New Perspectives on Medieval Rome (2 sessions at Kalamazoo 2016)

Digital, environmental, material, Mediterranean, sensory, spatial:
these are among the recent “turns” taken by the medieval humanities,
including art history. The new perspectives on the past opened by these
approaches, many of which are informed by interdisciplinary research
and contemporary cultural interests in the natural and built world, are
fundamentally reshaping how we conceive of and study medieval art and
architecture. In the field of medieval art, the city of Rome has
traditionally been a key site for the formulation of innovative avenues
of approach, but what is its current status and its potential in
relation to the discipline’s new discourses?

These two linked sessions seek to assess the impact of recent
methodological developments on the study of the art, architecture, and
urban forms of Rome during the long middle ages, ca. 300–1500. We
invite papers that offer new research on, and new ways of thinking
about, the visual and material culture of medieval Rome.

Please direct inquiries/submissions to the organizers at
mhaukne1@jhu.edu and alison.perchuk@csuci.edu. Information about the
conference, including proposal submission forms, may be found at
http://wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html.