Contaminating Bodies, Infectious Spectacles, Troubling Histories:

Women on Performative Display

Working Session for the American Society for Theatre Research Conference

Nashville, 1-4 November 2012

How do female bodies in performance trouble historiographic processes of looking, spectating, recording, and (re)performing? In what ways does the liveness and/or presentness of female bodies in performance—especially bodies considered excessive or infectious—trouble how women are written into theatre histories and how affect circulates through those histories? Related to Joseph Roach’s notion of “deep skin,” how might historically situated ways of seeing and/or historiographic methods contaminate the record of female bodies on stage? How might theatre historians and artists overcome these obstacles in their own practices?

This session expands upon the work begun during our 2010 and 2011 “Contaminating Bodies” working sessions. There participants considered questions related to media, modes of circulation, and affective production in order to examine how performance cultures across time and space have perpetuated notions of the female body as infectious and contaminating. This 2012 session continues to interrogate that theme but with greater attention to historical processes and historiographic methodologies. Although we encourage members of our previous working sessions to submit proposals, we also invite new voices and perspectives into this conversation. We encourage work from a range of historical periods, geographies, and theoretical frameworks.

We will organize participants into smaller working groups that encourage dialogue across disciplinary, theoretical, and historical boundaries. Members of these smaller groups will share project ideas, challenges, and resources by email before the conference. By October 1^st, participants will exchange short papers (8-10 pages) within these smaller groups. Each participant will prepare brief written feedback about the other members’ papers, which they will exchange and discuss at the beginning of the conference session. We will follow this small group work with a larger conversation about conclusions and connections that emerged from this discussion, and possibilities for further study.

Please submit a 200-word abstract and brief bio to both Jen-Scott Mobley (jen-scottm@nyc.rr.com) and Jill Stevenson (jillstevenson@gmail.com) by Thursday, May 31^st. Feel free to email Jill and Jen-Scott with questions before that deadline. For more information about the conference, please visit: http://www.astr.org/conference

REMINDER: 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM: MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY (http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/ksu2012conference.html) NOTE DATE

REMINDER: 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM: MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY
(http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/ksu2012conference.html)
There will be both the  traditional "Brick-n-Mortar" conference (Kent State University Stark) and (new) a "Cloud Conference" online for those who are unable to travel.  Student papers will be considered, but please also note and encourage your students to participate in the STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST (see below).

INFORMATION: 27TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVALISM: MEDIEVALISM(S) & DIVERSITY
(http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/ksu2012conference.html)
DEADLINE: June 1, 2012

Send titles and abstracts to:
Dr. Carol Robinson, Conference Chair 
Kent State University Trumbull 
4314 Mahoning Avenue, NW 
Warren, Ohio 44483 
clrobins@kent.edu
FAX: 330-437-0490

THEME:
Is there diversity in medievalism? How has medievalism represented diversity of religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, gender,...? How have medievalist works supported issues concerning equity and inclusion? How have medievalist works oppressed and suppressed? Are there elements of bigotry and discrimination? What about human rights as a medieval concept, as a contemporary concept? Media to consider might include (but are not limited to) any of the following: novels, plays, poetry, films, art works, the Internet, television, historical works, political works, comics, video games. Angles to consider might include (but are not limited to) any of the following: race, gender, sexuality, disability/ability, religion, corporation and/or class, nationality, human rights, political correctness, marginalization, anti-marginalization tactics, rewritten codes, rewritten ideologies, re-affirmed codes, re-affirmed ideologies.  

THE BRICK-N-MORTAR CONFERENCE STRUCTURE: This is being hosted by Kent State University Stark (October 18-20, 2012).  

THE CLOUD CONFERENCE STRUCTURE (password-protected): Those suffering from the weak economy, we will still be providing a conference experience online (at a cheaper rate).  The Cloud Conference part is being hosted fully online by MEMO and members of the KSU Trumbull Campus (October 15 to November 15, 2012).  Individuals will post papers (PDFs), videos (YouTube),sound recordings, or other media online which will be either hosted directly within the password-protected site or linked to from outside the site (as in the case for YouTube video presentations).  Anyone registered for the Brick-n-Mortar conference will have access to this part of the conference as well and be able to comment/discuss presentations in text format online.  

Publication Opportunities:
Selected scholarly papers related to the conference theme will be published in "The Year’s Work in Medievalism." 

============================
STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST
SPECIAL DEADLINE: July 15, 2012

DEADLINE: June 1, 2012

Send completed essays to:
Dr. Carol Robinson, Conference Chair 
Kent State University Trumbull 
4314 Mahoning Avenue, NW 
Warren, Ohio 44483 
clrobins@kent.edu
FAX: 330-437-0490

RULES:
1. Students must be college undergraduates currently enrolled for for classes at their academic institution.
2. Essays must address the theme "Medievalism(s) and Diversity" (see description above).
3. Essays must be MLA formatted, double-spaced, and in 12 point font.
4. Essays must be submitted in PDF format via email or in paper format via regular postal mail to either Dr. Carol L. Robinson or Dr. Elizabeth Williamsen (see the addresses below).
5. NO FAXED SUBMISSIONS!
PRIZES
1ST PLACE: The winning essay will be published in Medievally Speaking, be mentioned on the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site, and receive $100.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to be presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism.
2ND PLACE: The essay that earns Second Place status will be mentioned on the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site, and receive $75.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to be presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism.
3RD PLACE: The essay that earns Third Place status will be mentioned on the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site, and receive $50.00 prize money. The paper will also be expected to be presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism.
HONORABLE MENTION: Any essay that earns an Honorable Mention status (which may or may not happen) will be mentioned on the International Society for the Study of Medievalism web site. The paper might also be invited to be presented in a Special Session at the 27th International Conference on Medievalism. 


Carol L. Robinson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Kent State University Trumbull
http://www.cyberspacerobinson.net

The 28th annual Conference of the Medieval Association of the Midwest

(Knowing in the Middle Ages) will take place September 27-29, 2012, 

at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

More details will soon be posted on the MAM website http://www.hmml.org/MAM 

and some have appeared already in the last issue of Nuntia (also on the website).

 The deadline for paper proposals is July 1, 2012; questions and submissions may be 

directed to Dr. Stephen Yandell at: yandell@xavier.edu.

We are pleased to announce the Royal Archaeological Institute 2012 Conference entitled 'Legacies of Northumbria: Recent thinking on the 5th - 14th Centuries in Northern Britain'

To be held from the 28th September - 1st October 2012 at the Mining Institute, Newcastle upon Tyne.
A Keynote Lecture on Friday, 28th September by Prof. Rosemary Cramp, on '50 years of Northumbrian archaeology: what we didn't know then, what we don't know now' will be followed by a wine reception. 

This will be followed by lectures on Saturday and Sunday from David Petts, Rob Collins, Graeme Young, Paul Bidwell, Chris Ferguson, Steve Sherlock, Paul Johnson, Colm O'Brien, Letty ten Harkel, Gareth Williams, Gareth Dean, Amanda Denton, Nick Baker, Lauren Whitnah, Andy Agate, & Robin Daniels. A full speaker listing, programme, and abstracts can be viewed at www.royalarchinst.org/conferences 

The conference will be followed by a coach trip to the early medieval sites of North Northumberland on Monday 1st October. Places at the conference and on the coach trip are strictly limited, and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more details contact: admin@royalarchinst.org or christopher.ferguson@arch.ox.ac.uk 

Conference Abstract:

The Early Medieval Kingdom of Northumbria occupied an area that transgressed modern political boundaries. Yet the archaeology and history of Northumbria continues to influence regional identities across Northern Britain in the 21st Century. Bringing together academic, commercial and local archaeologists, this conference will showcase new research and explore a number of themes including: the legacy of Rome and the prehistoric north during the formation of fifth and sixth century chiefdoms; the Golden Age of Northumbria; Northumbria in the Viking Age; and the role of Northumbrian culture in the High Medieval period.

Decoding Digital Humanities

Decoding Digital Humanities (DDH) London will be meeting again on

 * Wednesday 30 May 18:00 *

at The Plough, 27 Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LH
<http://g.co/maps/vftpw>

This month we will be reading:

McCarty, Willard (forthcoming). "The residue of uniqueness". The
Cologne Dialogue on Digital Humanities @ Wahn Manor House,
2012. Historical Social Research - Historische Sozialforschung.
<http://www.cceh.uni-koeln.de/files/McCarty.pdf> [pre-print]

Please feel free to disseminate this announcement.

You will be very welcome to join us for a drink and to discuss
modelling, identity, and tech support.

South Atlantic MLA Convention

South Atlantic MLA Convention, Durham NC, November 9-11, 2012: Traveling
through Texts in / to the Middle Ages

Writers of the Middle Ages frequently wrote about travels—their own or
someone else’s—as a way to bring their contemporary readers to distant,
exciting, exotic, or holy places. But travel literature is not the only way
we as modern readers can journey through, to, or within the Middle Ages.
Medieval texts, by their very nature, require us to travel through time to
the Middle Ages, and many modern texts set in the medieval period encourage
us take the same journey. This panel seeks to explore how medieval texts
(and texts set in the medieval period) help us travel within or through the
place(s) of the medieval world, and / or these texts help us travel into
the Middle Ages, by taking us within medieval culture, philosophy, history,
and daily life.

Please submit abstracts to Wendy Hennequin (mwhennequin@gmail.com or
whennequin@tnstate.edu) by June 15, 2012.
Please feel free to cross-post.
-- 

Musical Networks – The 2012 Echo Conference: October 19-20, UCLA

Musical Networks – The 2012 Echo Conference: October 19-20, UCLA

As the impact of digital networks on our lives increases, the logic of networks becomes a major factor in how we view and explain the world.  The implications of this logic for the study of music are numerous; communal structures (of kinship, authority, discourse, etc.), genealogical critique, histories of style, and narratives of artistic influence could all be reconfigured as networks.  Musical practices can result in relationships among individuals and communities; music is transmitted through media networks, virtual networks, networks of consumption, and through the interlocking networks that form among listeners, performers, and creators; and the exchange of musical sounds, idioms, and ideas can reveal how we create social and political structures. 

The goal of this conference is to examine the various implications of networks for the study music. Open to a variety of fields and methods, we encourage participants to experiment with how this term can relate to music, offer new ways of thinking about music, and re-think past practices and methodologies.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
-Music in virtual networks (including “social networks”)
-Music in media networks
-Musical communities
-Understanding music in relation to other arts or other fields
-Networks of musical content within particular works
-Musical institutions: schools, families, religious organizations
-Music and neural networks
-Music and historical genealogies
-Networks of musical distribution
-Musical collaboration
-Musical transnationalism

Proposals are due by June 30, 2012 and should not exceed 250 words. Please send proposals to echoconf@ucla.edu in .doc or .docx format only. We also welcome proposals for panel discussions, lecture recitals, and other non-traditional presentation formats.