Thursday 25 August 2011

Insular Economics: programme and abstracts


McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 
10th September 2011

The programme and abstracts for the workshop Insular Economics: Ireland in the Eleventh and Twelfth Century (10th September, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge) are now available on the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic website: http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/news/2011/07/25/651.  This interdisciplinary workshop will feature new lines of enquiry into the economies and economics of eleventh- and twelfth-century Ireland, being pursued by early-career researchers (PhD and Post-doctoral), from Cambridge, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester and Liverpool.  Attendance is free and limited number of places are still available.  Anyone interested in attending should contact the convenors, via the above link, before Friday 2nd September.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Call for Papers: Power and the Sacred in the Medieval World

Call for Papers: Power and the Sacred in the Medieval World
(5th - 15th centuries), 26th November 2011, University of Leicester

This conference will explore the origins and development of the relationship between ‘power’ and ‘sacred’ in the Medieval World (5th to 15th centuries) addressing the possible transformations and transitions of these terms within a broad time frame, and how they were realized in people, places and objects, and in different faiths, for example Christianity, Judaism and Islam. ‘Outsider’ perceptions of the ways in which power and the sacred were constructed or reconstructed according to context are also significant: how and what were the interactions between sacred objects/people/places by peoples of different faiths? how would these have been perceived? how did movements such as the Crusades affect notions of sacred and power? how did gender affect interactions between sacred objects/people/power? 
We would like to invite postgraduate students to contribute to this discussion at an interdisciplinary conference being held at the University of Leicester on 26 November, 2011. We are particularly keen to encourage debate between disciplines, and invite students of History, English, Archaeology, Theology and Art History, or any other aspect of medieval studies broadly construed, to attend and present a paper.
Possible topics may include (but are not limited to):
·        The roles of religious institutions in channelling power, both sacred and political: Did these roles change depending on place and alliances with political figures? Where did monasteries ‘fit’ as a religious institution and how did they channel power?
·        Literary constructions of power and/or sacrality: How were these dynamisms recorded by whom, and why?
·        Conflicts between different types of sacralities and/or power: Who were the main agents for these conflicts? How did particular agents affect the construction of sanctity and power?
·        The role of saints in the Medieval World: how far did ‘national power’ align with ‘national’ saints or sacred objects? Are there noticeable transformations over time? How did these compare between regions (i.e. Britain and Francia/ Western Christendom and Islamic Near and Middle East), or in relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims?
·        The perceptions of ‘peripheral’ people on power and/or sacred: how did the poor, the ‘lower classes’ and foreigners perceive interactions between ‘State and Church’?
The principal aim of this conference is to create a forum for debate by exposing researchers to developments in and around their fields, and by creating a space for new ideas between disciplines to emerge.
Please send 300-word abstracts for papers (20 minutes long) to Shazia Jagot at sj82@le.ac.uk by the 26 August 2011. Proposals for Posters are also welcome.