Masculine Journeys/Journeying Masculinities, 25th International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2–5, 2018

This panel seeks papers that address the relationship between masculinity and travel in the Middle Ages (broadly defined in geography and chronology). Most people who traveled long distances were men. Did the masculine identities of those who voyaged differ from those who stayed at home? How did the relationship between male travelers and theirs social and familial ties play out in terms of gender and masculinity? Did travelers revise their ideas of masculinity as they encountered other cultures, and did those they visited comment on their gender? How do travelers’ accounts, letters home, and accounts from the receiving communities, and imaginative literature play with ideas of masculinity?

Papers about merchants, pilgrims, explorers, warriors, missionaries, scholars, pirates, diplomats, tourists, from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, all are welcome.  

Organizers
Ruth Mazo Karras, University of Minnesota
Oded Zinger, Hebrew University of Jerusalem