Call for Papers: History of the Book Conference, Durham University Online (Deadline 30th June 2021)

The Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University asks for paper submissions for its upcoming History of the Book Conference online, 8th-9th September 2021. They hope to attract contributions from scholars working on premodern book cultures from anywhere across the globe, and we hope to organize the conference to facilitate discussions that include comparative and/or connected perspectives.

The institute invites proposals for papers on the following topics:

  • The material organization of knowledge (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, philosophical, scientific, technical, medical or natural-historical texts and libraries, catalogues, taxonomies, storage, margins, rubrics, annotations, indices or tables of contents)
  • The organization of knowledge about other cultures (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, etc., and epistemic, cultural, linguistic or religious difference)
  • The disorganization of knowledge (the movement, circulation, sale, forgery, theft, or dispersal of knowledge texts or knowledge’s changing meaning as it is appropriated, edited, altered or moved between contexts)

Please send an abstract of max. 250 words, along with your name, affiliation and title to admin.imems@durham.ac.uk. Deadline for submissions is 30th June.

CFP: ‘Image & Narrative in Romanesque Art’, British Archaeological Association International Romanesque conference, British School at Rome (28-30 March 2022), deadline 31 July 2021

The British Archaeological Association will hold the seventh in its series of biennial International Romanesque conferences in association with the British School at Rome on 28-30 March, 2022.

The theme of the conference is Image and Narrative in Romanesque Art, and the aim is to examine the deployment and nature of imagery in the 11th and 12th centuries. While illustrated codices, sequential pictorial narratives, apse mosaics, devotional statues were well established before c.1000, several important new image types and settings came into being over the Romanesque period – moralizing programmes, historiated cloisters, figuratively enriched portals, imagery in glass. How might we understand image and narrative in the Latin West between c.1000 and c.1200? We welcome proposals for papers concerned with narrative modes, the significance of spatial positioning, accessibility and visibility, the uses and physical trappings of devotional images, the relationship between static and portable forms, and the extent to which media play a role in the development or importation of new iconographical formulae. Are images invested with singular meanings, or are they intentionally polysemous? Does the interest in architectural ‘articulation’ initiate a new understanding of the expressive and aesthetic potential of imagery, and/or emphasise its didactic purpose?  Are viewers provided with guidance as to interpretation – through inscriptions or compositional and visual triggers? What are the preconditions for change – theology, monasticism, political and ecclesiastical reform? How does medium and setting affect imagery?

Proposals for papers of up to 30 minutes in duration should be sent to John McNeill and Grazia Fachechi on romanesque2022@thebaa.org by 31 July, 2021. Papers should be in English. Decisions on acceptance will be made by the end of August.

The Conference will be held in the British School at Rome (immediately north of the Borghese Gardens) from 28-30 March, with the opportunity to stay on for two days of visits to buildings in and around Rome on 31 March and 1 April.

Online Conference: Liturgy, Literature & History: Oswald of Northumbria and the Cult of Saints in the High Middle Ages, 5th-6th August 2021

From the Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of London:

‘The centrality of the cult of saints to medieval Christianity is reflected in surviving liturgical, historical, literary and administrative texts, material culture and architecture.  Too often, however, disciplinary boundaries mean these sources are studied in isolation from one another.  A multi-disciplinary approach is needed if we are to properly understand both the mechanisms by which saints’ cults spread and also the manner in which veneration of the saints drove other forms of political, cultural and social expression.  This conference, focussed on the cult of Oswald of Northumbria in the high Middle Ages, brings together historians, literary scholars, musicologists and art historians to explore the cult of saints through texts, objects, space, sound and the senses and particularly interrogates the influence of the liturgy on society.  The conference was intended to include a performance of Oswald’s feast-day liturgy drawn from Peterborough manuscripts and enacted in the space for which it was originally envisioned, we hope this recreation will be possible on Oswald’s feast day in 2022.’

This conference will take place via Zoom Webinar. Video presentations of the papers will be available to view from 2 weeks before the conference and the live element on 5th & 6th August will consist of discussion sessions. Delegates will be sent a link to access the video presentations and details of how to join the webinar nearer the time. There will also be an optional informal social/discussion session on Thursday evening – details about how to join this will be shared during the webinar.

All the pre-recorded videos will have the option to turn on accurate closed caption subtitles and the discussion sessions will feature live captioning via a Caption Viewer URL. A transcript of the discussion sessions will be available after the conference by emailing history.oswald@ucl.ac.uk with ‘transcript’ as the subject heading. If you have any other access requirements that could support your involvement in the conference then please email history.oswald@ucl.ac.uk with ‘access’ as the subject heading.

Registration

The conference is free and open to all. Please register for the live Webinar sessions using the links below. There is no need to register for the informal discussion as details about how to join this session will be shared during the Thursday Webinar.

If you are interested in the conference but do not reside in a time zone that makes attendance at the live element plausible then you are still welcome to register for the conference. By registering you will be able to access the pre-recorded videos at times to suit you, to submit questions to speakers in advance of the live sessions and, by emailing history.oswald@ucl.ac.uk with ‘transcript’ as the subject heading, to be sent a written transcript of the discussions after the conference ends.

Draft Programme (All times BST)

Thursday 5th August

14:30 Welcome

14:45 Panel 1

Professor Tessa Webber (Cambridge), ‘Public reading and the celebration of the feast of St Oswald at Peterborough: the knowns and unknowns’

Dr Nicholas Karn (Southampton), ‘Towards a new edition of Hugh Candidus’s Peterborough chronicle’

Chair: Professor Elisabeth van Houts (Cambridge)

15:30 Short break

15:45 Panel 2

Professor David Hiley (Regensburg), ‘Old and new in the liturgical chants for the feast of St Oswald’

Dr Johanna Dale (UCL), ‘King Oswald’s Arm: Liturgy and Material Culture at Peterborough Abbey’

Chair: Dr Helen Gittos (Oxford)

16:30: break

17:00 Panel 3

Professor Julian Luxford (St Andrews), ‘Images and Relics of Oswald in Later Medieval England’

Professor Nicholas Vincent (UEA), ‘Oswald and England’s Kings, 1066-1307’.

Chair: Dr Philippa Hoskin (Cambridge)

18:00 Informal social gathering

Friday 6th August

14:00 Welcome

14:05 Panel 4

Dr Benjamin Müsegades (Heidelberg), ‘An Englishman abroad. The cult of St Oswald in the medieval Empire’

Dr Diarmuid O’Riain (Munich), ‘The Lives of Oswald and other English saints in the twelfth-century Magnum Legendarium Austriacum’

Chair: Professor Björn Weiler (Aberystwyth)

14:50 Short break

15:00 Panel 5

Dr Henry Parkes (Nottingham), ‘Oswald’s Office in the Bodenseeraum’

Dr Gerhard Lutz (Cleveland Museum), ‘Oswald and Hildesheim Reconsidered’

Chair: Dr Jonathan Lyon (Chicago)

15:45 Break

16:15 Panel 6

Dr Sean Dunnahoe (California State), ‘The transmission of Oswald’s liturgy into Scandinavia’

Professor Brigitte Meijns (KU Leuven), ‘The Abbey of Bergues-Saint-Winnoc and the Cult of St. Oswald in Eleventh-Century Flanders’

Chair: Dr Erik Niblaeus (Cambridge)

17:00 Short break

17:15 Panel 7

Dr Sarah Bowden (King’s College London), ‘St Oswald’s raven: sanctity, sovereignty and animality in the Munich Oswald‘

Dr Francesca Brooks (York), ‘Falling into precipice of mind and monastery’: Lynette Roberts (1909-95) and the Lives of the Cambro-British Saints’

Chair: Dr Emily Ward (UCL)

18:00 Concluding remarks

This conference has been organised with support from The British Academy, Peterborough Cathedral, and UCL.

Online Lecture: ‘The Anatomy of Ritual: Votive Body Parts in Greco-Roman Antiquity and Beyond’, The Warburg Institute, 8th June 2021 17:30 – 19:00 GMT

Dr Jessica Hughes works at The Open University and is a co-founder of The Votives Project, a website and network for people who study, create or use votive offerings or other related ways of communicating with the divine. In this paper, she will introduce her research on anatomical votives in classical antiquity, the models of human body parts which were dedicated in sanctuaries all over the Greco-Roman world. She will discuss a range of votive materials, techniques, forms, and findspots, and consider how these objects can help us understand changing ideas about divine power and human frailty in the ancient Mediterranean. The seminar will also look at how the anatomical votive tradition developed in later times, drawing in particular on material from the Catholic Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary in the modern Italian city of Pompeii. How do these nineteenth- and twentieth-century metal anatomicals relate to the terracotta models that were dedicated in Roman temples down the road in ancient Pompeii? And how can this kind of comparative work contribute to our debates about material devotion and cultural memory? 

Register here.

This event is part of the A Material World: Devotion events series, which brings together academics and heritage professionals from a wide range of disciplines to discuss issues concerning historical devotional materials, their conservation, presentation, display, and reconstruction.

Organisers: Rembrandt Duits (Acting Curator, The Photographic Collection, The Warburg Institute) and Louisa McKenzie (PhD student, The Warburg Institute).

All sessions during 2020-2021 will be delivered online.

Online Lecture: What should historians do in the next decade of the climate crisis?, 1st June 2021 (15:30-17:30 GMT)

The final seminar of this year’s Anthropocene Histories series will be a panel discussion with Andreas Malm (Lund), Julia Adeney Thomas (Notre Dame), and Ling Zhang (Boston College), online on 1st June 2021 from 15:30-17:30 BST.

In the run-up to the UN climate change conference in Glasgow this November, much attention is focused on the political and social adaptations needed to address the climate crisis. Going into and beyond that however, there are also questions for historians and the discipline of history. From to activism, to reparative climate justice, to the shape of the wider historical narratives we offer, historians too face a question about we should do in the next decade of the climate crisis.

  • Andreas Malm is Senior Lecturer in Human Ecology at the University of Lund, and author most recently of How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire.
  • Julia Adeney Thomas is Associate Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, and co-author most recently of The Anthropocene: A Multidisciplinary Approach.
  • Ling Zhang is Associate Professor of History at Boston College, and author of The River, the Plain, and the State: An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 1048-1128.

Advanced registration is essential. Book here.

Post-doctoral Fellowship: ‘Global at Venice – Research and Training for Global Challenges’ Cofund Fellowship Programme 2021 (Deadline 30th June 2021)

The first call for the “Global at Venice – Research and Training for Global Challenges” Cofund Fellowship Programme is now open.

The programme, funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND scheme, gives 15 talented researchers from all over the world the opportunity to undertake their research and training activity at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The programme is supported by the University’s corporate partners, including research centres, non-academic networks of spin-offs, and small and medium enterprises, where Fellows will have the opportunity to complete secondments, bridging the gap between academic and applied research, and between research and market.

The first call for proposals will award a maximum of 8 Fellowships each lasting 24 months.

Applicants are requested to submit their research proposal in one of the six interdisciplinary Research for Global Challenges Institutes (RGCI) that will support them with their individual research and training needs: 

  • Research Institute for Complexity (Science of complex economic, human and natural systems)
  • Research Institute for Digital and Cultural Heritage (Creative arts, cultural heritage and digital humanities)
  • Research Institute for Social Innovation (Public governance, welfare and social innovation)
  • Research Institute for International Studies (Cross cultural and area studies)
  • Research Institute for Green and Blue Growth (Environmental technology and green economy)
  • Research Institute for Innovation Management (Economics and management of innovation and entrepreneurship)

Applicants are required to choose a potential supervisor whose role is to integrate the research within the Research for Global Challenge Institute.

Research Fellows of any nationality on the date of the deadline (5 pm CET 30 June 2021) must meet the following criteria to apply:

  • Be in possession of a PhD degree awarded not later than 8 years prior to this call deadline.
  • Have at least one major publication without their PhD supervisor (either accepted, in press or published) at the time of deadline.
  • Have not resided or carried out their main activity in Italy for longer than 12 months during the 3 years prior to the call deadline, in compliance with the MSCA mobility rule.

Deadline for applications is 30th June 2021. To apply, visit the Institute for Global Challenges site.

Call for Papers: Greek Islands under the Control of Western Rulers, 13th-15th Cent.: Searching for Their Identity through Their Patronage (Deadline 30th June 2021)

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1204 to the armies of the Fourth Crusade and the signing of the treaty of Partitio Terrarum Imperii Romaniae, the majority of the Greek islands (in the Aegean, the Ionian Sea and Crete) gradually passed under the control of the Latins, initiating a new era of conflict and coexistence between the local populations, the new rulers and the settlers.

The Venetians, the Genoese, the Hospitallers et al., within this cultural environment, funded the construction, the decoration, or the renovation of secular and religious  buildings, as well as the production of artefacts. These initiatives constitute the irrefutable evidence of their presence in the Greek islands. Documents, inscriptions, coats of arms, donor portraits and other visual material can provide us with crucial information about the identities of the commissioners and their role within the local communities, and thus help us fill in some of the missing pages of the history of each island or complexes of islands.

With the financial support of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean, through the Simon Barton Postgraduate & ECR Conference Prize, the Organizing and Scientific Committees would like to invite you to the virtual conference Greek Islands under the Control of Western Rulers (13th-15th cent.): Searching for their Identity through their Patronage, which will take place on 3 and 4 December 2021 via Zoom.

The conference aims to promote research on Latin patronage and how this reflects the status of the patrons in the Greek islands under western rule (13th-15th c.) and the interrelationship between the Byzantines and the Latins. Papers are expected to focus on the investigation of the various aspects of the patronage and what these initiatives can tell us about the process of the production of architecture and art (physical materials of the monuments and the objects, aesthetic taste of the commissioners, etc.), their profile (financial and social status, education), their social position within the local communities, their relations with the central or the local administration and the ways they used patronage to promote their status. Broader issues, such as the integration of the two cultures and their parallel development, devotional practices and beliefs, the social and political fermentations created by this coexistence, et al. are expected to be examined as well.

Postgraduate students and early career researchers from various disciplines (history, archaeology, history of art, epigraphy and palaeography) are particularly encouraged to participate. Emphasis will be given to interdisciplinary approaches.

Presentations will be given in Greek or in English. Please send your title and an abstract (about 300 words), written in Greek or in English, to latinpatronageconference@gmail.com, no later than the 30th of June 2021. Paper proposals should also contain the full name of the participant, affiliation, e-mail address, phone number and 5 keywords that best represent the content of your paper. Notifications of acceptance and relevant information will be sent via e-mail by July 2021.

The complete announcement is available from academia.edu

Job Opportunity: Associate Lecturer/Lecturer in History (pre-1700), University of Sydney (Deadline 17th June 2021)

The School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI) is seeking to appoint an Associate Lecturer / Lecturer in History (pre-1700) from candidates who hold a relevant PhD, an outstanding research profile and demonstrated teaching excellence. The Associate Lecturer / Lecturer in History (pre-1700) will be expected to pursue an active research program, produce high quality publications, participate in the department’s research culture, contribute to teaching at all levels and undertake appropriate administrative roles and curriculum development as required. 

We are seeking an academic who can bring their expertise in areas outside of Western Europe and North America as well as one or more of the following thematic areas – Indigenous history (including comparative Indigenous history); race and cultural identity; mobility and migration; women, gender and sexuality; environment and climate. Interdisciplinary expertise, with versatility and breadth across geographic areas and time periods also forms a key component to this opportunity.

The successful candidate will teach large introductory units of study in History and INGS (International and Global Studies) as well as the opportunity to develop specialised higher-level units and to supervise Honours, Masters and PhD students in their fields of speciality. The successful candidate will also be expected to participate in the curriculum transformation currently underway at the University and to be willing to teach into interdisciplinary units.

The school is seeking applications from scholars who are committed to decolonizing methodologies/approaches and public engagement and outreach, including utilising museum collections.

To be considered for this position please ensure you submit the below documents as part of your application:

– Current CV (including two referees of international standing)

– Supporting statement which addresses the below criteria:

  • a PhD (in hand or near completion) in History or a closely related discipline
  • an active research program with significant potential for publication in highly regarded peer-reviewed international journals and presses
  • demonstrated teaching excellence (including capacity to teach introductory units of study as well as specialised higher-level courses) and ability to supervise Honours students, doctoral and other postgraduate research, in fields of speciality
  • capacity to communicate their research in well-regarded peer-reviewed international publications as well as community outreach and public engagement channels
  • capacity to seek research funding from internal and external sources
  • a collegial approach and ability to contribute to curriculum development and undertake other academic administrative duties

The application form can be found here.

New Publication: A Prophet Has Appeared: The Rise of Islam Through Christian and Jewish Eyes, A Sourcebook, by Stephen J. Shoemaker

Early Islam has emerged as a lively site of historical investigation, and scholars have challenged the traditional accounts of Islamic origins by drawing attention to the wealth of non-Islamic sources that describe the rise of Islam. A Prophet Has Appeared brings this approach to the classroom. This collection provides students and scholars with carefully selected, introduced, and annotated materials from non-Islamic sources dating to the early years of Islam. These can be read alone or alongside the Qur’an and later Islamic materials. Applying historical-critical analysis, the volume moves these invaluable sources to more equal footing with later Islamic narratives about Muhammad and the formation of his new religious movement.

Included are new English translations of sources by twenty authors, originally written in not only Greek and Latin but also Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Hebrew, and Arabic and spanning a geographic range from England to Egypt and Iran. Ideal for the classroom and personal library, this sourcebook provides readers with the tools to meaningfully approach a new, burgeoning area of Islamic studies.

Stephen J. Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies and Ira E. Gaston Fellow in Christian Studies at the University of Oregon. He is a specialist on early Christian apocrypha, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and the rise of Islam. He is the author of The Death of a Prophet, The Apocalypse of Empire, and Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion, among many other publications.

Available from The University of California Press.

Job Opportunity: Lecturer in Late Medieval History, King’s College London (Deadline 14th June 2021)

The Department of History at King’s College London seeks to appoint a Lecturer specialising in Late Medieval History (1200-1500). Preference may be given to applicants specializing in Southern Europe and/or the Mediterranean region. You will conduct and publish high quality research in the subject, seek external research funding and engage in impact-generating activities. You will develop new modules in your area of specialism, and contribute to the planning, organisation and delivery of other teaching activities. You will assume pastoral and administrative responsibilities, and participate actively in the life and culture of the department. A strong research track record, excellent teaching ability, outstanding interpersonal skills and a collaborative ethos are essential for the role.

KCL particularly welcomes applications from black and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented in the Department of History. All applications from members of groups with protected characteristics that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Equality Act are welcomed.  This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.This is a full-time post – 100% full time equivalent.

Skills, knowledge and experience

Essential criteria 

1. PhD in Medieval History completed

2. Excellent research expertise in Late Medieval History

3. Ability to convene, teach and assess modules relating to medieval history across the undergraduate curriculum

4. Ability to engage students and support their learning

5. Demonstrable administrative and interpersonal skills, a collaborative ethos, and capacity for team-working

6. Strong track record in research relative to career stage

7. Experience of teaching and supporting students at UG level 

Desirable criteria 

1. Experience of teaching and supporting students at PG level

Further information

Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held in early July. The selection process will include a presentation and an interview. To assist in the shortlisting process, applicants are asked to include a copy of an article or chapter (either published or intended for publication) and a proposal for a collaboratively taught module.They should make clear in their supporting statement how they meet each of the selection criteria for the post using examples of their skills and experience. This may include experience gained in employment, education, or during career breaks (such as time out to care for dependants). Applicants should include a separate short statement describing past experience that promotes diversity and inclusion, broadly understood, and/or plans to make future contributions to more inclusive representation of racialized and other minorities in the applicant’s core discipline, or in the academy more broadly. Please note that we are able to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Deadline to apply is 14th June 2021. For complete information, visit the job posting here.