Remembering the Middle Ages? Reception, Identity, Politics, London, April 5–6, 2019

The conference, “Remembering the Middle Ages? Reception, Identity, Politics,” aims to unite an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars in conversation about the uses of the “medieval” period across time. Particularly, we ask how the concept of a “cultural memory” of the Middle Ages can be useful (or not) in understanding how and why scholars, artists, audiences, and other users have resourced or imagined the Middle Ages, in any post-medieval period. We ask participants to interrogate the linguistic, material, and social networks that have been created by medieval things over time.

We invite submissions of abstracts for 20-minute papers. Papers considering the intersections of medievalisms, cultural memory, and concepts of identity are particularly welcome. Potential topic areas might include, but are not limited to: discourses of race or ethno-nationalism; medievalisms that remember a multiple and complex Middle Ages; antiquarian scholarship; visual and performance art; translation theory; heritage discourses; global remembrances of the European Middle Ages; assemblages of the European and non-European in medievalist projects; cultural memory of the Middle Ages; the politics of medievalism; periodization; intersections between nativist dialogues and medievalism; right-wing and/ or left-wing medievalisms; medievalisms that disrupt stereotypes.

We encourage researchers at all career stages to apply.

The two-day conference will to be held at Fischer Hall, the University of Notre Dame’s London campus, on April 5th-6th, 2019.