CFP: STRANGERS IN PARIS: ALTERITY IN MEDIEVAL FRANCE

45th International Congress on Medieval Studies

May 13-16, 2010

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI


CALL FOR PAPERS



International Medieval Society, Paris/Société Internationale des Médiévistes, Paris





STRANGERS IN PARIS: ALTERITY IN MEDIEVAL FRANCE





The International Medieval Society-Paris invites proposals for an interdisciplinary session that will examine the notion of alterity in medieval France, particularly in the Paris region. While many conference sessions, journal articles and books focus on the notion of alterity and difference as an exploration of the monstrous, i.e. extreme difference, this session would complement these forms of the Other by giving preference to papers that that include literal and metaphorical alterity of place from a humanist perspective.

Papers might focus on the perspectives of foreign students or scholars and their depictions of university life (including town and gown issues), the alienation of Jews in medieval Paris, issues of otherness pertaining to the rising bourgeois class and the medieval guilds, the unique perspective of women in the urban environment, the nostalgia of medieval authors who either base themselves in Paris or write about the city from another place, or even those individuals who have been exiled from Paris through involvement with its criminal underworld. We encourage submissions from history, art history, literature and science that would shed light on the human perception of alterity in (or from) the urban environment that highlight issues of integration and alienation, and we welcome insights on both mainstream and under-examined examples of strangers in Paris.




A paper proposal comprises an abstract of no more than 300 words and a completed “Participant Information Form,” which is available on the Congress Web site:http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html#Paper

Please e-mail paper proposal and “Participant Information Form to:
Karen (Casey) Casebier at kcasebier@francis.edu by 9/15/2009.


For more information about the International Medieval Society-Paris, please visit:

http://www.ims-paris.org/