The symposium will explore how the medieval past is ‘curated’, that is, collected, interpreted, and communicated, across both professional and popular society. In addition, the symposium looks to question the ways in which medievalism impacts these acts of curatorship.
Guided by the underlying principle that remembering and communicating the medieval past is a process shared in by individuals from all sections of society, the desire is for the symposium to facilitate much needed lines of communication within and beyond academic circles, thereby supporting greater cross-societal debate on how the medieval past can and should be communicated publicly.
As such, the symposium brings together a group of 5 keynote speakers from a variety of fields such as heritage, public archaeology, and reenactment to explore the variety of ways in which the medieval is publicly curated.
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Keynote Speakers
Dr Fran Allfrey is a lecturer at the University of Reading and studies the afterlives of medieval texts, objects and histories.
Jeppe Christensen is the Head of Authenticity for the reenactment and living History group Vikings!
Dr Robert Houghton is a lecturer at the University of Winchester and explores representations of the Middle Ages in modern games.
Professor Carenza Lewis is professor for the public understanding of research within the college of arts at the University of Lincoln.
Dr Will Wyeth is a Properties Historian at English Heritage specializing in castles and their landscapes.
Call for Papers
We invite papers that explore themes or topics to do with the process of publicly curating the medieval past. This could also include any of the following:
The challenges that are present in communicating the medieval past through a variety of mediums, be that heritage, archaeology, digital media, or reenactment and living history (or a combination of these mediums), and, if applicable, the initiatives you feel could, or indeed have, implemented in order to tackle these challenges.
Impact (positive or negative) of medievalism on the process of communicating the medieval past
Community projects looking to curate the medieval past
Research into the public understanding and reception of the medieval past
We particularly encourage abstracts from researchers outside of academia.
Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to Lynsey McLaughlin (lcoombs@lincoln.ac.uk), by Friday 8th July 2022.
For more information, click here.
Medieval Art Research 