Postdoctoral Fellowship, Bates College

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The Department of History, Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine, invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellow, with a particular emphasis on pedagogical innovation. The fellowship is funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and begins August 1, 2014. Candidates must complete the Ph.D. by September 1, 2014, and should be no more than three years out of their doctorate. This is a half-time teaching position with salary and benefits of a full-time assistant professor. The fellow will teach three courses during the academic year 2014-15 and two courses in 2015-16. The reduced teaching load is designed to support innovation in teaching and on-going professional research. Some funds to support scholarly work are also available. Bates is a highly selective liberal arts college and will provide an excellent climate for professional development and scholarship.

We seek historians of the western Mediterranean between 300 and 1650 C.E., with strong preferences for those who study Spain before 1500. The following areas of specialization are of particular interest: interfaith relations, the Mediterranean world, and/or the Atlantic world. We anticipate a close integration of this position among programs in History and Classical and Medieval Studies, so applicants should explain how their own work might complement some of the work of relevant members of these departments. The successful candidate must be interested in, and will conduct faculty workshops on, innovative teaching and research. The department recognizes that innovation can take many forms. Some possibilities could include techniques in the digital humanities; methods for attracting diverse groups to the study of history; pedagogies focused on different learning styles; creative ways of structuring assignments and the use of classroom time; techniques for connecting student learning to wider local and global communities; or creative approaches to promoting student engagement and interest in History at Bates. The college, the History Department, and the Classical and Medieval Studies Program are committed to enhancing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum. The search committee expects candidates who can contribute to this goal to identify their strengths and experiences in this area.

Applicants should submit electronically, in PDF format, to Nancy LePage, Project Specialist, 207-786-6480 atacademicservices@bates.edu, a letter of application, C.V., writing sample, teaching statement, and three letters of recommendation. Please include your last name and R2527 in the subject line of all submissions. Consideration of applications will begin on March 17, 2014, and continue until the position is filled. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.
For more information about the college, please visit the Bates website: www.bates.edu.

Workshop: Early Modern Colour Practices II, 1450-1650

Early Modern Colour Practices II, 1450 – 1650, 21/22 March 2014
Main Conference Room, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstr. 22, 14195 Berlin
Organisers:
Sven Dupré, Max Planck Research Group Director / Freie Universität Berlin
Karin Leonhard, MPIWG / Universität Bonn
In recent years colour has become the focus of discussion for scholars interested in the interactions between art, craft, science and technology. While this discussion has drawn in scholars from various disciplines (history of art, history of science and technology, technical art history and conservation science), the focus on interactions between categories of art, craft, science and technology, unreflectively defined according to modern disciplines, is not helpful in understanding colour in the early modern period. This workshop takes colour practices, cutting across the categories of art, craft, science and technology, as its central category of analysis, while it also acknowledges the different sources and types and the various uses of colour knowledge. The workshop deals with a diversity of such practices, from painting, limning and colour printing to medical diagnosis and optical or meteorological observation to botanical or anatomical drawing, in the period between 1450 and 1650.
 
If you would like to have more information, please see the MPIWG’s events page:
and the workshop’s web page:

Observers are welcome but space is limited. To register, please email officedupre@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.

Conference: Naxos and the Byzantine Aegean

Naxos and the Byzantine Aegean 
Saturday 12th – Sunday 13th April 2014,
The Ursuline School, Naxos Chora 

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The Norwegian Institute at Athens in collaboration with the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine
Antiquities, and the Demos of Naxos and The Small Cyclades wishes to announce the forthcoming conference.

Background 
The Norwegian Institute at Athens has carried out field work on Naxos at the 7th century Byzantine urban fortress of Kastro Apalirou in collaboration with The 2nd Ephoria of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities (EBA) since 2010. The project has recently been widened to include the Universities of Edinburgh and Newcastle. The conference aims to bring together scholars working on Naxos and other Byzantine sites in the Aegean and will focus on Byzantine research on Naxos, though some aspects of Late
Antique settlement will be included. The following research themes will be covered: Archaeology, History, Landscape History, Ecclesiastical History, and Iconographic and Architectural development.

Contact 

For academic program: jim.crow@ed.ac.uk
For organisational matters: david.hill@khm.uio.no
For matters concerning arrangements on Naxos:
sophiakaravias@yahoo.co.uk
 

MAA GSC Graduate Student Mentoring at Kalamazoo International Medieval Congress 2014

The Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America invites those attending the International Medieval Congress (8-11 May 2014, Western Michigan University) to participate in the MAA Graduate Student Mentorship Program. The program facilitates networking between graduate students and established scholars by pairing a student and scholar according to discipline. One need not be a member of the Medieval Academy to participate.

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The mentorship exchanges are meant to help students establish professional contacts with scholars who can offer them career advice. The primary objective of this mentoring exchange is that the relationship be active during the conference, although mentors and mentees sometimes decide to continue communication after a conference has ended.

To volunteer as a mentor (faculty and independent scholars only) or to sign up as a mentee, please submit the online form, linked to this email, by Monday, 31 March. Find the online form here: GSC Mentoring Form https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dDNXbjA0YUdYdjB5MVZDUm8tT25WUXc6MA 

Recent Publications on Medieval Art

  • Creer con imágenes en la Edad Media.

Creer con imágenes en la Edad Media, Codex Aquilarensis n. 28, Fundación Santa María la Real, 2012, 276 p. ISSN: 0214-896X

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Contents:

HERBERT L. KESSLER: Topografías de la fe en el arte medieval.

MARCELLO ANGHEBEN: La Vierge à l’Enfant comme imatge du prête officiant. Les exemples des peintures romanes des Pyrénées et de Maderuelo.
MARC SUREDA I JUBANY: La imagen en el altar. Reflexiones sobre localización, propiedades y utilidades de la imagen esculpida a partir de ejemplos catalanes del medioevo.
JUAN ANTONIO OLAÑETA MOLINA: Puertas y donantes. El anhelo de salvación manifestado con imágenes en las postrimerías del siglo XII.
VINCENT DEBIAIS: Crear con imágenes. Los ángeles de Aguilar de Campoo.
MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ VELASCO: Creer con imágenes. Iniciales miniadas e iconografía narrativa en las biblias románicas de la escuela umbro romana.
MARÍA VICTORIA CHICO PICAZA: Praxis y realidad en la miniatura del Códice Rico de las Cantigas de Santa María.
FUENSANTA MURCIA NICOLÁS: Milagro e imágenes de culto. Una nueva cultura visual en los manuscritos de Gautier de Coinci.
CLARA FERNÁNDEZ-LADREDA AGUADÉ: Las imágenes devocionales como fuente de inspiración artística.
MARÍA JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ: Las anunciaciones góticas burgalesas y los ritos hispánico y romano.
ERIC PALAZZO: Voir et entendre les chants de la messe.
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA AVILÉS: Estatuas poseídas: ídolos demoníacos en el arte de la Edad Media.

  • Frédéric Tixier, La monstrance eucharistique (XIII-XVI siècle).

FRÉDÉRIC TIXIER. La monstrance eucharistique (XIII-XVI siècle), Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014, 368 p. ISBN: 978-2-7535-2720-1

Contents:

La genèse d’un nouvel objet liturgique

Les facteurs religieux de l’apparition de la monstrance eucharistique
Influences de pratiques cultuelles antérieures
Conclusion-synthèse de la première partie

Typologie et ornementation du «Porte-Dieu»

Les diverses typologies d’une même pièce liturgique
Un décor souvent lié à la fonction de l’objet eucharistique
Conclusion-synthèse de la deuxième partie

Des usages de la monstrance eucharistique de la seconde moitié du XIIIe siècle au contexte de la Contre-Réforme (début du XVIIe siècle)

Une fonction-clé : voir et adorer le corps du Christ
L’ostensoir : un outil de propagande de la Contre-Réforme
La monstrance eucharistique et le monde laïc
Conclusion-synthèse de la troisième partie

  • Horst Kranz (trans. & ed.), Liber instromentorum iconographicus: Ein illustriertes Maschinenbuch.

HORST KRANZ. Johannes Fontana: “Liber instrumentorum iconographicus”. Ein illustriertes Maschinenbuch,Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014, 192 p. ISBN: 978-3515106603

Contents:

Einleitung
Der Autor
Eine Abschrift mit Geheimschrift
Eine militär- oder ziviltechnische Sammlung?
Die Unterschiede zu anderen Werken
Die Gemeinsamkeiten
Der Anspruch
Der  Empfänger
Benutzerspuren und vormoderne Rezeption
Moderne Rezeption und Wertung
Die Chiffren
Geheimniskrämerei oder Spielerei?

Ausgabe
Die Disposition des Textes
Die Abschnitte im Überblick
Der Text

Anhang
Nachtrag: Fontana und der Brennspiegel
Index verborum
Index nominum et operum
Bibliographie

  • Vincent Heymans, Laetitia Cnockaert, Frédérique Honoré, Le palais du Coudenberg à Bruxelles: du château médiéval au site archéologique. 

VINCENT HEYMANS; LAETITIA CNOCKAERT; FRÉDÉRIQUE HONORÉ. Le palais du Coudenberg à Bruxelles: Du château médiéval au site archéologogique, Mardaga, 2014, 360 p. ISBN: 978-2804701567.

 

  • Peregrine Horden and Sharon Kinoshita, A Companion to Mediterranean History. 
ISBN: 978-0-470-65901-4, 498 pages. March 2014, Wiley-Blackwell.
For a table of contents, see the publication website.

I Jornadas de Historia, Arte y Diseño de Moda

“Indumentaria y estética en la Edad Media: precedentes para la moda contemporánea” (“Clothing and aesthetics in the Middle Ages: precedents for contemporary fashion”)

Museo del Traje – Madrid. 25, 26 and 27 March 2014.

Organised by CSDMM (Centro Superior de Diseño de Moda de Madrid), Museo del Traje de Madrid and University Complutense of Madrid.

Experts in history, fashion theory, art history, textiles, sociology, archaeology, etc., will meet to discuss the shape of men and women’s clothes in the Middle Ages, as well as commercial routes, formal and social precedents, and new techniques in textiles or dyes. There are five scheduled sessions:

I. RUPTURAS Y PERVIVENCIAS DE LA ANTIGÜEDAD EN LA EDAD MEDIA. (Rupture and survival from Antiquity to the Middle Ages)

II. LA TRADICIÓN INDUMENTARIA EN BIZANCIO Y EL ISLAM. (Clothing tradition in Byzantium and Islam)

III. LA INDUMENTARIA Y LA MODA EN LA EUROPA CRISTIANA. (Clothing and fashion in Christian Europe)

IV. LA MODA CONTEMPORÁNEA Y SU RELACIÓN CON EL MEDIOEVO. (Contemporary fashion and its relationship with the Middle Ages)

V. VISITA A LAS COLECCIONES DEL MUSEO DEL TRAJE. CIPE. (A visit to the Museo del Traje’s collections)

The inscription is free. For more information, please visit the following website: http://www.csdmm.upm.es/grinves/grinves.html

UCL Lunch Hour Lecture: Medieval languages of persuasion

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UCL Lunch Hour Lecture: Medieval languages of persuasion, 13:15 – 13:55 13 March 2014

Darwin Lecture Theatre, access via Malet Place | Darwin Building

Gower St | London | WC1E 6BT | United Kingdom

Admission: FREE

Ticketing: Open

Dr Antonio Sennis, UCL History

Divine letters, supernatural visions and apocalyptic curses were often successfully employed by medieval clerics to persuade their counterparts to do what they wanted them to do. This lecture will explore how these tools of persuasion responded to a Medieval cultural logic.

“FLAWS” – Medieval Research Conference, University College London

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“FLAWS” – Medieval Research Conference

Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, BL MS Arundel 38,

London Medieval Graduate Network, UCL, 29th May 2014

The London Medieval Graduate Network welcomes submissions for research papers on “Flaws” for its 2014 annual conference, hosted by UCL. This inter-disciplinary conference examines how deliberate or mistaken defects, errors, limitations and imperfections have been perceived across the medieval period.

Flaws are something all researchers have to deal with; from flaws in our source material, to flaws in the approaches and theories we use. The late twentieth century witnessed a concerted effort from within the medieval discipline to challenge not only our theoretical approaches but also the validity of our disciplines themselves. These challenges encouraged researchers to be aware of the limitations of their evidence as well as mindful of the choices they make within their own research. As postgraduates and young researchers we are more aware than ever of the flaws which we face. We hope that this theme will give scope for the discussion of newer areas of medieval study, such as considerations of materiality, the built environment and psychological analyses, whilst also allow us to consider new approaches to more traditional discussions of the text, narratives and institutions.

Professor John Arnold (Birbeck) will give a keynote talk entitled, ‘Flaws in Medieval Belief.’

LMGN seeks to promote conversations and collaborations among medievalists in and beyond the London network. Following the success of last year’s conference, “In the Beginning”, hosted by King’s College, we are excited to invite proposals for 20-minute papers in any aspect of our theme of flaws. Submissions are open to postgraduate and early career researchers working in all medieval periods or academic disciplines.

Topics could include but are not limited to:

 Considerations of what flaws are and whether our conception of them changes over time

 Flaws in medieval source material

 Lost, damaged and concealed objects

 Imperfections in the built environment

 Flaws in our approach to the medieval past

 Sin, erring and the dichotomies of right and wrong

 Abstractions of behaviour from what was considered ‘ideal’ or ‘correct’

 Flaws in government and the consequences of ‘bad rule’

 Flaws in religious understanding and thinking

 Punishments for perceived flaws

 How legal systems or authorities address and correct flaws and imperfections in behaviour

 Flaws and imperfections in art, manuscript illustrations and marginalia

 Differentiating creativity and originality from error

 Intentionality of flaws and errors

 False attributions, past and present, of sources, influences or textual authorities

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words. Please send your abstract together with a short biographical note to londonmedgradnetwork@gmail.com by March 24th 2014.

See here for flyer: LMGN Conference

Call for papers: Eating Anatolia: Remembered Histories and Forgotten Foods

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First we eat, then we do everything else.”  – MFK Fisher

Koç University’s department of Archaeology and History of Art is pleased to announce “Eating Anatolia: Remembered Histories and Forgotten Foods,” its second annual Graduate Student Symposium, May 3rd, 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Few aspects of our shared human experience are more fundamental than food.  The act of preparing, serving and eating food in both historic and contemporary contexts spans low and high culture, encompassing social and cultural practices. Food functions as utility and pleasure, exposing social dynamics between producers and consumers and the wealth of material and cultural references that can be drawn from these interactions.  In its breadth and diversity, the topic presents a provocative opportunity to examine this most basic feature of history from a multi-disciplinary perspective, remembering that there is no single narrative to explain the story of food over time.

This symposium seeks to encourage a diverse range of perspectives and disciplines concerned with a span of topics, areas and periods as they relate to food and food production in Anatolia and its surrounding regions, including agriculture, feasting, cooking methods and technologies, and food culture manifested in migration and exchange.  Fellow graduate students are encouraged to consider alternative perspectives and how they contribute to a richer understanding of food-related practices and implications in Anatolia from the earliest prehistory until the end of the Ottoman Empire.

All graduate students are encouraged to apply.

Applicants should submit a 250-word abstract by March 6, 2014 to arhasymposium@gmail.com

For other questions contact arhasymposium@gmail.com or visit http://www.facebook.com/ARHAsymposium.

Encompassing Anatolia and its surrounding regions, suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Food production and agriculture
  • Domestication of crops and animals
  • Wine and viticulture
  • Tools and technologies
  • Hunting and/or cooking tools
  • Cooking methods
  • Preservation
  • Ingredients, recipes and diets
  • Spices and their distribution
  • Feasting and rituals
  • Visual or textual representation of food
  • Migration and trade
  • Food and preparation methods as cultural heritage and intangible heritage
  • Architecture as related to food production, distribution and consumption
  • Tea and Coffee traditions and culture

The Infidel before the Judge: Navigating Justice Systems in Multiconfessional Medieval Europe by Professor John Tolan,

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Lecture: The Infidel before the Judge: Navigating Justice Systems in Multiconfessional Medieval Europe by Professor John Tolan, Université de Nantes

Friday, 14th March 2014, 3-5 PM

SOAS, University of London, Department of History

Main Building, room 4426

Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square

London WC1H 0XG

For further inquiries contact: kh20@soas.ac.uk

All are welcome