Daily Archives: 11 April 2016

People, Places and Possessions, 1350-1550 – Call For Papers

People, Places and Possessions, 1350-1550
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
3 September, 2016

A one-day symposium at the University of Oxford, ‪in association with Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)

Keynote Address, Dr Felicity Heal

Spatial and material culture based approaches to the medieval and early modern world are now well established, with researchers from a range of disciplines and scholarly perspectives using objects, buildings and landscapes to explore the ways in which past social relationships were created, enacted, maintained and negotiated. The rise of digital humanities and the development of online repositories such as the Portable Antiquities Scheme have also encouraged new ways of thinking about the material world, offering fresh approaches and sources for the study of aspects such as gender, memory and social status. More recently, the increasing drive to extend the threshold of the middle ages to 1550 has seen medievalists and early modernists brought into dialogue with one another, while the strengthening dialogue between academic institutions and the heritage sector has highlighted the rich potential for future collaborative initiatives.

This interdisciplinary one-day symposium will bring together academic researchers and representatives from the heritage sector, to consider the value of objects, places and spaces for understanding the social, cultural, economic and political landscape of the period 1350-1550. The aim of this symposium is to provide a forum for speakers and participants to reflect upon and anticipate new avenues for material culture studies.

Paper topics might include but are by no means limited to:

  • The Materiality of Gender, Sexuality and Emotions
  • Objects and Sites of Power, Exclusion and Privilege
  • Places, Possessions and Memory
  • Literature as Material Culture and Material Culture as Literature
  • Object, Building and Landscape Biographies
  • Identity formation through the Material World
  • The Materiality of the Gift
  • Documentary Archaeology

We invite prospective speakers to submit proposals of no more than 250 words for 20 minute papers, along with their paper title and affiliation to: rachel.delman@univ.ox.ac.uk and anna.boelesrowland@merton.ox.ac.uk by Sunday 24 April, 2016.

ANZAMEMS Member News: Antonia St Demiana – PATS (2016) Report

Antonia St Demiana, Doctoral Candidate, Macquarie University

On February 9 and 10 at Sydney University’s Fisher Library, I was fortunate to be one of a select group of students and researchers to participate in a Postgraduate Advanced Training Seminar supported by ANZAMEMS.

The focus of the two-day course was the Manuscript Book in which we learned about the various aspects of original western medieval manuscripts. The main features of the seminar were the lectures delivered by Professors Margaret Manion and Rod Thomson, whose direct experience with manuscripts and the libraries and museums which house them, provided us with vital information for our own work. There are many obstacles which young scholars may face when requesting access to materials such as manuscripts, and Margaret and Rod generously shared their knowledge with us in this regard.

One area which I found to be of particular relevance to my own study, were the lectures about the physical characteristics of manuscripts and the terminology used to describe them. I learned much about quires, foliation, parchments, ruling, and inks. Rod’s outline of how to catalogue and describe manuscripts was also invaluable to me. Although I am studying Coptic manuscripts, much of the terminology applies to both western and eastern books.

Another highlight of the PATS was the very rare privilege to handle the precious manuscripts in the Fisher Collection. We were free to hold the manuscripts and glance through their pages and it was wonderful to see real examples (not just photographs) of what Margaret and Rod were discussing.

I am very grateful ANZAMEMS for funding my flight to Sydney and for the opportunity to participate in the PATS on the Manuscript Book. Thanks also to the librarians at the Fisher Library and to Dr Nick Sparks for a very well organised seminar.