CFP: International Conference on Medievalism

We like to get uniquely MEMO presentations together for this conference. Please send proposals to Carol Robinson (clrobins@kent.edu) by June 1, 2009.
Call for Papers
24th International Conference on Medievalism

October 8-11, 2009

Medievalism and Religion

Studies in Medievalism invites session and paper proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference, October 8-11, 2009. We welcome papers that explore any topic related to the study and teaching of Medievalism, and especially those that focus on this year's theme of “Medievalism and Religion.”

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to bring together aspects of the Middle Ages with the ways artists and scholars since medieval times have imagined these eras in literature, film, music, painting, sculpture and other media, as well as in other (non-humanities) institutions. One does not have to look far to find connections between medievalism and religion. For example, in her book's Epilogue, Karen Armstrong writes, "Crusading is not a lost medieval tradition: it has survived in different forms in both Europe and the United States and we must accept that our own views are as likely to be blinkered and prejudiced as either the Arabs' or the Jews'. It is probably impossible for us to change these old crusading attitudes overnight." Points of focus might include (but are not limited to):
ÿ Counter cultural medievalists beliefs
ÿ Misrepresentations of medieval religion in contemporary society, including Neopaganism
ÿ Medievalism, religion, war and other contemporary crusades
ÿ Medievalist contemporary religious music
ÿ The “gothic” architecture of American churches
ÿ Re-imaginings of important religious figures (Cuthbert, Saladin, Catherine of Siena, Maimonides, Margery Kempe)
ÿ Travel and/or pilgrimage literature (early or modern)
ÿ Modern historical novels (including mysteries)
ÿ Medievalist religious works on the contemporary stage
ÿ Shakespeare and medievalist beliefs
ÿ Tolkien and Religion
ÿ Religion in contemporary Arthurian works
ÿ Medievalist religion portrayed on film, television and/or the radio
ÿ Medievalist religion and the Internet
ÿ Medievalist religion in electronic and/or non-electronic games
ÿ Gender identity and sexuality, medievalism and religion

Publication Opportunities:
Selected papers related to the conference theme will be published in The Year’s Work in Medievalism.

Siena College is located near Albany in beautiful upstate New York, 2 hours north of New York City, with easy access via Albany International Airport (ALB) and by Amtrak train and auto. October is prime leaf-peeping season with an average temperature of 65 degrees. Siena College, a contemporary institution that is yet also firmly grounded in the traditions of Franciscan Catholicism, is the perfect setting for our exploration of medievalism and religion.

For more information, vist:
http://www.medievalism.net/conferences/conference2009.html

MEMO AT KALAMAZOO

This year, MEMO will again hold two events at the International Congress on Medieval Studies:


Thursday ~ May 7th ~ 3:30pm
Neomedievalist Communities (Paper Session)
Organizer: Carol L. Robinson (Kent State University-Trumbull)
Presider: Lesley A. Coote (University of Hull)
~~Guilds, Community, and Spectacle in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Computer Games (MMORPGs)
Kevin A. Moberly (St. Cloud State University) and Brent Addison Moberly (Indiana University-Bloomington)
~~Music and Culture(s) across Time: Understanding Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Karen M. Cook (Duke University)
~~Joining Robin's Gang: Forging a Neomedieval Community with BBC's Robin Hood
Jennifer Culver (University of Texas-Dallas)
~~Beowulf: Prince of the Geats, Nazis, and Odinists
Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University)

Friday ~ May 8th ~ 7:00pm
Gaming Neomedievally (A Festive Workshop and Poster Session)
Organizer: Carol L. Robinson (Kent State University-Trumbull)
Presider: Carol L. Robinson (Kent State University-Trumbull)
~~Gothic Elements in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PlayStation 3
Morgan Ankrom (Kent State University)
~~Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) Guilds, Community, and Spectacle Samples
Kevin A. Moberly (St. Cloud State University) and Brent Addison Moberly (Indiana University-Bloomington)
~~Arthurian Apocalypse: Dark Age of Camelot
Lauryn S. Mayer (Washington and Jefferson College)
~~Music and Culture(s) across Time: Samples in Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Karen M. Cook (Duke University)
~~Virtually Medieval: World of Warcraft Reconsiders the Middle Ages
N.M. Heckel (University of Rochester)
~~Neo-Tolkien Neomedieval Gaming
Pamela Clements (Siena College)
~~The Neomedieval Hero: Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (for the PlayStation 3)
Brad Phillips (Kent State University)

MEMO MERCHANDISE!

Thanks to the generous efforts of Brad Phillips, MEMO merchandise is now available through CafePress.com. So far, we have two basic designs (shown below) by Bill Robinson and Kara Randby. If you have a design (with or without slogan), please share it. You will get 5% profit after costs of production; remaining profit will go to MEMO, to help pay for the web site and other projects. So buy something today! Visit: http://www.cafepress.com/memomerch.

MEMO IN STUDIES IN MEDIEVALISM

MEMO in Studies in Medievalism
As a result of a cooperation between Studies in Medievalism and Medieval Electronic Multimedia Organization, several members of MEMO have articles published in a subsection on electronic medievalist video games in Studies in Medievalism XVI: Medievalism in Technology Old and New . The section edited by Karl Fugelso with Carol L. Robinson. The section features articles by MEMO members Amy S. Kaufman, Kevin Moberly & Brent Moberly (a.k.a. "The Moberly Bros."), and Lauryn S. Mayer. For more details, visit http://medievalelectronicmultimedia.org/publications.html.

SOME STARTING DEFINITIONS

THESE ARE ALSO POSTED AT MEMO'S WEB PAGES
(http://medievalelectronicmultimedia.org/definitions.html)

MEDIEVALISM: "Medievalism is the study of responses to the Middle Ages at all periods since a sense of the mediaeval began to develop. Such responses include, but are not restricted to, the activities of scholars, historians and philologists in rediscovering medieval materials; the ways in which such materials were and are used by political groups intent on self-definition or self-legitimation; and artistic creations, whether literary, visual or musical, based on whatever has been or is thought to have been recovered from the medieval centuries. The Middle Ages remain present, moreover, in the modern consciousness, both through scholarship and through popular media such as film, video games, poster art, TV series and comic strips, and these media are also a legitimate object of study, if often intertwined with more traditionally scholarly topics. "
(T.A. Shippey, Studies in Medievalism, http://www.medievalism.net/)

MODERNIST MEDIEVALISM: Experimental medievalist fictions that imply historical discontinuity, rejecting traditinal values and assumptions. rewritten medieval values and assumptions into new values and assumptions, but framed within symbolic antinquities associated with the Middle Ages. Full of angst an a sense of futility, an infusion of what we perceive to be medieval characterization, plot, and fantasy with an awareness, exploration and elevation of the individual unconsciousness and consciousness. (Carol L. Robinson)

POST-MODERN MEDIEVALISM: More "medieval" than Modernist Medievalism in that it is more critical of contemporary perspectives of medieval values and societal codes, and is thus less comprehensive: fragments of a fragmented history, a synergism of histories, seamless and constantly changing histories that strike us as "medieval"--whether or not they truly are medieval in nature. A recognition that we don't really know the past any more than we know the future (much less the current zeitgeist). (Carol L. Robinson)

NEOMEDIEVALISM: a neologism that was first popularized by Italian medievalist Umberto Eco in his 1973 essay "Dreaming in the Middle Ages," and has been used in a variety of way since. Angst becomes aggression. Histories are purposely fragmented. The illusion of control is made through changes of the illusion, rather than attempted changes of reality. There is no longer a sense of the futile, or at least it is second-staged by an illusionary sense of power and a denial of reality. Medieval concepts and values are purposely rewritten as a consious vision of an alternative universe (a fantasy of the medieval that is created with forethought). Furthermore, this vision lacks the nostalgia of earlier medievalisms in that it denies history. Contemporary values (feminism, gay rights, modern technolgical warfare tactics, democracy, capitalism, ...) dominate and rewrite the traditional perceptions of the European Middle Ages, even infusing other medieval cultures, such as that of Japan.
*Neomedievalism is also a term used in political theory, and was first discussed in 1977 by theorist Hedly Bull in _The Anarchial Society: A Study of Order in World Politics_ (pg. 254-55). (Carol L. Robinson)