The Ibero-Medieval Association of North America (IMANA)is delighted to
release the Call for Papers for the following panels at the International
Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Western Michigan University (7-10
May 2020).

IMANA-sponsored panels always invite graduate student submissions, as well
as scholars at all levels of experience and from the breadth of disciplines
that touch on medieval Iberia, literary, historical, and beyond.

Please join our conversation at the ICMS by submitting a proposal for a
paper, attending any of our panels during the Congress, and joining us for
the IMANA Banquet!


PANELS

-1-
Race and Its Historiography in Medieval Iberian Studies (panel discussion)

Organizer: Isidro Rivera (ijrivera@ku.edu)

The present political and cultural moment is intensely focused on issues of
race, diversity, and inclusion. This panel seeks to address the lack of
engagement with race and diversity in Medieval Iberian Studies, and
therefore connect our field with other areas of medieval studies. The panel
discussion will open between the panelists and the audience a discussion
about the ways in which topics such as racial(ized) and ethnic minorities,
the whitening of Iberia, the Middle Ages, and disciplinary marginalization
have shaped Hispano-Medieval Studies.

Keywords: race; medieval Iberia; historiography

-2-
The Canon Walks into a Bar: Humor in Medieval Iberian Literature (session
of papers)

Organizer: Paul Larson (Paul_Larson@baylor.edu)

Making learning fun (and funny) is hardly new: it has a deep history, often
expressed as docere delectando or delectare et docere.  How do "serious"
canonical works of the Iberian Middle Ages delight while they teach? How
can a text be serious and funny all at the same time? This panel shifts
attention to the hybridity of canonical texts in deploying low humor, often
scabrous, for high purposes. This panel seeks papers on texts in any
Iberian language(s) and their use of humor, to put them into dialogue
across Iberian textual and scholarly traditions.

Keywords: humor; Iberian literature; the canon

-3-
Iberomedieval Studies: Taking Stock, Moving Forward (roundtable)
Organizer: Linde M. Brocato (linde.brocato@miami.edu)

The relevance of medieval studies in general to the present has become both
more evident and at the same fraught, and Iberomedieval studies must assess
how the discipline works within this shifting context.  This is happening
as the organization of IMANA itself is shifting to take on greater
collective governance and responsibility, which also merits broader
consideration within the context of the social and disciplinary shifts in
medieval studies.  This roundtable will consist of a conversation among
practitioners across all domains, generations, and positions of
Iberomedieval studies, to take stock of how the field is structured, how we
constitute our community through conversations, work, and organizations
like IMANA, and how we can move into the future integral to the larger
academic and intellectual work of our time.

Keywords: the disciplines; Iberomedieval studies; academia

-4-
Literature, Language, and Identity during the House of Aviz (session of
papers)

Organizers: Ross Karlan (rmk65@georgetown.edu) and Michael Ferreira (
mjf62@georgetown.edu)

This panel offers an interdisciplinary approach to the diversity and
different identities on the Iberian Peninsula at a time when the Trastámara
Dynasty often takes center stage. Focusing on the House of Aviz
(1385-1580), this panel will highlight lusophone and related materials at a
time of great change surrounding the Portuguese crown, including imperial
expansion, diverse ethnic contact, and the attempt to form a unique
Portuguese identity in relation to other parts of Iberia. Given the broad
scope of the crown's sphere of influence, texts may touch on geographic
diversity both within the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, including Africa,
India, China, and the Americas.

Keywords: Medieval Portugal; book history; identity; Aviz

-5-
Questioning Mysticism (session of papers)
Co-Sponsor: ASPHS, Jes Boon (jboon@unc.edu)
Organizer: Erik Alder (erik_alder@byu.edu); Amy Austin (amaustin@uta.edu)

Mysticism and the mystic continue to constitute one of the most commonly
discussed subjects at the ICMS during recent years. Despite this, entire
sessions specifically dedicated to mysticism itself are few and far
between. Accordingly, this session invites papers that seek to mine the
depths and significations of mysticism, particularly in light of recent
theoretical models: to what extent does the body and the eye inform the
mystic? To what extent does mysticism defy and subdue the body? To what
extent can mysticism serve as a backdoor for power and resistance, inasmuch
as it allows the individual to work both within and outside of accepted
structures of power? How does mysticism subvert or conform to existing
epistemologies and ontologies? As sponsored by IMANA, this session will
take special interest in Spanish mysticism, but will of course be
interested in contributions across disciplines.

Keywords: mysticism; embodiment; epistemology; ontology


Draft IMANA Mission Statement
The Iberomedieval Association of North America is an international
community of those who study the Iberian Middle Ages, conceived broadly,
and including all of the disciplines concerned with areas of study
characterized by languages, literatures, religions, cultures, societies,
and politics in medieval Iberia.  As such, we work as a community in
intensely and uniquely interdisciplinary and interstitial ways, dealing
with the rich and fascinating artifacts and dynamics of medieval Iberia, a
zone of intense cultural, intellectual, and religious contact.
Iberomedieval Studies is therefore uniquely positioned – and poised – to
also turn the legacy of racist and antisemitic violence and oppression into
a transformative understanding of those dynamics.  As a community, we value
and foster rigor, respect, inclusion, diversity, and support for all
scholars at all levels of endeavor.

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