Call For Papers





This interdisciplinary collection will contain essays that engage with
manifestations of sadistic and masochistic pleasure in medieval texts and
cultures. Such impulses may be implicit in the functioning of institutions
such as the schoolroom or the church or embedded within the very framework
of pre-modern European culture. Examining this *jouissance* around power,
control, dominance, and submission within medieval culture provides yet
unexplored insights into these premodern phenomena as well as into our own
presuppositions as to what the medieval means in relation to current
(kinky) sexual practices.



We are especially interested in arguments focused around visual culture,
gender, race and ethnicity, cultures on the borders/margins or
marginalized. Examinations of court/secular cultures will be prioritized.



Essays should explore the project’s central premise: that medieval texts
and cultures manifest a type of erotic thrill (*jouissance*) that resonates
with contemporary BDSM pleasures and yet in other ways differs in
articulation. Seminal texts on BDSM theory should be included.



Relevant topics include but are not limited the following:



*Please submit abstracts (250-500 words) or complete essays (8,000-10,000
words including references) to Christopher T. Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu
<cvaccaro@uvm.edu>.*



*Abstracts are due by March 15th, 2020. We are hoping to have a complete
and polished manuscript by September 1st.*

Networks of Manuscripts, Networks of Texts*



*Call for a two-day international conference organised by the ‘Innovating
Knowledge’ Project22-23 October 2020*
Huygens ING, Amsterdam

In the last decade, methods of network analysis developed by social
scientists have been increasingly applied to historical disciplines. As a
result, we have seen the emergence of new bodies of researchers working
with network analytical methods, such as Social Network Analysis Research
in the Middle Ages (SNARMA), and new journals, such as the Journal of
Historical Network Research (JHNR). Researchers studying premodern
manuscript cultures have been actively engaged with this new methodological
trend. Completed and ongoing projects make it clear that the methods of
network analysis can be applied to the study of premodern manuscripts and
manuscript texts and yield relevant and exciting results. However, it is
also clear that scholars of premodern written cultures face unique
challenges when engaging with network analysis stemming from the nature of
the material they are working with. Not all methods devised by social
scientists are applicable to manuscripts and texts, while in other cases,
established methods need to be adapted to and reinvented for new needs.
Working with large corpora of manuscripts and texts, and approaching
premodern written cultures from a quantitative perspective bring their
unique challenges to fields that have a long tradition of looking at their
subjects in small quantities and with a qualitative lens. As any young
methodological subfield, the study of premodern manuscripts and manuscript
texts using network analysis is still in an exploratory stage, with
theoretical frameworks being forged and methods tested.

This conference aims to bring together researchers applying network
analysis to premodern manuscripts and manuscript texts. We would like to
invite researchers working in all fields of premodern manuscript studies
and researchers working with manuscript texts who engage with the methods
and concepts stemming from network analysis. Key topics include, but are
not limited to, the following:

   - Theoretical reflections on the challenges and advantages of applying
   network analysis, including social network analysis, to premodern written
   cultures;
   -  Application of network analysis to corpora of premodern manuscripts
   and texts;
   - Network analysis as a means of understanding the circulation of texts
   and transmission of knowledge in the premodern period;
   - Quantitative study of networks of medieval book exchange and letter
   exchange;
   - Network analysis as a tool of textual criticism and text editing;
   - Network graphs as stemmata of texts and genres with complex textual
   history;
   - Networks of co-citation of premodern authors and authoritative texts;
   - Networks of co-occurrence and compilation of texts in medieval
   manuscripts;
   - Network analysis as a tool for the study of annotation practices and
   commentary traditions in premodern manuscript cultures;
   - Network analysis as a tool for the study of citation and reception in
   premodern manuscript cultures.

We welcome proposals in two categories: a) 30- minute full papers suitable
for presenting completed or ongoing research; and b) 20-minute exploratory
papers suitable for presenting newly started research or research proposals
that are still being developed. The second category is particularly
intended for early career researchers who are new to the field of network
analysis and wish to have their ideas tested in front of an expert audience.

A keynote by Matteo Valleriani (Max Planck Institute for the History of
Science, Berlin/Technische Universität Berlin/University of Tel Aviv) is
included on the first day of the conference.

Proposals of between 300 and 500 words should be sent to Dr Evina Steinová
at evina.steinova@huygens.knaw.nl by the end of April 2020. Authors of
successful submissions will be informed by the end of June 2020 and
encouraged to submit full papers in the following months so that they can
be circulated in advance to stimulate a fruitful discussion.

The language of the conference will be English. We offer to cover the
accommodation costs for two nights and provide lunches. We also intend to
provide a small number of bursaries to speakers who may need travel
assistance.

For further information, contact Dr Evina Steinová at
evina.steinova@huygens.knaw.nl.

Please, feel free to circulate the CFP among those who may be interested.



Evina Steinova
https://evinasteinova.academia.edu/

Postdoctoral Researcher
NWO VENI project Innovating Knowledge
Huygens ING, Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam

CFP: Failure: Understanding Art as Process, 1150-1750 (Florence, 15-17 Oct 20)
by Tim Urban
Call for Papers

*Failure: Understanding Art as Process, 1150-1750*



Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, 15-17 October 2020



/Organized by: Ariella Minden, Alessandro Nova, and Luca Palozzi/



This conference proposes to bring failure into focus as a crucial component
of artistic production. Understanding failure as a generative force rather
than the antagonist to success offers an opportunity for a paradigmatic shift
away from the overpowering rhetoric of accomplishment and artistic progress
which is still so predominant in art history –instead re-evaluating trial
and error. This may lead, in turn, to a more nuanced understanding of art in
its making, that is, as process, with an emphasis on the latter, rather than
on the finished object.



This conference’s chronological span encompasses the years 1150 to 1750 and
the emergence of new methods of scientific and artistic inquiry rooted in
practices of empirical observation and sustained experimentation. In so
doing, it aims to provide a wider critical framework within which to probe
making at the intersections of art, science, and technology. Artists would
not have experienced these realms as separate, since their everyday workshop
practice showed them as contiguous and porous. They experimented with
different materials, forged their own tools, and, in their quest for new and
expressive means, bridged and breached boundaries between media and
techniques. Very often, they failed. Although failure is usually neglected
and often stigmatised in art history, the historical record is not erased.



Evidence of past failure –one’s own, or in the form of transmitted
knowledge– abounds in artistic and artisanal treatises, and in the
surviving documentation, not to mention the objects themselves. Mural
painting, for instance, was an exacting medium. In his 'Libro dell’arte' of
the late-fourteenth century, Cennino Cennini admonished fellow painters that
winter is the best season for painting in fresco, since in frescoing a wall
on a hot summer’s day the plaster would dry too quickly. Experimentation
gone awry runs rampant in practice, as with Cimabue’s blackened monumental
'Crucifixion' at Assisi, which would have cautioned others on the hazards of
expanding the use of a lead white pigment from panel to wall painting. And it
was Leonardo da Vinci’s technical audacity, after all, that led him to
explore the possibility of using an oil binder in the making of his 'Last
Supper' in Milan, much to the detriment of this work’s durability.



Not only did artists toy and flirt with failure, but sometimes they harnessed
it as an expressive means in its own right. Donatello decided not to amend a
defect in the wax model for the veil of his Judith, resting on the figure’s
head, realizing that it would give viewers the impression of worn-out
fabric– well suited to the persona of the Biblical heroine. Indeed, the
whole history of bronze casting, and of casting in general, could be
rewritten from the viewpoint of failure.



Experiments failed 'in toto' or in part are integral to understanding the
history of the so-called applied arts, as well. Maiolica, glass making, and
metalwork, for example, relied on the transfer of artisanal knowledge to
ensure the multi-generational survival of workshops. Reappraising failure
thus also challenges the canonical distinction between 'arti maggiori' and
'arti minori'. Furthermore, as one begins to consider the development and
movement of technologies across time and space, a broader geographical
perspective is inherent. Particular techniques and classes of objects, such
as lusterware from Egypt and Spain, in all its brilliance, easily
transgressed cultural and political boundaries, holding appeal to wider
audiences all over Europe, and beyond. This prompted local artists and
artisans to try and penetrate their technical secrets, a process in which
failure was endemic and on occasions even commercially disastrous.



A history of art that is not exclusively result oriented takes the
experiments that went wrong as primary historical evidence for the vast array
of activities that constitute art making.



We welcome papers that consider the broader geography of failure from 1150 to
1750 including, but not limited to the following contexts:

- archival documents that record or litigate instances of artistic failure;

- artisanal epistemologies; the creation and transmission of workshop
knowledge through, for instance, the assemblage and handing down of recipe
books;

- drawing practices, the compilation of model books, and their circulation,
e.g. through copies and prints; the making of three-dimensional models and
casts; issues of dissemination, replication and indexicality;

- the significance of experimentation in painting and sculpture, and across
the applied arts (glass, ceramics, metalwork, textile, leatherwork);

- how artists came to terms with failure philosophically, for example, in
their inscriptions and retrospectively in their writings;

- artistic treatises, their creation and readership, with an emphasis on the
discussion of trial and error in artistic practice;

- how modern tools of technical analysis, i.e. carried out by museum
conservators and technicians, can help detect, prove or else disprove
historical cases of artistic failure on material and technical levels.





*We solicit 25-minute papers from both early career researchers and senior
scholars to be given in English. Please send a 300-word paper proposal and a
one-page bio to the conference organizers at: dirnova@khi.fi.it [1] by 15
March 2020.*

*The Total Library: **Aspirations for Complete Knowledge in the Middle Ages
and Renaissance*

The 27th Biennial Conference of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Program of Barnard College

Barnard College, New York City

December 5, 2020



*Plenary Speakers:*

Ann Blair (Harvard University)

Elias Muhanna (Brown University)





According to Borges, “The fancy or the imagination or the utopia of the
Total Library has certain characteristics that are easily confused with
virtues.” This one-day conference will explore the aspiration for complete
knowledge in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, an aspiration expressed
in atlases, herbals, encyclopedias that were meant to mirror and maybe tame
the diversity of the earth by including in their pages everything. Whether
virtuous or problematic, the fantasy of the complete mastery of knowledge
created utopias of learning. In our current moment when the value of
knowledge is under question, we invite scholars of multiple disciplines
(art history, history, literary studies, religion, history of science) to
raise questions about the technologies, social structures, and modes of
thought that shape what knowledge means at a given moment.



Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words and a 2-page CV by *May 15, 2020* to
Rachel Eisendrath, reisendr@barnard.edu.

> *Translation and the limits of Greek-Latin bilingualism in Late Antiquity
> (ca. 300-600 CE)*
>
> Panel at the 13th Celtic Conference in Classics, Lyon 15-18 2020
>
> Abstract submission deadline: *March 20, 2020*
>
> *Confirmed speakers:​*
>
> Eleanor Dickey (University of Reading)
>
> Adam Gitner (*Thesaurus Linguae Latinae*, Bayerische Akademie der
> Wissenschaften)
>
> Bruno Rochette (Université de Liège)
>
> Alison John (Universiteit Gent)
>
> Alan Ross (Columbia University)
>
> Bilingualism between Latin and Greek sits at odds with the major scholarly
> re-evaluations of Late Antiquity that characterize this period as an age of
> cultural, political and religious transformations, as opposed to an era of
> decline and fall. Being expert *utraque lingua* ‘in both languages [i.e.
> Latin and Greek]’, had been an integral part of Roman intellectual culture
> and identity since the late Republic; but, according to conventional
> interpretation, by the end of the fourth century CE, the decline of Greek
> education in the west (evidenced by the rise in Latin translations of Greek
> texts, especially by Christians), and the relegation of Latin to the
> language of law and the bureaucracy in the East, were inescapable signs of
> cultural decline. By the fifth century, a linguistic divide reinforced the
> political division of the empire between east and west, Greek and Latin
> (Millar, 2006; Riché, 1976; Jones, 1964; Marrou, 1948). When bilingualism
> in Late Antiquity has recently been studied more positively, it has been
> often been from a multilingual perspective, between Latin or Greek and
> other languages of the Mediterranean world, Coptic, Syriac, or Punic
> (Rigolio 2019; Mullen and James, 2012; Adams, Janse, and Swain, 2002).
>
> In the absence of any sustained study of Greek-Latin bilingualism and
> translation practice in the late antique period, this panel seeks to
> examine the function and prevalence of Greek-Latin bilingualism and to
> explore the connections between language communities and intellectual
> cultures across the empire from the Tetrarchy to the reign of Justinian.
> Particularly it wishes to question the assumed negative correlation between
> a decline in bilingualism and a rise in translation, and to do so from the
> perspective both of Latin in a Greek context and Greek in Latin.
>
> Proposals are sought for papers that approach the topic from a wide range
> of perspectives: not just linguistic but literary, codicological, legal,
> political or historical. Papers that address one or more of the following
> questions would be especially welcome:
>
> ·      How regionalized or uniform were changes in educational practices
> in Greek and Latin language-learning? How did these change between the
> fourth and sixth centuries?
>
> ·      What counts as ‘being bilingual’ in Late Antiquity?
>
> ·      What effect did the increase in the imperial bureaucracy in the
> fourth century have upon the extent of the knowledge and use of Latin in
> the east?
>
> ·      As bilingualism became rarer, to what extent did it become a
> sought-after skill? Did any new opportunities present themselves for
> someone expert *utraque lingua*? How did such opportunities affect normal
> power relations, e.g. between a monolingual emperor or governor and a
> bilingual advisor?
>
> ·      What were the motivations for translation, and why were certain
> works deemed necessary for translation and others not?
>
> ·      How were newly translated texts received by other (monolingual)
> authors, and to what extent did they inspire subsequent compositions?
>
> ·      To what extent did linguistic translation also entail cultural
> translation between Greek and Latin, east and west, or vice versa (cf.
> Jerome’s statement that in translating Eusebius’ *Chronicle* he also
> added western events omitted by the eastern Eusebius)?
>
> ·      How closely implicated was a decline in bilingualism with societal
> problems, e.g. doctrinal conflicts between Christians, or problems of legal
> interpretation and practice?
>
> ·      How do Greek texts composed in the West, or Latin texts composed in
> the East affect our picture of changing levels of bilingualism or
> expectations of their initial audiences’ linguistic skills?
>
> ·      How was scribal practice affected by changes in bilingualism?
>
> ·      To what extent does evidence for bilingualism or translation in the
> epigraphic and material record align with that of literary texts?
>
>
>
> We welcome proposals for papers of 35 minutes. Please submit an abstract
> of approximately 400 words and a proposed title by *March 20, 2020*.
> Papers may be in either English or French. Please include your
> institutional affiliation in your email.
>
>
> Submissions and questions can be directed to either Alison John (
> alison.john@ugent.be) or Alan Ross (alan.ross@columbia.edu
> <ajr2242@columbia.edu>).
>
>
> For more information about the Celtic Conference in Classics:
> www.celticconferenceinclassics.org.
>
>
>
> The panel convenors,
>
>
>
> Alison John (Universiteit Gent, Belgium)
>
> Alan Ross (Columbia University, New York)

Call for Papers




*The Twenty-Third Biennial Conference of the International Society for the
History of Rhetoric (ISHR)  Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
July 27-31, 2021*



The Biennial Conference of ISHR brings together several hundred specialists
in the history of rhetoric from around thirty countries.

*Scholarly Focus of the Conference*

The Society calls for twenty-minute conference papers focusing on
historical aspects of the theory and practice of rhetoric. This year’s
specific conference theme or focus is “Topics and Commonplaces in Antiquity
and Beyond.”

Topical invention originated in ancient Greece and was developed and used
throughout the western intellectual tradition as a systematized method of
finding arguments to discuss abstract, philosophical questions, as well as
specific questions determined by circumstances of time and space.
Commonplaces are part of topical invention. They reflect commonly accepted
views and ideas such as the benefits of peace vs. the harm caused by war,
and can be geared to provide arguments which confirm, suggest, or create
consensus. Studying topics and their application from a historical
perspective thus highlights how persuasive texts reflect and contribute to
the shaping of the intellectual and sociocultural contexts in which they
are situated. We invite papers on the theory and practice of topics in all
regions, periods and cultures. But of course we also welcome papers on both
the theory and the practice of rhetoric in all periods and languages, and
on its relationships with poetics, philosophy, politics, religion, law, and
other aspects of the cultural context.

*Procedure for Submission*

Proposals are invited for 20-minute presentations delivered in one of the
six languages of the Society, viz. English, French, German, Italian, Latin
and Spanish. The Society also welcomes panel proposals consisting of three
or four speakers dealing with a common theme, so as to form a coherent set
of papers. The chair of the proposed panel may also be one of the speakers.
Each speaker in a panel should submit a proposal form for his or her own
paper, clearly specifying the panel to which it pertains. In addition, the
panel organizer is expected to complete and submit a separate form
explaining the purpose of the proposed panel and naming the participants.
Please note that proposals for panel papers will be considered on their
individual merits by the Programme Committee, and there is no guarantee
that all papers proposed for a panel will be accepted.

Each person may only appear once as a speaker on the programme. Only one
proposal for presentation per person can be accepted, including also
presentations as parts of panels. Persons serving as (non-presenting)
chairs are not affected by this rule.

Proposals for papers and for panels must be submitted on-line. Please
complete the on-line form carefully and fully. For any questions please
contact the chair of the programme committee, *Prof. Lucía Díaz Marroquín
(ldiazmar@ucm.es <ldiazmar@ucm.es>), or myself (m.v.d.poel@let.ru.nl
<m.v.d.poel@let.ru.nl>).* Please note that submitting a paper implies
making the commitment to attend the conference if your paper is accepted.
Guidelines for the preparation of proposals are provided at the bottom of
this message. The length of the abstracts must not exceed 300 words.

*Deadline for Proposals*

The deadline for the submission of proposals is *15 May 2020*.

The submission website will be open for submission by *February 2020*. An
alert will appear on the ISHR website and in your mailbox.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by September 2020. For
participants who require an earlier acceptance date in order to secure
funding, we will try to accommodate their requests if they are made with
appropriate documentation.

Information about the Conference, including hotel accommodation, will be
provided at the beginning of the academic year 2020-2021. The conference
registration fee is still to be determined, but the Nijmegen organizers
will endeavor to ensure that this is kept as low as possible. Graduate
students and scholars from underrepresented countries pay reduced
registration fees and may be eligible for travel grants. *Click HERE to
apply.
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__associationdatabase.com_aws_ISHR_input-5Fform_display-5Fform-5F01-5Fshow-3Fform-5Fno-3D29-26host-3Dretain&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=LcBh9mYQDYa9Sc13ampaIxg3rpalKCIHTY0qfjS4TCk&m=oyCuqehty91uxvIBlhMwGmKONHjmH5XIb1nPSI1leSQ&s=8A6T6MDO0N7i-pVrb7toNgPeSZyeo54xKAB7CwNUkJ4&e=>*

I am very much looking forward to welcoming you to Nijmegen in 2021!!!

Marc van der Poel,
*President of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric*

*Guidelines for the preparation of proposals*:

The members of ISHR come from many countries and academic disciplines. The
following guidelines are intended to make it easier for us to come together
and understand one another’s proposals. The Program Committee recommends
that all proposals contain:

   1. a definition – accessible to a non-specialist – of the field of the
   proposal, including its chronological period, language, texts and other
   sources;
   2. a statement of the specific problem that will be treated in your
   paper; its place in relation to the present state of research in the
   general field under consideration; and its significance for the history of
   rhetoric;
   3. a summary of the stages of argumentation involved in addressing the
   problem; and
   4. conclusions and advances in research.

International Society for the History of Rhetoric
<https://associationdatabase.com/aws/ISHR/pt/sp/home_page>

International Society for the History of Rhetoric

<https://associationdatabase.com/aws/ISHR/pt/sp/home_page>

41st Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum:

Scent and Fragrance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Keene State College

Keene, NH, USA

Friday and Saturday April 17-18, 2020



Call for Papers and Sessions

We are delighted to announce that the 41st Medieval and Renaissance
Forum: Scent and Fragrance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will
take place on Friday, April 17 and Saturday April 18, 2020 at Keene
State College in Keene, New Hampshire.



We welcome abstracts (one page or less) or panel proposals that
discuss smell and fragrance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.



Papers and sessions, however, need not be confined to this theme but
may cover other aspects of medieval and Renaissance life, literature,
languages, art, philosophy, theology, history, and music.



This year’s keynote speaker is Deirdre Larkin, Managing Horticulturist
at The Cloisters Museum and Gardens from 2007 to 2013, who will speak
on “Every Fragrant Herb: The Medieval Garden and the Gardens of The
Cloisters.”



Deirdre Larkin is a horticulturist and historian of plants and
gardens. She holds an MA in the history of religions from Princeton
University and received her horticultural training at the New York
Botanical Garden. She was associated with the Gardens of The Cloisters
for more than twenty years and was responsible for all aspects of
their development, design, and interpretation. Ms. Larkin was the
originator of and principal contributor to the Medieval Garden
Enclosed blog, published on the MMA website from 2008 through 2013.
Ms. Larkin lectures frequently for museums, historical societies, and
horticultural organizations. In 2017, she was a Mellon Visiting
Scholar at the Humanities Institute of the New York Botanical Garden,
where she researched the fortunes and reputations of medieval European
plants now naturalized in North America. Her gardens in upstate New
York serve as a laboratory for further investigations in the field.

Students, faculty, and independent scholars are welcome. Please
indicate your status (undergraduate, graduate, or faculty),
affiliation (if relevant), and full contact information (including
email address) on your proposal.


For the first time this year, all graduate students will be eligible
for consideration for the South Wind Graduate Student Paper Award. The
winner of the South Wind Graduate Student Paper Award will be
announced at lunch on Friday, April 17, 2020.



We welcome undergraduate sessions, but ask that students obtain a
faculty member's approval and sponsorship.



Please submit abstracts, audio/visual needs, and full contact
information to Dr. Robert G. Sullivan, Assistant Forum Director at
sullivan@german.umass.edu.



Abstract deadline: January 15, 2020



Presenters and early registration: March 15, 2020



As always, we look forward to greeting returning and first-time
participants to Keene in April!