between performed prose and drama.

You will be expected to prepare texts for the editorial team with Professor Jennifer Richards and Professor Joseph Black, and also to edit one of Nashe’s prose writings, which will be published by OUP. You will be expected to maintain the project website, and to support dissemination activities. The successful applicant will be part of a nine-strong editorial team and will also work alongside our partners: The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, The Globe Theatre, London, Norfolk Museums, The Old Palace School, Croydon and King Edward VI School, Stratford.

You will work under the direction of Professor Jennifer Richards, based at Newcastle University in the School of English Literature, Language & Linguistics, and liaise with the general editors: Professor Joseph Black, Professor Andrew Hadfield, and Professor Cathy Shrank.

You will have completed a PhD in English Literature (1500-1700), and be able to demonstrate expertise in prose writing and/or the history of print. It is also essential that you have expertise in textual and bibliographical studies as well as a proven ability to work to a high level of accuracy. You will be expected to have a record of relevant academic publication and experience of working with archives. A working knowledge of Latin is desirable. Experience of liaising, engaging and communicating with both academic and non-academic audiences are also desirable.

The position is full time and is tenable for 36 months from 1 October 2015.

The deadline for applications is July 10, 2015.

Informal enquiries can be made to the Professor Jennifer Richards, tel: 0191 222 7754, e-mail: Jennifer.Richards@ncl.ac.uk. Further information, including on how to apply, can be found on the university website: https://vacancies.ncl.ac.uk/LoginV2.aspx

Blood, Sweat, Tears: Corporeality in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds – Call For Papers [Extended]

Blood, Sweat, Tears: Corporeality in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds
Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies & Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group 21st Annual Conference
The University of Western Australia
12 September, 2015

Conference Website

This one-day conference will explore aspects of embodiment and corporeality in medieval and early modern worlds, both within Europe and between European and non-European cultures.
We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers or ninety-minute panels on the following themes:

  • cultural exchanges and conflict, particularly their material dimensions and repercussions as meetings and mixings of bodies and bloods;
  • social, theological, ethnic, and physiological definitions of bodies and bloods;
  • the formation of metaphorical bodies through affective discourses and discourses of violence;
  • boundaries, bodily integrity, dismemberment, and contagion;
  • somatic expressions of emotion (the force of tears, sweat and blood as tangible emotion);
  • intersections between medical theories and practices relating to humours and effluvia.

We expect to publish a collection of essays from this conference.

Submissions for individual papers should include a paper title, a c.300-word abstract, participant’s name, affiliation (if any), email address, and audio/visual requirements. Submissions for panels should include a panel title and brief description, the name and affiliation of the panel chair (if one is being provided), paper titles, 300-word abstracts, participants’ names, affiliations and contact details for individual papers within the panel, and audio/visual requirements.

Please email submissions to Dr Joanne McEwan joanne.mcewan@uwa.edu.au by the extended deadline of 31st July 2015.

The Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group is able to offer a limited number of bursaries (up to AUS$500) to Honours students, postgraduate students and unwaged Early Career Researchers who would like to present papers at the “Blood, Tears, Sweat: Corporeality in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds” conference. These bursaries are intended partially to reimburse costs associated with attending the conference. Bursary application forms are available on the conference website: http://conference.pmrg.org.au. The date of application for travel bursaries is 1st July.

Professor Éric Palazzo, University of Sydney Lecture

“Art Liturgy and the Five Sense in the Middle Ages”, Professor Éric Palazzo (University of Poitiers)

Date: 13 July, 2015
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Venue: The Kevin Lee Room, University of Sydney

A presentation by Éric Palazzo, Professor at the Center for Advanced Studies of Medieval Civilisation, University of Poitiers (France) and former Fellow of the Getty Research Institute. His publications include a recent volume on L’invention chrétienne des Cinq Sens (Paris, 2014), A History of Liturgical Books from the Beginning to the Thirteenth Century (English ed., 1998), L’espace rituel et le sacré dans le christianisme. La liturgie de l’autel portatif dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Âge (Turbnhout, 2008).

For further information, visit: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/history/about_us/events.shtml?id=3700

University of Cambridge: Osborn Fellowship and College Lectureship in Early Medieval History and Culture – Call For Applications

Osborn Fellowship and College Lectureship in Early Medieval History and Culture
University of Cambridge – Sidney Sussex College

Location: Cambridge
Salary: £23,386 to £34,233
Hours: Full Time
Contract Type: Contract / Temporary

The College wishes to appoint a committed teacher and active researcher to the Osborn Fellowship and College Lectureship in Early Medieval History and Culture. This Fellowship was created by virtue of the generous benefaction of Sidney alumnus, John Osborn, to support teaching and research in medieval history, with a preference for the period to c. 1250.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of academic research at the postdoctoral level, and will be able to contribute actively to the College’s teaching of the History Tripos and Classical Tripos.

The Fellowship is a 5-year fixed-term appointment with effect from 1st September 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. The stipend will be on a scale ranging from point 32 to point 45 on the University’s single salary spine depending on experience (currently £23,386 to £34,233) and the position is pensionable under the Universities’ Superannuation Scheme.

The person appointed will be expected to supervise for 240 hours over the three terms of the academic year, and to share responsibility for Direction of Studies in History. The Fellow takes part in the undergraduate admission process, participating in open days and interviewing. The Fellow’s teaching will include both supervisions for Sidney undergraduates, and those offered to students of other colleges. In addition, the Fellow may be asked to undertake other College offices, such as a Tutorship, for which there would be additional remuneration.

An application form, further particulars, information about History in Cambridge and in Sidney, and details of how to apply for the post can be downloaded from: http://www.sid.cam.ac.uk/aboutus/personnel

Please submit your application, and arrange for your referees to submit their references, by e-mail: to jobs@sid.cam.ac.uk by the closing date of noon on Tuesday 7 July 2015 at the latest. Interviews will be held on Friday 10th July 2015.

Dr Dominique Stutzmann, University of Sydney Lecture

“Why can’t computer real old scripts and why does it matter. Historical document image analysis and cultural history of script”, Dr Dominique Stutzmann (École Pratique des Hautes Études and Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes)

Date: Wednesday 24 June
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Venue: Kevin Lee Room, Level 6, Lobby H, Quadrangle Building A14, The University of Sydney
Enquiries: Dr Hélène Sirantoine: helene.sirantoine@sydney.edu.au

Written texts are both abstract and physical objects: ideas, signs and shapes, whose meanings and graphical systems and social connotations evolve through time. Beyond authorship and writer identification or palaeographical dating of textual witnesses, the materiality of text and the connexion between the ideas and their written instantiations are a matter of cultural history, historic se- miology, and history of communication and representations. In the context of large, growing digital libraries of texts and digitized medieval and early modern manuscripts, the question of the cultur- al significance of script and the “dual nature” of texts may at last be addressed. However, computers cannot read old scripts yet, because of their immense diversity and variability. At the same time, diversity and variability have always been key concepts in the Humanities, as a factor of changes and historical evolutions as well as the core phenomenon between normativity, social control and individuali- ty. Variability in written cultures is an issue for communication and literacy studies, linguistics, philology, history, palaeography, diplo- matics, but also psychology and neurosciences.

This paper will give an insight into the several issues and new tech- niques applied in order to let machines cope with older handwrit- ten texts, at each stage of the historical investigation: script classi- fication and taxonomy; identification of formality and variability; identification of signs and texts. Artificial intelligence and machine learning, associated with human-machine interaction, are part of the process of understanding what is written, how it is written and what is the meaning that is conveyed or connoted.

Dr Dominique Stutzmann is a palaeographer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, Paris.