Monthly Archives: September 2015

Getty Foundation Library Research Grants – Call For Applications

Getty Library Research Grants provide partial, short-term support for costs relating to travel and living expenses for scholars whose research requires use of specific collections housed in the Getty Research Institute.

Library Research Grants are intended for scholars of all nationalities and at any level who demonstrate a compelling need to use materials housed in the Research Library, and whose place of residence is more than eighty miles from the Getty Center. Projects must relate to specific items in the library collection.

Library Research Grants are intended to provide partial support for costs relating to travel and living expenses. Grants range from $500 to $2,500, depending on the distance traveled. The research period may range from several days to a maximum of three months.

Complete application materials are now accepted through an online application process only. The next deadline for these grants is October 15, 2015.

For more information, please visit: http://www.getty.edu/foundation/initiatives/residential/library_research_grants.html

CROMOHS: Empires, Beliefs, Emotions: Cross-Cultural Affective Histories, 1400-1900 – Call For Papers

“Empires, Beliefs, Emotions: Cross-Cultural Affective Histories, 1400-1900”
CROMOHS 20 (2015): http://www.fupress.net/index.php/cromohs/issue/current

CROMOHS is an open-access electronic journal, published by Firenze University Press. The advisory and editorial boards have been completely refreshed under the direction of two new editors, Giuseppe Marcocci (University of Viterbo, Italy) and Giovanni Tarantino (University of Melbourne, Australia), and the journal has adopted a new format with monographic sections on challenging and fresh topics in intellectual and cultural history. The aim is to promote methodological debate arising from original and creative dialogue between scholarly traditions, as well as innovative archival inquiries.

Each issue will host a thematic section comprising three research articles, opened by a substantial commissioned piece written by a leading international scholar, which will serve as an historiographical introduction to the general topic. The only language of the journal is English.

The thematic section of the next issue of CROMOHS will be devoted to the intersection between beliefs and emotions in the context of cross-cultural imperial encounters and interactions. The geographical scope is global and the possible chronology ranges from 1400 to 1900. The opening historiographic piece will be offered by Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Given that emotions are determined by context, we might ask to what extent the reconstruction of the language of affect allows us to move beyond the idea of incommensurability among different cultures in a colonial context as well as beyond the limits of Eurocentric approaches. We invite ground-breaking research articles on affective reactions to cultural transformation, to violence and interference in the daily life of native societies, to mission and conversion, to religious confrontation and disputation, as well as on written or iconographic representations of the beliefs and emotions involved in imperial and cross-cultural histories.

Articles should be no more than 7,000 words in length, notes included.

Submissions must be sent no later than March 30, 2016 to: giovanni.tarantino@unimelb.edu.au and/or g.marcocci@unitus.it. Please prepare your essays using the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition (www.chicagomanualofstyle.org), using footnotes rather than endnotes. Authors will be informed as to whether or not their articles have been accepted for publication within two months, following evaluation by two internationally renowned referees. The issue will be published online by late October 2016.

Princeton University: Assistant Professor in Medieval Latin – Call For Applications

The Department of Classics at Princeton University announces a position in medieval Latin at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin in Fall 2016. The successful candidate should combine great scholarly promise with an ability to teach medieval Latin at the undergraduate and graduate levels. S/he will also contribute to teaching and developing interdisciplinary medieval studies courses in translation as well as to our beginning Latin sequence. The field(s) of specialization is open, but teaching and advising responsibilities will cover the entire chronological range of medieval Latin from ca. 400 to 1400 CE. Expertise in paleography and/or textual transmission is desirable.

Interested candidates should apply online at https://jobs.princeton.edu with cover letter, CV, writing sample, and the names of three references. Applicants should ask their referees to write by November 15, 2015.

Review of applications will start November 15, 2015. Applicants who wish to be considered for interviews at the SCS meeting in San Francisco should have all materials submitted by that date.

It is expected that the candidate will have the PhD in hand by September 1, 2016.

This position is subject to the University’s background check policy.

For more information, please visit: https://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=176112456&Title=Assistant%20Professor

Dr Anna Corrias and Dr Naama Cohen-Hanegbi, University of Sydney Lectures

The ARC Centre for Excellence for the History of the Emotions, presents:

“The Mental Dimension of Pain in the Life and Writings of Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576),” Dr Anna Corrias (Princeton University)

“Leading the way to Pain: The Cure of Contrition in Manipulus Curatorum,”  Dr Naama Cohen-Hanegbi (Tel Aviv University)

When: Monday, September 28, 12-2pm
Location: Rogers Room, Woolley Building, The University of Sydney
Enquiries: craig.lyons@sydney.edu.au

This paper will look at the relationship between physical and mental pain in the life and writings of Girolamo Cardano, one of the most fascinating figures of the Italian Renaissance. Physician and natural philosopher — among many other things — Cardano wrote extensively about pain, describing the complex relationship between pain and fear, the interplay of the external and the internal senses in the perception of suffering, the therapeutic dimension of pain as a cure for anxiety, and even the epistemological potential of physical pain.

Anna Corrias did her PhD in Combined Historical Studies at the Warburg Institute, University of London. In 2015-2016 she is a postdoctoral fellow at the Seeger Centre for Hellenic Studies
at Princeton University and a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at University College, London. She has published articles on the reception of the classical tradition in the Renaissance and
is currently working on her first monograph, entitled The Plotinian Soul: The Renaissance of Plotinus in Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on the Enneads. She is also editing, together with
Guido Giglioni, the Brill Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Platonism. Both books will be published in 2016.

 

 

This paper will discuss the articulation of contrition as dolor animi in the 14th-century treatise written by Guido de Monte Rocherii. The treatise presents the orthodox view of the time on contrition and so allows us to consider the fundamental ideas communicated to priests and laity with regard to this particular emotional state. As contrition was developed in the period as the medicine for sin, this paper will reflect on the convergence of medical language and pastoral care. Among the questions that will be considered are: how does the flesh and physicality define the pain of contrition? In what ways are the medicinal components of contrition are defined? What does the metaphor of the priest as the physician contribute to this development of thinking about contrition and confession?

Naama Cohen-Hanegbi is a lecturer in the History Department of Tel Aviv University. She has published articles on the medical and religious treatment of emotions and on medicine within
inter-religious encounters, and is currently preparing a manuscript entitled Practices of Care: Medical and Pastoral Writings on the Accidents of the Soul, 1200-1500.

ANZAMEMS Member News: Roberta Kwan – Thoughts on the 10th ANZAMEMS Conference @ UQ, July 2015

Roberta Kwan, Doctoral Candidate, Macquarie University

ANZAMEMS 2015 report

It was at the 2012 ANZAMEMS-sponsored PATS workshop at the University of Otago that I was helped to develop a deeper understanding of the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of research in the early modern period. While, as a literature student writing a PhD on Shakespeare and Reformation theology, I knew that my project sits somewhat at the intersection of literature and theology, I didn’t appreciate the breadth of knowledge from a range of other disciplines I would also require. I departed from the workshop with some constructive approaches to my project, and a lot of work to do.

That was in the first year of my PhD candidature. Nearing its end (hopefully) I was especially looking forward to the opportunity to hear from scholars across a range of disciplines at this year’s ANZAMEMS, including some people I met at the 2012 PATS. I enjoyed hearing Barnaby Ralph range across a number of disciplines in showing how the employment of humoral theory shifted from the medical to the artistic realm, and found Alexandra Walsham’s lecture particularly beneficial. The abundant and intriguing images she presented and discussed gave a rich sense of the material culture of the Reformation, and how the Reformation narrative was remembered by everyday English men and women. As Professor Walsham argued, the presence of theologically- and religiously-derived images on household items for both ideological and commemorative purposes provides evidence that nuances the widely-held perception of the reformers as unreservedly iconoclastic. This was an insight I found almost immediately relevant for my project. I was also pleased to see Shakespeare make several appearances in the programme, and to have the opportunity to hear some thought-provoking papers on various plays and aspects of performance.

I would like to thank the organisers of this year’s conference for putting together a stimulating, interdisciplinary programme. Thank you also to ANZAMEMS for supporting postgrad students, financially and otherwise—this was the second occasion in which I have been a grateful recipient.

Gender, Power and Materiality in Early Modern Europe – Call For Papers

Gender, Power and Materiality in Early Modern Europe
Plymouth University
7-9 April, 2016

Speakers include: Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham), Joanna Norman (Victoria and Albert Museum), and Merry Wiesner-Hanks (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)

This three-day conference on the theme of ‘Gender, Power and Materiality in Early Modern Europe, 1500- 1800’ is part of a two-year AHRC-funded international research network run by Professor James Daybell (Plymouth University), Professor Svante Norrhem (Lund University), Dr Nadine Akkerman (Leiden University) and Professors Susan Broomhall and Jacqueline Van Gent (University of Western Australia). We are looking for papers that explore the relationships between gender, power and ‘materiality’ – a term that is broader than ‘material culture’, in that it opens up spatial sites and material texts – defined both in terms of objects or the physical features of texts and the social and cultural practices, and spaces in which they were produced, consumed, exchanged and displayed. Papers should focus on different forms of power (political, social, economic and cultural) across the early modern period in Europe, and encompasses formal and informal power. In viewing power and materiality through the lens of gender, the organisers encourage transdisciplinary approaches and aim to bring into dialogue historians, art and architectural historians, literary critics, material culture specialists, anthropologists, archaeologists, curators, archivists and conservators.

In recent years, scholars across Europe from a range of disciplines have sought to understand the gendered structures of politics in sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. Much has been done to reconstruct men’s and women’s roles, to rethink categories and definitions of what constituted ‘power’, ‘politics’ and ‘agency’ throughout this period, integrating the personal and informal, with the public and formal, and analysing gender as a dynamic at the state, family, and wider society level. Parallel to this work, the last decade or so has witnessed the ‘material turn’ in history, borrowing approaches from the vast fields of material culture, anthropology and archaeology which lend a sophisticated theoretical and methodological understanding of the ways in which objects worked. Scholars have studied the relationship between power and materiality and materiality and gender, but less well studied is the degree to which power and materiality were gendered in the early modern period. Among early modern historians, material studies have looked at gendered patterns of production, consumption and taste or households and related objects as sites of material meaning and display. For literary critics, work on materiality and gender has tended to focus on the body, although there is an increasing amount of work on the materiality of women’s texts broadly defined to encompass ‘literary’ and ‘non-literary’ texts, canonical and non-traditional forms, the latter encompassing for example embroidery and needlework. For women’s studies, this turning away from author to the object leads to a range of interesting questions that remain unanswered about material objects as expressions of gendered power (and gendered lack of power), which are produced, consumed, owned, collected and archived. Finally, interdisciplinary work on gifts and gift-giving has studied the exchange of material objects and texts as a way of understanding social and political relationships, but scholars have far to go to uncover the gendered dynamics of gift-exchange.

Influenced by the ‘material turn’, the network considers objects as social agents, analysing the gendered power structures (and non-power) embedded within physical artefacts and the social practices of production, consumption and exchange, especially in relation to early modern practices and modern theories of gift- giving. It questions how far materiality made gender positions stable and unstable; and studies objects to reconstruct new networks and gendered forms of power created around object exchange and production. Secondly, it considers archives as a form of gendered power, and spaces (e.g. noble households, courts, libraries and churches) in which material objects were located, and their connection with the politics of memory, gift-giving and display. Potential topics might include (but are by no means limited to):

  • methodologies and meanings of gender, power and materiality in early modern Europe
  • objects and theorizing gendered power
  • gender and the politics of early modern archives and architectural spaces
  • diplomacy and the politics of gift-exchange
  • (female) patrons (of artists, designers and workshops), consumers (shoppers and commissioners) and gift-givers
  • gendered furniture
  • writing technologies and the materials of secrecy and power
  • gendered activities, behaviours, rituals and fashions
  • gender and disguise
  • presentation and display
  • collecting and connoisseurship
  • questions of materiality in relation to curating, preservation and archiving

The conference will employ a range of formats, including two keynote lectures, postgraduate/early career/next generation training seminars and practitioner-led workshops, round-table discussions, and panel sessions. Papers from postgraduate and early career scholars are welcome and reduced conference rates are available. Please send abstracts of papers to Professor James Daybell (james.daybell@plymouth.ac.uk) or to Professor Svante Norrhem (svante.norrhem@hist.lu.se) by 31 December, 2015.

Post-Doctoral Research Associate @ University of Cambridge: The Gersum Project – Call For Applications

Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (Faculty of English)
The University of Cambridge.

The Faculty is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on the ‘Gersum Project: the Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary’, funded by the AHRC. The post holder will be based in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge from 1 January 2016, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The Research Associate’s main role will be to produce the project’s digital catalogue of words derived from Old Norse in nine late Middle English alliterative poems, and to contribute to accompanying elements of the website (especially the bibliography and the corpus of electronic texts).

The post-holder should have a PhD in the study of early English (Old and/or Middle) or Old Norse, excellent organisational skills and the proven ability to work to deadlines without close supervision. Excellent written and oral communication skills and a close familiarity with common IT packages including MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint are also essential, as is the ability to work as a team.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.

Closing date: 9 October 2015.

For full details and to apply, please visit: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/8035/

DMMapp (Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App)

The DMMapp (Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App) links to more than 300 libraries in the world. Each one of these contains medieval manuscripts that can be browsed for free. The DMMapp is developed by the Sexy Codicology Team; it is part of the Digitized Medieval Manuscripts Maps (DMMmaps) project.

For more info, and to use the app. please visit, http://digitizedmedievalmanuscripts.org/app/

ANZAMEMS Member News: Hilary Locke – Thoughts on the 10th ANZAMEMS Conference @ UQ, July 2015

Hilary Locke, Masters Candidate, University of Adelaide

ANZAMEMS 2015 Conference Report

In amongst the blur of delayed planes, the hubbub of Brisbane city and CityCat ferry rides, the ANZAMEMS conference this year offered a range of new experiences. The tranquility of the leafy UQ campus seemed countered by the presence of so many buzzing academics, all discussing the previous session, and figuring out which panel would be best suited for the next. In-between this chaos of morning teas, lunches, and other social events, I presented two papers. Whilst I was felt it was a bit ambitious when I was writing both papers and stressing immensely, the pay-off made it particularly worthwhile.

The first paper was part of a masculinities panel alongside colleagues of my own university and new and old friends. The excitement of this session was perhaps not giving my paper, but the reception of our papers as a whole. People were intrigued about masculinity and what the speakers at our session had to say about the topic. Even though we covered several centuries and the topics appeared quite distant, the interlocking and constant themes of the male self drew the audience in with enthusiasm. The second medieval masculinities panel, which I chaired, followed the next day with similar amounts of excitement and interest. This soon became a theme of my ANZAMEMS experience: even if people were not linked by topic, theme or interest, everyone was keen to ask questions, engage and were willing to hear what you had to say in return.

By the time I came to give my second paper, I was excited. This was an altogether unusual feeling for me, as I was used to nerves and anxiety usually dominating my preparation. This paper was the most successful part of my conference. I was calmer in the delivery, more prepared for whatever questions would come my way. I recognised the faces of people who had presented in the audience, and I was pleased when they had asked me questions and was draw in by the story my paper told. Most importantly, it gave me a wider audience to sound my thesis ideas to, and I was provided with excellent feedback and suggestions.

This is what I will take away from my experience in Brisbane this year. The enthusiasm to ask, and then to listen. As a wider community of medieval and early modernist drew together, there was contentedness to be in the same place and enjoying the discussions that followed over tea, or wine, or the ones that will continue in email correspondence. This was perhaps the most successful conference experience of my postgraduate career, and shall start saving my pennies to get to the next one in Wellington.

A Festschrift in Memory of Philippa Maddern – Order A Print Copy Now

The shopping cart for the print copy of A Festschrift in Memory of Philippa Maddern (co-edited by ANZAMEMS members Patricia Alessi and Deborah Seiler), a special edition published through Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, is now up and running.

This journal issue was created in honour of the medieval historian and late director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, 1100-1800.

For contents of the Festschrift, please see: http://www.limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/volumes/special-2015.

To order a copy, please visit: https://payments.uwa.edu.au/Limina20.3