ANZAMEMS Member News: Sally Fisher – PATS (2015) Report

Sally Fisher – Monash University

ANZAMEMS: Postgraduate Advanced Training Seminar ‘Medieval and Early Modern Digital Humanities’ Report

​An illuminating article by Jock Phillips tracing digital history in New Zealand, a preliminary survey of some relevant medieval and early modern digital projects, and tentative plans afoot for my own digital project all contributed to my enthusiasm to attend the Medieval and Early Modern Digital Humanities Postgraduate Advanced Training Seminar at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch. As a training seminar, my reasons for attending were grounded in a desire to build upon my understanding of the digital humanities. One of the highlights of the day, however, was the confirmation that those skills which humanities postgraduates work so hard to hone (writing research proposals, advanced critical thinking skills, careful attention to detail) are readily transferable to digital humanities projects.

​The day consisted of two keynote presentations, an interactive session, examples of postgraduate proposals for digital projects and a panel discussion to close. ​

​Professor Evelyn Tribble (University of Otago) opened the seminar with a presentation on ‘Materiality, Affordances, and the Digital’. Using the example of early modern and modern Shakespeare scripts to explore the differences in how actors learn their lines, Tribble considered the affordances of writing technologies before moving on to a discussion of the Early English Books Online (EEBO) database within the contexts of transparency, remediation and materiality. As my own area of interest is late-medieval England, Tribble’s discussion of the EEBO was extremely useful. Highlighting the need to consider the process of digitisation and to always ask ‘what lies behind the screen’, Tribble led us between text, microfilm, and the digital database as she traced the materiality of these sources and offered suggestions for how best to use them.

​From affordances to assemblages the second keynote, ‘The Digital Recovery of Moving Media: EBBA and the Early English Broadside Ballad’, was presented by Professor Patricia Fumerton (University of California, Santa Barbara). The downfall of one of the women of my thesis became the subject of a mid-seventeenth ballad so it was with keen interest that I followed Fumerton’s discussion of the database and her reading of a seventeenth-century ballad. Moving from the geographical location used in the ballad to a discussion of the images and the accompanying music, Fumerton’s keynote confirmed the richness of the ballad as an historical source. Fumerton’s use of the term ‘assemblages’ encouraged consideration of both the ballads and the database to which they belong, reminding us how these ballads were received in their time, and how we receive them through the EBBA.

​In the interactive session Fumerton took us behind the scenes at the EBBA, from an outline of the cataloguing system to an experiment in making a broadside ballad. Yet again, I was struck by the possibilities of reading the materiality in these digital sources and the implications of this for my own work. Following on, Dr James Smithies (University of Canterbury) led us through the process of setting up our own digital project. This session moved nicely from the immensity of the EEBO and EBBA projects to demonstrate how a small-scale, or even prototype, digital project could be developed.

​After several postgraduate projects were put forward, in various stages of development, the day closed with a panel discussion featuring Dr James Smithies, Dr Chris Jones (University of Canterbury) and Joanna Condon (Macmillan Brown Library). The term ‘digital humanities’ was, rightly, the main focus of the discussion and, for me, it was a measure of the success of the seminar that my understanding had moved beyond the article by Jock Phillips, with which I began, to begin to consider not where we are now in the digital humanities, but where we might move next.

​Of course, the occasion of a PATS also affords opportunities to catch up with other postgraduates; finding moments in the breaks to discuss our work, discover shared interests and plan future projects together. These benefits cannot be underestimated, even for those who of us who are fortunate to be part of a strong postgraduate cohort at our home universities.

The day was compered by Dr Tracy Adams (University of Auckland) and organised by Dr Francis Yapp (University of Canterbury). I am grateful to ANZAMEMS and the University of Canterbury College of Arts for a travel bursary to attend the PATS.

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

Katherine Jacka, Doctoral Candidate, University of New South Wales

The 2015 ANZAMEMS conference at the University of Queensland was a stimulating and fruitful event and I am very grateful to ANZAMEMS for receiving a bursary which assisted me in attending. The bursaries that ANZAMEMS offers to postgraduate students and ECRs not only allow this cash-strapped cohort to attend important events but signifies the support ANZAMEMS provides to those who are at the very beginning of their academic careers. At many Australian and New Zealand universities, medieval and early modern researchers are in the minority and events like the ANZAMEMS conference are crucial in reminding us that we are part of a vibrant and robust intellectual community.

In terms of my own research interests, I was particularly excited by the round table event ‘The Global Medieval in the Antipodies’, organised by Dr Clare Monagle. As a researcher working on the Islamicate world, I have often felt a little on the outside of medieval studies which has tended to focus on the history of Europe, and in particular western and northern Europe. Thankfully in recent years there has been a growing recognition amongst historians that a deeper understanding of cross-cultural exchange and influence is necessary; culture does not develop in a vacuum and globalisation, albeit on a smaller scale, has been in play for more than two millennia. This session was an important call to action and provided many at the conference with food for thought, indeed immediately following the session a lively discussion ensued (aided by free drinks!) at the Postgraduate drinks event at the Red Room. Amongst those I talked with, there was a feeling of enthusiasm about the possibility of applying a wider historical view to their own research and for opportunities for scholarly collaboration with those working in different areas of specialisation.

As a result of this session, at the University of Sydney the Global Middle Ages Research Faculty Group has been established and a conference planned for 16-18 June 2016 on the topic of ‘Modernities in the Medieval and Early Modern Period’. Those interested in presenting and/or attending can consult the website for updates: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/research/global_middle_ages

In terms of guidance for postgraduates and ECRs, the ‘Career Options for Graduates’ round table served to remind us all to be realistic about our opportunities for future employment but to remain optimistic. The panellists advised us to keep an open mind and to recognise work opportunities besides academic positions such as editing, publishing and learning support. This was a useful session but I would have also liked to talk more about ways we can ‘sell’ ourselves in the job market as holders of a PhD. The skills required to successfully complete a PhD include high level writing and research skills, time and project management skills, as well as old-fashioned staying power. Surely there are work opportunities within government, NGOs or other organisations that would value this skill set.

I left the ANZAMEMS conference feeling buoyant, having met some great people and feeling optimistic about the future of medieval and early modern studies in Australia and New Zealand. See you at the 2017 conference in Wellington!

Pseudo-Paracelsus: Alchemy and Forgery in Early Modern Medicine and Natural Philosophy – Call For Papers

Pseudo-Paracelsus: Alchemy and Forgery in Early Modern Medicine and Natural Philosophy
Villa Vigoni (Italy)
25-28 July, 2016

Over the last 30 years, a number of major publications have considerably expanded our knowledge of the works of the Swiss physician Paracelsus (1493/94–1541) and his followers. Paracelsus is best known for his radical criticism of Aristotle and Galen along with his radical positions as a lay theologian and spiritual reformer. He ignited a long process leading to the emergence of chemistry as an autonomous science. His theological ideas nourished early modern debates on religious tolerance. He was also instrumental in Tycho Brahe’s reform of cosmology.

The production of forgeries under Paracelsus’s name was an integral part of the diffusion of Paracelsianism. Many of those forgeries were widely read and extremely influential, not only in the fields of medicine and “chymistry” (alchemy/chemistry), but also in cosmology, anthropology, theology and magic. For example, the famous “Philosophia ad Athenienses” included the dangerous idea on the uncreated “prime matter” of the world, while the “De natura rerum” described how to create a homunculus. Those were clearly alien to Paracelsus’s own philosophy but were taken at face value by both Paracelsians and their opponents. A number of other apocryphal works are no less interesting. All of them have yet to be studied in their own right.

The present conference, which opens a four-years project, aims to put together the knowledge of specialists with diverse backgrounds. Studying the content, sources, topics, potential authorship and dating of pseudo-Paracelsian treatises, it will reveal their distinctive and common features, their mutual connections, their kinship in style and content with the genuine works of Paracelsus. It will also explore their historical impacts on the evolution of both Paracelsianism and anti-Paracelsianism. This broad survey of the corpus will address many related disciplines and issues: medicine and alchemy, the four elements and the three principles, as well as the corpus attributed to George Ripley, the corpus attributed to Isaac Hollandus, the Ficinian idea of the World-Spirit (spiritus mundi) and its relation to alchemical quintessence, the “signatures” doctrine (signatura rerum), magnetism and imagination.

Our main targets are: Philosophia ad Athenienses; De natura rerum; De tinctura physicorum; Thesaurus thesaurorum; Aurora philosophorum; Apocalypsis Hermetis; De secretis creationis; De occulta philosophia; Liber Azoth; De pestilitate. The conference may even reconsider the dating of Paracelsus’s authentic treatises and explore their connections with the works of major Paracelsians such as Alexander von Suchten, Michael Toxites and Gerhardt Dorn.

Besides our plenary speakers, the conference seeks to involve younger researchers and postgraduate students by way of a call for papers. It also plans a workshop session in which the participants can read and discuss pseudo-Paracelsian texts along with related genuine works. This will foster the creation of an international reading group.

Proposals for 20 minutes papers are welcomed, and the participation of postgraduate students and junior researchers is particularly encouraged. Please send your proposal (300 words max) along with your short CV, by 1 January 2016, to the organizers:

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

Ellie Crookes, Doctoral Candidate, The University of Wollongong

Thoughts on the ANZAMEMS Conference 2015

Through the generosity of the ANZAMEMS bursary, I was able to attend my first ANZAMEMS conference this year in (not so sunny) Brisbane.

This was only my fourth time presenting at a conference, and giving a paper is still quite daunting for me. The collegial encouragement and warm reception that I received however soon put me at ease, and it was soon made clear to me that ANZAMEMS was a welcoming place for a new scholar. Further, the feedback that I received after my paper was engaged and insightful, and comments, particularly from the scholars Andrew Lynch and Sahar Amer, have since proved invaluable, shaping my interpretation of texts for one of my thesis chapters, and my project as a whole.

The Round Table discussion on ‘Career Options for Grads’ was also hugely valuable, highlighting the varying career options for higher-degree medievalist scholars. However, the session also proved quite dispiriting, as it was repeatedly made clear through the session to the PhD and Masters students in attendance that very few of us would get a job in academia. This is undoubtedly an important message to drive home for new scholars, but it nevertheless left me a little crestfallen. Luckily, my spirits were raised the next day with the Round Table on the ‘Maddern-Crawford Network’ which, under the names of two great female Australian medievalists, spoke of the formation of a community of female medievalist scholars. An auditorium of feminists was always going to put me in high spirits, but the ideas put forward by key female scholars in the field for a network of female medievalists made me feel more hopeful about my future as a medievalist in Australia.

Ultimately, I left the conference not only feeling positive about the state of my research project, but also about my future as a medievalist scholar.

Perth International Arts Festival – Two Performances of Interest

Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610

Exceptional Baroque ensemble performs Monteverdi’s masterpiece.

The musicians and choir of Concerto Italiano are one of the world’s most celebrated early music ensembles. Performing on 17th-century instruments, they vividly recreate the brilliant colours of Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin), a masterpiece of voices and instruments.

Sung in Latin

More info. and tickets: https://perthfestival.com.au/whats-on/2016/monteverdi-vespers-of-1610/

The Tiger Lillies Perform Hamlet

An anarchic take on Shakespeare’s classic.

Shakespeare’s most revered tragedy is plunged into a world of Weimar cabaret as celebrated cult band The Tiger Lillies present their ‘opera grotesque’ version of Hamlet.

A suite of new songs and a cast of actors, circus acts and giant puppets transform this iconic tragedy into a display of musical and visual fireworks.

https://perthfestival.com.au/whats-on/2016/the-tiger-lillies-perform-hamlet/

Save Ashgate Publishing Petition

Ashgate Publishing Company was purchased by Informa (Taylor & Francis Publishing) in 2015. On November 24th, 2015, the North American office of the press in Burlington, Vermont will close, and Ashgate’s US staff members will cease to be reprsentatives of Ashgate.

The following petition appeals to Informa to stop a planned closure of the Ashgate office in the United States, and rumored closings of an office in Britain.

https://www.change.org/p/save-ashgate-publishing?recruiter=33081j5231.

Sydney University: Latin Summer School – Applications Now Open

The 22nd Latin Summer School
Education Building, the University of Sydney
Monday January 18-Friday January 22, 2016

The Latin Summer School held annually in January at the University of Sydney, was founded by the late Professor Kevin Lee and Dr Trevor Evans. It attracts about 200 students of all ages, from 14 up. It consists of daily tutorial sessions on a wide selection of Latin texts (provided) at all levels from beginners to advanced. The tutorials are conducted by experienced teachers from universities and schools in NSW and ACT.

In addition there is a series of lectures (a choice of two each day, except for the first day when there is a key note lecture). These lectures cover a wide variety of topics of classical interest.

There is plenty of opportunity for social inter-action and the week concludes with a barbecue for all.

In 2016 there will be two competitions as in 2015: a Neo-Latin poetry translation, and a Classical/Neo-Latin prose translation which will be based on various Neo-Latin sources.

This year there will be a Diurna Competition: two prizes of $150 each will be awarded for an original 450 word contribution on any subject related to the Classical Word. This could take the form of a revue of an exhibition, a book, a film, a play, an opera/ballet, a game etc. or even a mini story.

For full information, and to register for the Latin Summer School, please visit: http://www.latinsummerschool.com.au/

Kenneth Moss Bursary

Thanks to a generous donation in memory of Dr Kenneth Moss AM (Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, NSW), a Bursary is available for one student to attend the Latin Summery School each year. The closing date for bursary applications is January 6, 2016.

Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies: Vol. 47 (2016) – Call For Papers

Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, published annually under the auspices of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, invites the submission of articles by graduate students and recent PhDs in any field of medieval and Renaissance studies.

Submission deadline for Volume 47 (2016): 1 February, 2016.

The Comitatus editorial board will make its final selections by early May 2016. Please send submissions as email attachments to Dr. Blair Sullivan, sullivan@humnet.ucla.edu.

Britain and the World Conference 2016 – Call For Papers

Britain and the World Conference 2016
Senate House, University of London, London, UK
23-25 June, 2016

This is the call for papers for the ninth annual Britain and the World Conference, which will be in London in June 2016. Paper and panel proposals should focus on Britain’s interactions with the world from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the present. Established scholars, scholars at the beginning of their careers, and graduate students are all equally welcome to apply and present at the conference.

The keynote speaker is Professor Catherine Hall (University College London), and the three plenary speakers are Professor Stephen Conway (University College London), Professor Margaret Hunt (Uppsala University), and Professor Philip Murphy (Institute of Commonwealth Studies).

The Britain and the World Conference is always a very sociable conference, and the 2016 conference will be no different, with the Conference Icebreaker on the Thursday evening, the Dinner Party on the Friday evening, and a post-conference night out in Soho beginning on the Saturday evening.

The conference accepts both individual paper and complete panel submissions. Submissions of individual papers should include an abstract of 200 words as well as a few descriptive keywords. Panels are expected to consist of three to four papers and should be submitted by one person who is willing to serve as the point of contact. Complete panels must also include a chair. In addition to abstracts for each individual paper, panel submissions should also include a brief 100-150 word introduction describing the panel’s main theme. The conference does not discriminate between panels and individual paper submissions.

All submissions for inclusion in the Britain and the World Conference must be received by Monday, 4 January 2016. Submissions should be made electronically to editor@britishscholar.org. Updates regarding the conference will be periodically posted to the Society website. It is hoped that participants will be able to call upon their departments for hotel and transportation expenses if necessary.

Britain and the World is the annual conference of The British Scholar Society. Our peer-reviewed journal – http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/brw – is published by Edinburgh University Press, and our book series – http://www.palgrave.com/series/Britain-and-the-World/BAW – with Palgrave Macmillan. Submissions are encouraged to each, and representatives of both publishers will be present at the conference. To receive the Society’s free monthly newsletter please sign up by visiting www.britishscholar.org, and please consider following @britishscholar on Twitter, and joining our Facebook group.

Information on hotel accommodation and conference registration will be forthcoming. It should be noted that becoming a member of The British Scholar Society entitles you to a discounted registration rate. We also offer a discounted registration rate for students. Membership in The British Scholar Society for 2016 will be available on The British Scholar Society website by visiting our membership page at www.britishscholar.org/british-scholar/membership beginning on 1 October. If you have any questions about the forthcoming conference, please contact the Conference Organizing Committee.

Authority Revisited: Towards Thomas More and Erasmus in 1516 – Call For Papers

Authority Revisited: Towards Thomas More and Erasmus in 1516
Lectio International Conference
University of Leuven, Belgium
30 November-3 December, 2016

In the year 1516, two crucial texts for the cultural history of the West saw the light: Thomas More’s Utopia and Desiderius Erasmus’s Novum Instrumentum. Both of these works dealt freely with authoritative sources of western civilization and opened new pathways of thought on the eve of invasive religious and political changes.

Lectio and the University of Leuven, in collaboration with its RefoRC-partners the Johannes a Lasco Library Emden and the Europäische Melanchthon Akademie Bretten as well as other partners, will mark the 500th birthday of both foundational texts by organizing a conference, from November 30 through December 2, 2016. The university city of Leuven is a most appropriate place to have this conference organized, since it was intimately involved in the genesis and the history of both works.

The conference will be devoted to studying not only the reception and influence of Utopia and the Novum Instrumentum in (early) modern times, but also their precursors in classical antiquity, the patristic period, and the middle ages. The conference will thus lead to a better understanding of how More and Erasmus used their sources, and it will address the more encompassing question of how these two authors, through their own ideas and their use of authoritative texts, have contributed to the rise of modern western thought.

The conference also explicitly aims at enhancing our understanding of iconographic, book-, and art-historical aspects of the transmission of the texts under consideration, both before and after the publication of the two works.

This multidisciplinary Lectio conference wants to bring together international scholars working in the field of theology, art history, philosophy, history of science and historical linguistics.

Thomas More: Utopia Revisited

More’s colorful description of the allegedly recently discovered island of Utopia was so influential as to lend its name to a literary genre. At the same time, although the name Utopia is a neologism invented in More’s circle , the utopian tradition reaches back to antiquity.

Papers are invited on the following topics:

The best known examples from classical antiquity are Plato’s descriptions of the ideal state. Yet there are other instances, such as the myth of the golden age, elaborated in many different ways by numerous ancient writers. In addition, More had a thorough knowledge of the works by Greek and Roman thinkers such as Plutarch, Lucian, Cicero, and Seneca. The conference aims to map these ancient representations of the ideal state and to study the way in which More was influenced by them.

Equally influential is the Christian tradition, most prominently laid down in Augustine’s City of God, a text of central importance that marks the transition from antiquity to the middle ages. Augustine’s eschatological view of the perfect City may, for example, be the subject of contributions to the conference. By extension, the various forms of the mythical account of Cockaigne enter the picture as possible topics.

Also of direct impact on Utopia were reports about the New World (for example in the letters of Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, or Peter Martyr of Anghiera) and the images of the New World in Europe. It would be an interesting contribution to the conference to study in which ways the discovery and description of an “unspoiled” world and its inhabitants inspired More’s views.

Renaissance humanists also influenced More’s Utopia. The most renowned example is, of course, Erasmus. But the views of other humanists, like Pico della Mirandola, also shaped More’s thought. Similarly, the scholastic tradition deserves to be studied in at this juncture. Renaissance humanism and scholasticism were difficult to reconcile, according to More, and on more than one occasion he sets one over against the other.

The conference shall also pay due attention to the reception of Utopia in early modern times, both in the vernacular and in Latin. Authors such as Tommaso Campanella, Vasco de Quiroga, Francis Bacon, Johann Eberlin, Kaspar Stiblin, and Johann Valentin Andreae may be investigated in this regard, as well as the genre of the picaresque novel.

Of particular interest are iconographic, book-, and art-historical aspects of the transmission of Utopia as well as the works of More’s predecessors.

Erasmus: The New Testament Revisited

Erasmus’s revision of the New Testament text was groundbreaking. Obviously, however, Erasmus’s foundational work cannot be properly understood apart from his predecessors’ endeavors to translate the Bible and to comment on it, or to deal with the Bible from a text-critical perspective.

Papers are invited on the following topics:

Papers studying biblical exegesis in Christian antiquity and its reception in the works by Erasmus. More in particular, paper topics may include Jerome’s Vulgata, Origen’s Hexapla, and relevant commentaries on Scripture, such as those of Chrysostom and others. Erasmus’s recourse to classical language and culture in the Annotationes to his New Testament may also be the subject of paper proposals.

Medieval biblical exegesis: Even though self-declared pioneers like Erasmus and the Renaissance humanists were not keen to be associated with medieval biblical exegesis, this aspect of possible influences and sources cannot be neglected. The conference invites contributions on the biblical Renaissance of the twelfth century and later (among others, the Glossa ordinaria, Hugh of St. Victor and the Parisian Victorines, Peter Comestor, Peter Cantor and Stephen Langton, Hugh of St. Cher and Nicholas of Lyra). In sum, the conference aims to explore the extent to which Erasmus and his fellow humanists integrated the progress made by medieval biblical exegesis.

The link between Erasmus and Renaissance humanism, both in northern Europe (Agricola, Cornelius Gerardi Aurelius) and in Italy (Lorenzo Valla, Gianozzo Manetti). The main question is here how Erasmus’s Christian humanism did relate to the broader cultural historical current of renewed textual criticism.

The reception of Erasmus’s text-critical and exegetical work in the early modern era will be explored through the establishment of (new) authoritative version(s) of the New Testament and the debates that accompanied the process (Novum Instrumentum, Vulgata, Textus Receptus) as well as the elaboration of humanist, Protestant, and Catholic exegesis, from Luther and Melanchthon through Beza, from Dorpius, Franciscus Lucas Brugensis and Jansenius Gandavensis, via Estienne, Arias Montanus, through Maldonatus, etc. We further look forward to receiving papers on how Erasmus’ New Testament was used in the development of early modern vernacular versions, on all sides of the confessional spectrum.

Of particular interest are iconographic, book-, and art-historical aspects of the transmission of the texts, both of Erasmus’s predecessors and of Erasmus’s Novum Instrumentum.

Papers may be given in English or French and the presentation should take 20 minutes.
To submit a proposal, please send an abstract of approximately 300 words (along with your name, academic affiliation and contact information) to lectio@kuleuven.be by January 15, 2016. Notification of acceptance will be given by the end of March 2016.

The publication of selected papers is planned in a volume to be included in the peer-reviewed LECTIO Series (Brepols Publishers).

Invited speakers:

  • Gillian Clark (University of Bristol)
  • Henk Jan De Jonge (Leiden University)
  • Günter Frank (Europäische Melanchthon Akademie)
  • Brad Gregory (University of Notre Dame)
  • Quentin Skinner (Queen Mary University of London)

Venue: The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, Janseniusstraat 1, 3000 Leuven

Organising Committee:
Erik De Bom, Anthony Dupont, Wim François, Jan Papy, Marleen Reynders, Andrea Robiglio, Violet Soen, Gerd Van Riel

Scientific Committee:
Rita Beyers (U Antwerpen), Erik De Bom (KU Leuven), Anthony Dupont (KU Leuven), Wim François (KU Leuven), Günter Frank (Europäische Melanchthon Akademie, Bretten), Jan Papy (KU Leuven), Andrea Robiglio (KU Leuven), Herman Selderhuis (Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek, Emden), Violet Soen (KU Leuven), Gerd Van Riel (KU Leuven), Wim Verbaal (U Gent)

Contact:

Lectio KU Leuven
Faculties of Arts, Law, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Blijde Inkomststraat 5
3000 Leuven
BELGIUM
+32 16 328778
lectio@kuleuven.be
www.ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio