Monthly Archives: June 2021

Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage & Environment Fellowships Closing Soon!

CACHE is offering two fellowships for the second half of 2021 in the fields of archaeological science, cultural heritage, and/or environmental heritage. Applications close Tuesday 6th July 2021.

CACHE Early Career Indigenous Australian Research Fellowship
Award: up to $5000
Award Type: HDR, postdoctoral, or heritage/environment professional Indigenous Australian research fellow
Length: Three weeks to six months (must be completed by 15th December, 2021)

CACHE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Award: up to $5000
Award Type: Postdoctoral research fellow
Length: Three weeks to six months (must be completed by 15th December, 2021)

Please refer to the website for full guidelines. Inquiries should be directed to: cache@mq.edu.au.

Classical Reformations: Beyond Christian Humanism, Online conference hosted by the Warburg Institute, 2-3 Sep. 2021

Convenors: Dr Micha Lazarus and Dr Lucy Nicholas (Warburg Institute)

Christian humanism has dominated the story of classical reception in Reformation Europe, as the first Erasmian generation of reformers retooled classical texts to Christian ends. Yet the utility of the classical tradition to later generations of reformers has been largely overlooked by modern scholarship. We propose that as the Reformation evolved, the influence of classical learning was as likely to flow in the other direction: that the literature and ideas of the ancient world had a formative influence on Christian politics and theology. Major Reformation figures—from Melanchthon, Sturm, Ascham, and Beza, to many of their Catholic opponents, such as Pole and Bellarmine—were scholars by day, as comfortable with Catullus as Corinthians. Their classical learning actively empowered and shaped the formulation of Christian faith during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Classical Reformations: Beyond Christian Humanism explores how the literature and ideas of the classical world calibrated early modern Christianity—its interpretation, ordinances, moral instruction, politics, theology, cultural expression, and polarizing impulses of confessionalisation. How did classical learning fill the gaps in the Lutheran rejection of Catholic doctrine? How did classical poetry and drama shape the Roman Church’s popular outreach after the Council of Trent? How did classical history and rhetoric inflect the turbulent politics of the Reformation? Looking beyond the Christian absorption of pagan material and Erasmian humanism redux, this conference focuses instead on a classical Christianity, even a Greco-Roman monotheism, in the generations after Erasmus. Where recent scholarship has replaced confessionalism at the heart of early modern philology, we aim to replace classicism at the heart of theology and religious politics. The classical tradition was too ubiquitous and authoritative a presence in early modern intellectual life to have left theology untouched.

This international conference will take place online over two days, hosted by the Warburg Institute. Speakers include leading and upcoming scholars from Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and a keynote address will be given by Prof. Ralph Keen (University of Illinois at Chicago).

The event is free via Zoom with advance registration. For further information please see the website.

Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand 2021 Conference: Call for papers

The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand 2021 Conference will be hosted online from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 22-23 November 2021.

The conference theme is Communities, books and the power of words.

We invite papers that explore the intersections and dynamics between communities, books and power. These could include reflections on texts and their uses to inspire, transform or suppress communities, or the ways in which people have resisted or subverted systems of power in and through bibliographic-related domains or means. Papers could look to the past or the future or contribute to current discussions generated by international movements examining power, including in heritage, cultural and academic institutions.

To find out more about BSANZ, the 2021 conference and the call for papers, which closes on 21 June, go to: bsanz.org

AEMA Conference CFP on Eruption/Disruption/Interruption!


Conference October 1-2, 2021!

The conference committee invites papers on the theme of Eruption/Disruption/Interruption. As we continue to process the impact of COVID-19 on global and local societies, the jury is still out on whether the eruption of a global pandemic, and the subsequent disruptions and interruptions to contemporary routines, are a ‘game-changer’ or an inconvenience.

At the heart of our theme is the concept of a rupture. This can refer to something that has broken, burst, or been destroyed. It can imply that either outside forces are too great for the structure in question and have destroyed it functionally, or that something within that which has ruptured was too volatile or incompatible to remain contained, controlled, or unified. Over the past 18 months, we have been witness to both of these types of rupture, as outside forces have challenged the very foundations of our society, while at the same time, internal tensions have broken forth and resulted in historic movements for democracy, equality, environmental awareness, and corporate accountability and transparency.

Global society is at a turning point of multiple ruptured points, and the 2021 AEMA conference aims to reflect on this tension in an early medieval context.

· Eruptions can be understood in many different ways, as they can describe both natural phenomena and human activity, including the sudden appearance of new movements, of groups of people, or of ideas.

· Were eruptions revolutionary? Or were they merely a disruption to the longue durée?

· Does hindsight make it easier to identify ruptures as epoch-altering events and ideas? Or does the passage of time, and attendant loss of witnesses, memories, and evidence muddy the waters too much?

· Why and in what ways did eruptions change things? And why and in what ways did they merely disrupt.

· When and how does an interruption become a disruption?

· What did the idea of a ‘new normal’ mean in the early medieval world? How quickly do societies adapt to internal and external pressures?

· And when societies change as a result of these pressures, are they still the same society?

This conference calls for papers that relate to this theme. Or, in the spirit of the theme, those that do not.

In 2021, AEMA intends to hold a hybrid conference, with both a physical location (or locations) as well as an online option. At this stage, the main physical location is likely to be in Victoria, with the potential for additional ‘hubs’ to be held in other Australian and/or International locations, depending on interest and availability.

Submissions may be in the form of individual papers of 20 minutes duration, themed panels of three 20-minute papers, or Round Tables of up to six shorter papers (total of one hour).

All sessions will include time for questions and general discussion. Please send proposals (150–200 words per paper), along with author’s name, paper/panel/RT title, and academic affiliation (if any) to conference@aema.net.au by 31 July 2021. Please also direct all other enquiries about the conference to this address, as well as any nominations for potentially hosting an in-person hub.

ANZAMEMS Publication Prizes!

The three ANZAMEMS publication prizes are now open!

Entry for all 2021 Prizes opened on 1 June 2021 and closes on 30 November 2021.

Philippa Maddern Early Career Researcher Publication Prize

The Philippa Maddern ECR Publication Prize will be awarded to an Early Career Researcher (ECR) for the best article-length scholarly work in any discipline/topic falling within the scope of medieval and early modern studies, published within the below date range.

Articles published between 1 January 2018 to 30 November 2021 are eligible. Early online publication of articles will also be considered. The article must have been published online before the above cut-off date.

More details and full eligibility requirements are available here.

The Philippa Maddern ECR Publication Prize application form can be downloaded here.

Patricia Crawford Postgraduate Publication Prize

The Patricia Crawford Postgraduate Publication Prize is awarded to a postgraduate student for the best article-length scholarly work in any discipline/topic falling within the scope of medieval and early modern studies, published within the within the below date range.

More details and full eligibility requirements are available here.

The Patricia Crawford Postgraduate Publication Prize application form can be downloaded here.

Parergon Prize

In 2021 the Parergon Prize will be awarded to an emerging scholar for the best article-length scholarly work accepted to be published in Parergon during the three calendar years previous to the year in which the prize is offered. Eligible articles should have been accepted to be published in the period 2018–2020.

More details and full eligibility requirements are available here.

The Parergon Prize application form can be downloaded here.

Further information on all three Prizes can be found here. Please direct all queries regarding the Prizes to info@anzamems.org.