Call for papers: Leeds International Medieval Congress 4-7 July 2016
The Medieval Landscape/Seascape
Following on from a successful strand of sessions for the last two years, it has been suggested that we continue in 2016!
Writing about the medieval landscape and environment has a rich and long tradition and is an area in which many of the disciplines that comprise medieval studies have made significant contributions. Scholars working on ideas of the landscape, concepts of space and place as well as in the developing field of environmental humanities have added to our theoretical framework for understanding people’s relationships with the environment in the past. We hope to organise a series of sessions focusing on medieval landscapes/seascapes broadly conceived. We welcome proposals that draw on historical, literary, archaeological, art-historical and musicological approaches and sources.
For 2016, we would like to focus on these themes related to landscapes/seascapes:
- Performance: Walking, perambulation, pilgrimage, plays/drama, battle rituals, movement, hunting, magic, rituals;
- Memory: Reclamation of empty places, re-use of place, how places in the past are remembered in the present, recording and memory tools, forgetting/remembering, memorials, post- Black death and spaces/place, connections to past places (e.g. ancient wells, forests);
- Journey/Journeys: Itineraries, migrations, pilgrimage, crusades, travel narratives, roads and movement to and thru places, exploration, navigation, map making;
- Food & Famine: Production, fishing, preserving, designed spaces (gardens), field usage, empty spaces post plague or famine, images of landscape/seascape in manuscripts, activities related to food.
Potential contributors might like to think about the following ideas/concepts when suggesting a paper in the above themes:
- the place of the landscape/seascape in historical writing
- landscape/maritime archaeology
- medieval urban landscapes
- the landscape of particular events
- experiencing the landscape/seascape
- tools and theories for understanding the medieval landscape/seascape: e.g. digital humanities, knowledge exchange, mapping, etc.
- different national landscape traditions, including antiquarian and chorographic traditions, and how they affect our understanding of the medieval past.
It is hoped that, through these sessions we will raise and begin to answer a number of key questions about landscapes/seascapes in the Middle Ages. What is the relationship between the experience and conceptualisation of landscapes/seascape? What gaps exist in the evidence for the landscape/seascape as a physical, economic, social and cultural phenomenon, and can interdisciplinary work help us to bridge these? What innovative methods and approaches can we bring to the study of medieval landscape/seascape?
Please send abstracts for 20 minute papers to Kimm Curran, University of Glasgow by no later than 15 September 2015. By clicking here and provide the following:
- Title
- Abstract (max 200 words)
- Your name, institution, and role
- Full postal and electronic contact details (these will be used by Leeds IMC to contact you, post the programme, etc.)
All information on their website !