50th Annual International Congress of Medieval Studies

This is my fifth time at the Congress, the 50th Annual Congress, and the first time that I have actually made it to the dance on Saturday Night. I love dancing, but the first three years I either came with one person, like my mom, and so it was a bit awkward for the two of us to go to the dance, or I went to the Congress solo. Last year I went as a student at Western Michigan University, but my presentation was Sunday morning, and since I work to the last minute, I didn't have time for a dance. It is great fun. Apparently playing the Last Saskatchewan pirate by the Arrogant Worms is a tradition. Odd. As is playing some polka music.

I listened to some very interesting presentations and had some great talks with old colleagues and fellow kingship/medievalisms/Viking enthusiasts. Here is the schedule I followed and the papers I went to:

Thursday

1:30 - Bodies that Matter II: Impact and Outreach in Medieval Studies (A Roundtable)

As I say, I like to work to the last minute, so my first session was my own. I was asked to participate by the lovely Dr. Christina Lee, who was one of my professors when I did my Masters at Nottingham. We had a hard time keeping to the ten minutes, but it is always hard to keep it short when you are excited about what you are talking about, and we all were. Because it was a panel about outreach I was the only one who spoke on script.

Vikings for Schools: Engaging Children in Medieval Research 
Emma Vosper, Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, Univ. of Nottingham 

Emma's talk was very interesting: she broke down the program they bring into the schools, including what the target schools were, what the schedule was like and the material they were able to get their hands on to have a hands on program. She also talked about funding and how they are able to carry on the project. It seems like a very successful school program. Here is more about the program.

The Midlands Viking Symposium: Community Engagement with Research
Christina Lee 

Dr. Lee demonstrated the importance of having community sessions along with more academic sessions, and how a conference can both tap into popular interest and help inform the public.

Accessing the Medieval: Bridging Gaps between Author and Audience 
Nicola Royan, Univ. of Nottingham Community

Historical fiction workshops sounds like great fun, though as Dr. Royan points out, it can be a bit like wrangling cats, as you try and gather participants, authors and funding. It sounds like a great way to make the public and the medieval meet though.

Archaeology: Medieval Southwell 
Christopher King, Institute for Medieval Research, Univ. of Nottingham Community 

The project was well-outlined in the presentation. It looks like there is some interesting work being done in Southwell.

Archaeology II: Oakington Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
Duncan Sayer, Univ. of Central Lancashire 

The project sounded like a great community builder for Lancashire. This presentation covered the community benefits of a local archaeological dig, as well as some of the ethical implications that you have to deal with if you are going to undertake excavations of burial sites and involve the public in the excavations.

Heritage and Tourism: Putting Vikings on the Map
Megan Arnott, Western Michigan Univ.

Some oldies and some newbies. I talked about the impact of Viking heritage tourism on landscapes, so L'Anse aux Meadows came up again, but I also worked in some Scandinavian examples.


3:30 - The Public Medievalist: A Roundtable on Engaging the Public with the Middle Ages 

Susan Morrison, Texas State Univ.–San Marcos

Dr. Morrison showed us her student projects. They were really interesting, fun and creative interpretations of medieval topics and texts. The students came up with interpretations of the texts that mimicked popular online magazines like Buzzfeed or offered interesting comparisons between medieval figures and modern popular culture. She is working on some final edits before she releases it to the public.

Paul Sturtevant, Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Sturtevant reminded us that using popular methods, like the website thepublicmedievalist.com, you reach a different audience and might actually have a much larger impact than any of the academic work that we do.

David Perry, Dominican Univ.

Dr. Perry echoed these sentiments. He also asked us to be kind, and not to tweet or message anything unkind about someone's presentation at Kalamazoo, because often those aren't meant to be fully polished work, and you can put a blackmark on someone's career. He is not arguing for a lack of public accountability, but he asks us to question whether or not anything negative really needs to be said. If you've thought about it and the answer is still yes, still think about the way you phrase things, but the critical tone we often adopt is often counterproductive.

Bruce Holsinger, Univ. of Virginia

Dr. Holsinger said something quite similar. He is the author of Neomedievalisms, Neoconservatisms and the War on Terror.

Sandra Alvares, medievalists.net

The presenter was a bit wary of public speaking, but the content was very interesting. medievalists.net has now been up and running for seven years. It is the site I always refer to for my medieval news, which sounds like an oxymoron, but isn't.

Friday

1:30 - Anglo-Saxon England

Alfred in Expeditione: Assembling the Evidence for a West Saxon Campaign against a Viking Host in South-East England in 882 
Robert Briggs, Univ. of Nottingham/Univ. College London 

This presentation argued for the correlation between modern Epsom and medieval Hebesham, and it was very convincing. Not actually being a place-name specialist, the presenter went on to argue that the documents and the place name indicate that in 882 King Alfred was playing a role in London's defense. The presentation also exhorted historians to reach out to linguists.

Under the Influence: Reassessing the Relationship between Viking and Anglo-Saxon Towns in England during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries 
David D. Crane, Salem State Univ. 

This presentation showed that the link between Danish and Anglo-Saxon towns in England was great, because these so called Danes seem to have been doing things largely in an Anglo-Saxon way, including minting coins and frankly building towns to begin with.

Æthelred’s Shameful Rule: Treachery, Tribute, and the Heroic Code 
Tahlia Birnbaum, Univ. of Sydney

This was a great presentation that talked about the two kinds of medieval shame (there may be more than two, but really I can't think of any others that are expressed in literature, so I find this very convincing). Namely, they are penitential shame, which often has a beneficial role in bringing you closer to God, and honorific shame, which results from cowardice in battle or bad dealings with others and causes you to be ousted from your community. this paper argued that Aethelred should be feeling the latter, because he runs away, but seems to turn it into the former, though not always very successfully.

3:30 - New Frontiers in Old Norse 

This session was sponsored by the Viking Society for Northern Research and it was chaired by Dr. Lee who also organized my session.

Masochism and Paranoia, Sex and Violence in Völundarkviða
Peter Sandberg, Univ. College London 

This presentation shows how Völundarkviða is a whole text, despite the stand alone nature of the first four stanzas. It showed the economy of cruelty in the text.

The Controlled Decline of Viking-Held Dorestad 
Christian Cooijmans, Univ. of Edinburgh

This presented a convincing argument that the reason that Dorestad fell wasn't just that the Vikings came to raid it every year in the ninth century, but that the Carolingian powers that be made no effort to save it and transferred the economic centre to Deventor where they had better control over the trade and system of vassalage.

Medieval Identity in the North Atlantic
Dayanna Knight, Independent Scholar

This paper presented a convincing argument for the transition of North Atlantic identities in the medieval period. Dr. Knight showed how kin as an identity determinant becomes kin and affiliation as more continental ideas about identity seep into the North Atlantic.

Saturday

10:00 - The “Good,” the “Bad,” and the “Ugly” Ruler: Ideal Kingship in the Middle Ages 

This session was sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence; Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies Univ. of Florida. It was a very international session.

Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden: Usurpers’ Deeds and Historians’ Verdicts in Merovingian and Carolingian Chronicles 
Gerald Schwedler, Historisches Seminar, Univ. Zürich 

The presentation opened with a great joke about things unspoken to show the power, and argued that the Chronicles intentionally left things unsaid, like talking about the children of usurpers or certain revolutions, in order to make statements about the rights of certain people to rule.

“One Man’s Villain Is Another Man’s Hero”: Concepts Which Medieval Historians Employed to Construct the Images of Central European Princes as Good or Bad 
Grischa Vercamer, Freie Univ. Berlin

The conclusion of the paper was that the sources he looked at portrayed the villains of the texts as cowardly, cunning and arrogant when they wished to convey disapproval of certain personalities.

“Wise as Solomon / Cruel as Rehoboam”: Ancient and Biblical Models for Portraying Good and Bad Rulers in Medieval Central Europe 
Robert Antonín, Ostravská Univ.

This presentation looked at who became the biblical and ancient models for kings, and showed that Constantine, David and Solomon were the most commonly used examples.

In Search of Rule Models in Saint Erkenwald and Lydgate’s Saints Edmund and Fredmund 
Rebecca Huffman, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor

What was interesting here was that these texts were presented to the king by Lydgate as instructional texts. However, Rebecca Huffman points out that the kings, although they are saints, are not always the most kingly (maybe not even the most saintly). It can't be said if this was intentional or not, but it is interesting that Lydgate would present the king with imperfect models.

1:30 - Scandinavian Studies 

This session is always sponsored by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies.  Unfortunately I missed the first paper, but I'm sure it was interesting. However, here are the ones I did catch.

Playing with Conventions of Propriety: The Subversion of Etiquette in Lokasenna 
Edward Currie, Cornell Univ.

This paper argued convincingly that Lokasenna is a parody of the values espoused in Havamal.

The Old Norse Equitan and the Dignity of Kingship
Molly Jacobs, Univ. of California–Berkeley

This presentation compared Marie de France's Equitan with the Old Norse translation done for Hakon Hakonarsson's court. The long epilogue on the Old Norse version is part of the amplification of the kingly roles implicit in the original text. The Old Norse version plays down the love aspects and plays up the king's responsibilities.

3:30 - The Icelandic Sagas as History

This session was sponsored by the New England Saga Society (NESS). For the last little while they have been podcasting about sagas at sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com and it has been very successful.

Moderate Heroism: Outlaw Family Sagas as Social Scripts and Spin Control
Randi Anderson, South Dakota State Univ. 

This paper supported Theodore Andersson's conclusion that the main value in the sagas was not honour but moderation, showing how this manifests itself in the Outlaw sagas, and in Gisli's saga in particular. When Gisli is restrained the world moves forward as it should.

Viking Age Cleveland: A New Runic Inscription in Context 
Pragya Vorha, Univ. of Leicester

Pragya and I had lunch one day. She is lovely and very knowledgeable. This presentation went over the finds and teh progress at the excavations in Cleveland, and specifically the runestone that they found at the site, since it is only the 18th Viking Age runestone discovered in England.

Visualizing Space and Place: A Literary Mapping Project of the Outlaw Sagas 
Mary Catherine Kinniburgh, Graduate Center, CUNY

This presentation gave some great visuals for the outlaw sagas, showing visualizations for all of the place-names in the Outlaw Sagas and showing where the major centres are. It garnered the most questions during question period as people tried to understand the context of the information they were looking at.

Some of my friends also wrote about some of their Kalamazoo 50th experiences. If you just can't get enough Kalamazoo, here are links to the things they wrote about:

Dani Alexis Ryskamp
Marca Hoyle
Dayanna Knight

Recapping: My second year of the PhD and International Congress of Medieval Studies 2014

This was my first time going to Congress while actually attending Western Michigan University. It is good to have your own apartment. My mother once described the dorm rooms (she came with me the year I decided to go to WMU) as soul crushing. I was just pleased to see the sun on campus. It has been a long, cold winter.

This was possibly the most challenging year of school I have ever undertaken. This is evidenced in the frequency of my blog posts. Next year I start my comps. Ahh. But one person said that actually, it just isn't as hard as having to produce three graduate length seminar papers at the end of a semester. I will see, I guess.

And it looks like I will be able to write my thesis about characterizations of Haraldr hardrada. So that is the plan, though one hates to make such definite statements going into it. But I already researched a bad Victorian poet who writes about the Conquest, and also looked at his characterization in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. So I have done some work on this so far. Not only am I super interested in him, I am hoping it will tie in my English, History and Public History training. In my fantasy dream world I imagine me writing a book that comes out just when they release that movie that is rumoured to be going into production, or that they let me help on the movie set (a career dream of mine, to be an advisor on a movie set) but I am also aware of how unproductive such thoughts are. Helpful hints and suggestions about sources are welcome for now.

This summer is full of all those extra projects that come from working on a PhD. I am attending two conferences, entering essay competitions, and trying (as we are all trying) to make someone publish one of these. The first conference was the International Congress of Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. I saw a lot of good papers. I apologize if I don't remember what your paper was about, as it is more likely due to paper burnout than poor papers.

Thursday May 8, 2014

1:30 - Session 79: New Voices in Anglo-Saxon Studies I

Portents and the Natural World in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - M. Goodrich, Univ. of Conneticut

I was interested in this paper because I mentioned the portents of 1066 mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in my own paper. I thought it was interesting, though I had a bit of a hard time following it, mostly because my paper was at 3:30. But what I understood was that the portents can be subdivided by type, and that they do correspond with political events, particularly turmoil in the upper echelons of power.

Counting Crows and Crakes: Measuring Norse and English Vocabulary in Minor Names - Eleanor Rye, University of Nottingham

From one of my old alma maters, I could recognize the influence of the Institute for Name-Studies in her work. She was presenting on a section of her PhD project, showing the Norse influence in minor place names in England. Using many lovely graphics, she was able to demonstrate the influence on one of the regions of England, but for the life of me I can't remember which one.

I skipped out on the third presentation, leaving my diet coke behind, because I had to go make copies of my extensive handout.

3:30 - Session 139: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's Shifting Rhetoric of Danish Ethnicity during the Reigns of Alfred and Edward - Britt Mize, Texas A&M University

My co-presenter in this panel. we thought afterwards since the third presenter wasn't there, we could probably have actually named this session characterizations of Scandinavians in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This was an excellent paper that showed that during Alfred's reign, immigrant Danes were called Danes when they were an attacking enemy force. However, in times of peace the people of Northumbria lose the epithet of Dane. However, this pattern changes towards Edward's time, as Dane is used as a descriptor even for groups that are not attacking, but that are settled. It is of course used for those literally coming over on a boat from Denmark, but the focus of the study was on the descriptors of people living in England.

The 1066 Norwegian Invasion of England and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - Megan Arnott

I, of course, thought this went quite well. I'm not sure I was good at answering questions, but that is always the hardest part. I had a handout placing the Chronicles next to each other, and a powerpoint, just because I think you should always have a powerpoint to keep people interested in what you are saying. For an earlier version of this paper you can see my blog. It has of course been revised, but the arguments are the same.

A special shout-out to M. Wendy Hennequin from Tennessee State University, who was very friendly and very helpful as the presider of the session.

7:30 - Session 149: Norse Bishops' Sagas and Their European Contexts

The Translated Bishop: The Icelandic Saintly Bishops, (Inter)nationality, and Locality - Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Háskóli Íslands

This was a very interesting paper, showing that some of the miracles performed in the Bishop Sagas have an international flavour in the way that they are presented in the texts. A.k.a. the way the miracle is described has parallels in European tradition, though some are distinctly Icelandic.

Lárentius saga and Social Networks - Erika Sigurdson, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum

This paper mapped the connections between the characters to show Larentius's international flavours. It showed Larentius as at the centre of the map, but showed that he had ties to a great many people in other places in Europe. It was a great way to visually represent the saga, and it showed many things about the text. The visual mapping is a great tool to show who is at the centre and who isn't.

Friday May 9, 2014

10:00 - Session 219: Social Contracts and Contacts in Old English and Old Norse Literature

The Old English Julianna and the Economy of Debt - Fabienne Michelet, University of Toronto

This demonstrated that Julianna's actions are reacting to a society which monetizes everything, including people. She is offering people an alternative, a life of religion, in direct opposition to this economy, and borrows vocabulary from this economy to make her points more poignant.

I Did Not Convey the Feud: Changing Perceptions of Fæhð in Anglo-Saxon Literature - David DiTucci, University of Western Michigan/State College of Florida

This was a really interesting exploration of feud, tracking the feud from its elevated status in Anglo-Saxon literature, or Germanic culture, and its subsequent descent either with the introduction of Christianity, or at approximately the same time as that, and the shades fo grey in between.

'O Mighty Mud-Dweller' : Non-Sexual Insults in the Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal People - Becky Straple, Western Michigan University

A great exploration of the often overlooked non-sexual insults, this paper showed that the contest, while part of a love triangle, is actually more about the relationship between the two men. While it is hard to separate out the non-sexual insults, it is easier to see the relationship between the two men when that subset of insults is focused on. Go Becky!

1:30 - Session 261: Bilingual England: Translation and Beyond

'Forsothe wythoute Lye': The Increased Importance of Truthfulness and Exactness in Two Middle English Romance Adaptations of Old French Sources - Drew Maxwell, University of Edinburgh

This paper compared English Romances with the Old French sources. It compared specific lines to show how the emphasis had been moved to truthfulness.

A Failure to Communicate: The Implications of Trilingual Identity in the Auchinleck of Arthour and of Merlin - Patrick Butler, University of Conneticut

Looking at romances to also help understand the history, this paper was showing a progression of the way people understood and accepted each other after the Conquest. For instance, the issues that manifested early in English - Norman interaction were lessened over time. The romance shows an interestingly complex implication for trilingual identity in the Romance.

Storming the Castle: Eros and Allegory in Spiritual Discourse - Claire Snow, University of Denver

The allegory of castle storming is very clearly a sexual one, with the castle standing for the female body. The paper demonstrated this. However, in spiritual discourse, the allegory becomes more nuanced, and is not necessarily about actual sex, but the overcoming of defenses, etc. important to spiritual allegory.

This whole panel is less in my field, so was a little harder for me to follow, but very interesting.

Saturday May 10, 2014

10:00 - Session 374: Old English and Old Norse Connections

Wandering Exploration, and Dependence in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Comitatus Relationships - Scott Douglas Reu, University of Cambridge

This paper looked at the importance of the comitatus relationship, and the idea of exile from it. It looked at how this seems to differ in different places, as in Iceland people are evidencing much more independence in the sagas, and exile is not the burden that it is in the Anglo-Saxon literature.

Treason at the Gifstōl: Beowulf lines 168-170, Genesis B, and the Stōll in Old Norse Sagas - Mary Helen Galluch, Western Michigan University

I recognize this in part from our Beowulf and its Old Norse sources seminar. This paper looked at these very difficult to translate lines, and traced why they are often thought to have religious overtones, by comparing the idea of the stoll in other Anglo-Saxon literature and Old Norse literature as well.

The Dead Speak: Soul and Body in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse Literatures - Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar - Western Michigan University

This paper demonstrated the intimate connection between soul and body in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse literature, looking also at word choice.

1:30 pm - Session 421: Scandinavian Studies

Being a Poet: Snorri's Mead Myth as an Esoteric Guide to Poetic Craft - Eirik Westcoat, Independent Scholar

I was very interested in this because of the work I did on Icelandic Mead this semester. This was about the way that the mead myth was in many ways allegorical for the production of poetry, including the association of poetry with something sweet.

Agency and Social Constraint in Laxdaela saga - Melissa Mayus, University of Notre Dame

Looking at the interactions between the characters the social constraints, that of having to avenge oneself for insult or injury, are so strong that they take away characters' agency. Compare this to Njals Saga, where the characters can maintain good ties between two families, despite feuding wives. This is not the case in Laxdaela Saga.

Unraveling Narratives: Contexts of the Scandinavian Conversion in Adam of Bremen - Matthew Delvaux, Boston College

Adam of Bremen's concerns, and motivations, are outlined here in this paper. It is showing that Adam had certain local political concerns for his account of the Scandinavian conversion.

3:30 - Session 451: The Medievalism of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Volumes

A Better Band of Hall-Thanes: Harry Potter and the Comitatus Bond - M. Wendy Hennequin, Tennessee State University

I am convinced that the organizations in Harry Potter are reflective of a comitatus band, such as the Order of the Pheonix, Dumbledore's Army, and even the Death Eaters. However, it is also convincing that while the bond is important, after the influence of WWII, you can't just follow blindly your lord, as you would in Anglo-Saxon literature. You must be loyal, but also on the side of good. Voldemort is a terrible lord because he forgot the reciprocal part of the bargain.

Reappropriating the 'Sword in the Stone' and 'Broken Sword' Motifs in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter - Alexandra Garner, Independent Scholar

Harry, Ron and Neville both find swords, and break 'swords' (wands), indicating that they are the inheritors of an Arthurian tradition. The found sword (of Gryffindor) signifies their righteousness and conveys authority, while the broken sword (wand) indicates difficulty in acting (though, for Ron and Neville it is because the wand wasn't their wand, and for Harry, since it is his wand, he gets it back in the end). That Harry chooses his own wand, and not the elder wand, shows a breaking with the Arthurian tradition, that Harry is not Arthur, as he will not be king.

Harry Potter and the Feast of All Saints - Susan Yager, Iowa State University

The saintly nature of many of the characters, especially the reverence due to them, and their acts of martyrdom, is evidence, and is drawn attention to by Rowling, who starts events on All-Saints Day.

Harry and the Theologians: Medieval Representations of Evil in Harry Potter - Joshua Fullman, Faulkner University and Maegan Detlefs, Independent Scholar

This was perhaps a little harder to follow, but the essence of it was that evil in Harry Potter is not absolute, but can be based in Augustinian ideas of good and evil.

Sunday May 11, 2014

10:00 - Session 543: Viking Age Iceland

Viking Archaeology in Iceland: The Mosfell Archeological Project - Jesse Byock, University of California - Los Angeles

Updating us on the project, Jesse Byock demonstrated where the harbour was in the Mosfell valley, and also some of the Hinterland farmland. It was very interesting, using a lot of great visuals to tell the story.

Social Space and Social Status at Viking Age Hrísbrú, Mosfellsdalur, Iceland: Interpretations Based on Integrated Geoarchaeological and Microrefuse Analyses - Karen Milek, University of Aberdeen

This was complimentary to the first presentation, going into detail about how in some finds you can establish the extent of the power relations, but how at the site that they are working on, it is harder due to the smaller scale of the finds.

The Viking Age Settlements of Western Norway - Søren Diinhoff, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen, Univ. i Bergen

While I didn't find anything here inflammatory (though I am not an archaeologist) this presenter presented his findings as if they were going to be inflammatory, so may be they were. He did keep looking at Jesse Byock. But the argument here is that there is no link between the buildings of Western Norway and the ones built in Iceland. It wasn't a style they brought over, but the style of turf buildings that are in the North Atlantic were dictated by materials, not the preferences or traditions of the settlers from Norway.

There was no time for questions, since all three presentations went long. Good thing the fourth one didn't show up. But very interesting.

Jesse Byock and Magdalena Schmid.

At the end of the conference I also got some great deals on three books: Every Inch a King: Coparative Studies on Kings and Kingship in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds edited by Lynette Mitchell and Charles Melville; The Partisan Muse in The Early Icelandic Sagas (1200-1250) by Theodore M. Andersson; The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (1180-1280) also by Theodore M. Andersson. 

All in all successful Congress. 

47th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Originally I wasn't intending to go to the conference again this year. I love going, but I went last year, and so it wasn't really on my radar to go again this year.

But when we needed some more panelists for the Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages panel I was happy to step up, and frankly honoured to be asked. Also, the research I did for my paper this year took me into academic realms that I had not yet fully explored, but that I was definitely interested in. What medievalist doesn't fondly remember the things that brought them to the Middle Ages, and this years panel Growing Up with the Middle Ages was the perfect opportunity to write about that.

But also, after five long years of subsequent applications I have finally acquired enough experience and contacts and clout to get into a PhD program. It also so happens that I will be doing this PhD program at Western Michigan University, home of The Medieval Institute and The International Congress of Medieval Studies. While I have seen the campus before I took the opportunity this year to do some more exploring of the town and the campus, to try and figure out what it's going to be like for a Canadian doing a PhD in the United States. I don't know that I got the full picture, but I think I may be mentally prepared for the non-multi coloured money.

I fully enjoyed the sessions that I attended this year. As per usual, I focused on my two interests : medievalisms and Vikings Age/Medieval Scandinavia.

I arrived Thursday night, just enough time to settle in and put a few finishing touches on my powerpoint presentation.

Friday May 11, 2012

10:00 am :

Growing Up with the Middle Ages: The Influences on Children's Ideas about the Medieval World
(Our panel)
Sponsored by: Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages

Jousting Knights and Tournament Ladies: Children's Understanding of Reconfigured Gender Relations in the Modern Sport of Jousting
Whitney A.M. Leeson, Roanoke College

Kids and Castles: The Moat between Medieval Art and Contemporary Consumption
Dawn Cunningham, University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto

Saturday Morning Medieval: Medievalisms and Children's Television Programming
Megan Arnott, Western Michigan University

11:45 am :

This was followed by the Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages business meeting.

3:30 pm:

Between Theory and Practice: Late Medieval Scandinavian Political Thought
Organizer: Leidulf Melve, Senter for Middelalderstudier, Univ. i Bergen

Scholastic Political Thought and Political Discourse in Late Medieval Scandinavia
Bjorn Gunnar Tjallen, Senter for Middelalderstudier, Univ. i Bergen

Political Thought in Late Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian
Leidulg Melve, Senter for Middelalderstudier, Univ. i Bergen

(Unfortunately Geir Atle Ersland could not be there to present his paper entitled Republic versus Monarchy: Urban Government in Late Medieval Scandinavia)

Saturday May 12, 2012

10:00 am:


The Comics get Medieval at Kalamazoo: New Perspectives for Incorporating Comics into Medieval Studies Teaching and Research (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Grotesque in Comics
Fabio Mourilhe, Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Caliber (2008), or Arthur's Mystical Six-Shooter and the Gunslingers of the O.K. Corral
Karen Casebier, St. Mary's College of Maryland

Arthurian Themes in DC Comic's Demon Knights (2011 - )
Jason Tondro, Univ. of California-Riverside

1:30 pm:


Scandinavian Studies I
Sponsor: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies

Manifestations of Colonialism in High Medieval Denmark: Friendship Networks and Patterns of Exchange
Maria Corsi, Univ. of Houston

A Neolithic Origin for the Collective Female Deities, The Disir
Frank Battaglia, College of Staten Island, CUNY

Norway's Man: Sigmund in Foereyinga saga and Sigmundar kvoedi
Megan Gilge, St. Louis Univ.

Theft in the Eyes of the Beholder: The Morphology of Hallgerdr's Thjofsaugu
Ilya V. Sverdlov, Independent Scholar



3:30 pm:


Scandinavian Studies II
Sponsor: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies

The Hills Have Eyes: Post-morten Mountain-Dwelling and the Lurking Linimal Terrors of the (Super) Natual Landscape in the Islendingasogur
Miriam Mayburd, Haskoli Islands

The Problem of Rupture and Disruption in Eyrbyggja saga
Sarah M. Anderson, Princeton Univ.

The Speech Act as Double-Edged Sword in the Poetic Edda
Derek Shank, Univ. of Western Ontario

Hattatal Stanza 12 and the Divine Legitimation of Kings: The Exception Proves the Rule?
Kevin J. Wanner, Western Michigan Univ.


I have also determined that it takes approximately 6.5 hours to drive from Toronto to Kalamazoo, but more like 8 hours with stops for gas, food, washrooms and the border.

Looking forward to future conferences at my new home. 

The 44th and 46th International Congress of Medieval Studies

This is the first year that I presented at the International Congress of Medieval Studies, which you can tell if you look at an earlier post, but it is not the first time I have ever attended.

44th International Congress of Medieval Studies

One of my favourite stories to tell is my trip to the 44th International Congress of Medieval Studies. I had asked my friend to go with me. She is not a medievalist per se, but she is interested in all things historical and I knew that if I could drag anyone to come with me, it would be her. She is not, how shall we say, the most organized of people to ever grace this planet. For the purposes of the story I will call her K.

I had personally helped K to fill out a passport application, as hers was expired, but day of she still didn't have it. So the day when we are supposed to leave we head over to the passport office, and it seems that it's never been processed because for some reason her fee has not been processed. So, no chance there. This is before they got stringent however, and we decided we would try to cross anyway. I proposed, instead of driving to Windsor from Toronto and crossing right into Michigan (the location of the conference) that we would go the shorter distance, to Niagara on the Lake, and cross into New York and go under the lake. Longer in the long run, but shorter if I needed to drive her back to Toronto. On the way down we did a bit of obsessing, and I mentioned, as a joke, that we could hide her in the trunk. She looked at me a little cock eyed, and I had to explain how we weren't actually going to do that. Good thing to, because once we got there, since we were going somewhere academic (probably also because we were young females) and because she had her old passport and health card, they let us across. They did, however, take a scan of the car. Bullet officially dodged.

We got to the other side, and had a lot more driving to do than we otherwise would have, but were basically kissing the American soil.

The 46th International Congress of Medieval Studies

If you want to make one of the border crossing officers actually smile tell them you are going to the International Congress of Medieval Studies. Don't, however, tell them about your paper, as they are amused and not necessarily interested.

I drove up on Thursday evening, and missed Wednesday and Thursday's sessions, but here are the sessions I did attend:

Friday

10:00 am
Session 199
Old Norse Literature and Culture - organized by Paul Acker, St. Louis Univ.

Warriors and Wild Beasts in the Heroic Poems of the Elder Edda
- Richard North, Univ. College, Univ. of London

This was the only presenter for this panel, the others had cancelled. It as a very convincing argument about the connection between wolves, bears and warriors. The premise was that when the warrior goes into battle he takes onthe qualities of an animal. Usually, as well, if they are a bear that is good and wolves are bad.

1:30 pm
Session 262
Twenty-First Century Medievalisms - presider Julie Nelson Couch, Texas Tech Univ.

"The Darkness of the Womb": Allegory and Early Medieval Historiography in S.M. Stirling's Emberverse
- Alicia McKenzie, Wilfred Laurier Univ.
This paper examined how the author not only interprets medieval society, but also how the author interprets medieval historiography and his rejection of the very rigid 'medieval' structure in favour of a fluid and adaptable one.

Rexiles: A Re-envisionist History of the Kings of Britain
-Aaron Long, American Univ.
Unfortunately I do not remember much about this paper.

What is the Impact of Popular 'Medieval Films' on the Public's Understanding of the Middle Ages? A Sociological Approach
- Paul B. Sturtevant, Univ. of Leeds
This looked at the impact of medieval film on popular understanding of the Middle Ages by conducting focus groups to talk about it with members of the public.

Concerning the Newfound Popularity of Lionheart's Acre Massacre in Video Game Narratives
- Carl S. Pyrdum, III, Yale Univ.
This paper was about the appearance of the massacre of Acre in video games. He traced the popularity of the event to it's appearance in Assassin's Creed, and compared it to it's appearance in Dante's Inferno. The conclusion was that while Dante's Inferno is less well done for a video game, it almost had a better treatment of the massacre because it was dealing better with the actual event, and the political correctness of Assassin's Creed limited their interaction with the event.


Saturday

10:00 am
Session 369
Old Norse Literature - presider Jana K. Schulman, Western Michigan Univ.

Out of Silence, Vision: Helga's Gazing in Gunnlaug's saga
- Molly Jacobs, Univ. of California-Berkeley (Graduate Student Prize Winner)
This was a very interesting paper about how Helga's gaze actually makes her an active participant, as opposed to a passive character.

1:30 pm
Session 437
Nineteenth Century Medievalisms - organized by Richard Utz, Western Michigan Univ.

A Tale of Two Medievalisms: Muscular Christianity and the Tour de France
- Christine M. Havens, Hawkeye Community College
This paper argued that the Tour de France celebrates a tradition of masculine and muscular christianity, and uses medieval imagery to celebrate this. And there were so many parallels, including a disgraced hero named Lance.

Recovering a Not so Imaginary Past: Medievalism in Scott's Harold the Dauntless
- Renee Ward, Wilfred Laurier Univ.
This paper talked about the medievalism of Sir Walter Scott in one of his least loved works.

Ancient Mysteries: A Regency Printer Uncovers the Medieval
- Clare A. Simmons Ohio State Univ.
Unfortunately, Ido not really remember what this was about.

Transatlantic Medievalisms: Julian of Norwich's XVI Revelations in the East End and Harvard in the 'Hungry 40s'
- Vickie Larsen, Univ of Michigan-Flint
This looked at one nineteenth century translator's Julian of Norwich and the way that his era affected his work.

3:30 pm
Session 478
Twenty-First Century Medievalism: Re-envisioning the Medieval in the Contemporary World (A Roundtable) - organizer Michael A. Toregrossa, Vistual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Siegfried the Volk-Sung: Examining the Interpretations of Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer and the Making of a National History
- Peter H. Johnsson San Francisco State Univ.
This was a paper examining how this saga is used to make a national history in several different nations and how it is used in current popular culture.

Analysis of Arthurian Film Reviews
-Laurie Rizzo, Univ. of Delaware
This was a paper that really stuck with me, about how many couch their criticisms of King Arthur films in terms of their 'inaccuracy.'

Beowulf in the Twenty-First Century
- Suanna H. Davis, Houston Community College: Central
This paper was about the use of Beowulf in Science Fiction and how it is used to give layers to narrative, as a sort of specialized knowledge, where the authors assume we already have this knowledge.

Sunday

8:30am
Session 528
The Central Issue: What does the Public Actually Think about the Middle Ages? - organized by Paul B. Sturtevant, Univ. of Leeds

The Perceptions of Medieval Heritage among Modern Master Falconers
- Leslie Jacoby, San Jose State Univ.
This paper was about how faloners themselves see their art in relation to medieval falconry.

'Viking' North America: The North American Public's Understanding of Its Norse Heritage
- Megan Arnott, Univ. of Western Ontario
My paper!

10:30 am
Session 569
Saga Studies - presider Andrew M. Prefenger, Kent State Univ. - Salem

On the Paroemial Delineation of Character in Grettis saga
- Richard Harris, Univ. of Saskatchewan
A very interesting discussion of how literarily character is created.

Sisterhood and Female Friendship in the Islendingasogur
- Natalie Van Deusen, Univ. of Wisconsin Madison
A good paper that came to the conclusion that friendship amongst females did not really exist in the same way as it did amongst men. Men had friends and women had relatives.




I did not go to the dance. Not because I'm against dances, but mostly because I both went by myself and was presenting at 8:30 the next morning.

One of the best things about this particular congress was that I had the chance to talk one on one with so many professors in this field. I met with Profs. Acker, Schulman, Falk, Mellor and Hill and had a chance to talk about grad school in Norse studies in North America.

I look forward to my next congress. Thanks to everyone who came up to me and said they enjoyed my talk, and especially to Paul Sturtevant for organizing both the Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages and for organizing the session.

PhD in Viking/Norse Studies in North America

A little while back the blog Old Norse News had a discussion about the different places where one might be able to study Viking/Norse Studies in North America. It was a good start, and the real value to that was in the comments, because people commented on what their schools had to offer.

I don't know everywhere in the States or Canada that offers Old Norse at the undergraduate and graduate level, but I can share my experience of applying to different schools and the PhD programs that I have encountered here in NA. I feel it is pretty thorough, but maybe because I just feel like I have been looking at this subject for awhile.

University of Toronto:

I will continue to apply to this school, though my chances continue to be slim. I was at the International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo at the University of Toronto reception and told some of the students that I was interested in going to the UofT Centre for Medieval Studies to study a Norse subject. One of the students looked at me and said 'really?' Apparently, though it is synonymous with medieval studies it is not necessarily with Norse Studies. This is not because there is not quailty people, because there is. However David and Ian McDougall don't really supervise PhD candidates, because they are mostly involved with the Dictionary of Old English program. This leaves Andy Orchard as the only person who could supervise a thesis on a Norse subject, which is a big burden for a large institute. In addition, so far he has been a bit more difficult to get a hold of to consult with. However, it is still one of the best institutions in North America and I will continue to apply also because it would be the most convenient for me.

Cornell University:

This is a more obvious choice. Both Oren Falk, who does not just philology and language but society as well, and Thomas D. Hill are both Norse supervisors at this Medieval Institute. The ideal thing about this school and U of T are that they are both Medieval Institutes. This means that interdisciplinarian approaches and backgrounds are appropriate.

University of Saskatchewan:

Richard Harris in the English department is very active in the North American Norse scholarly community. However, the PhD is in English, so if you have an interdisciplinarian background you are unlikely to be considered.

University of Wisconsin-Madison:

The Scandinavian Studies program does have a PhD program here. There are quite a few good people working here that could supervise a PhD on a Norse/Viking subject. However, you will need to speak a modern Scandinavian, preferably mainland, language. Background in Old Norse is not sufficient.

University of California - Berkeley:

The Department of Scandinavian Studies takes PhD students in Norse/Viking subjects. A modern mainland Scandinavian language helps. John Lindow is one of the primary supervisors and definitely the one to talk to.

Fordham University:

Again, only apply here if you have a solid background in English, as it is not really about interdisciplinary programs. But Martin Chase is a scholar here.

University of Western Michigan:

As the home of the International Congress of Medieval Studies it hosts a good number of people, including Jana Schulman. International Students have to apply through the international studies department first. And their is no PhD in Medieval Studies so the degree has to be in either English or Comparative Religion, so prepare for requirements and distributions that are unrelated to what you would like to do. But they do accept people with un-traditional backgrounds.

Indiana University:

Prof. Fulk is in the English department and Prof. Gade is in the Germanic Studies department. If your PhD is focused more on Old Norse than English or Germanic Studies, then there is not really a place here for you. However, both of those departments do have people who work in Old Norse and PhD programs.

University of Washington and University of Minnesota:

Both have Scandinavian Studies programs, but do not seem to have the resources to host PhD students doing an Norse/Viking topic. This may change.

University of Western Ontario:

Dr. Poole was, up until recently, a member of the English Faculty here. He will no longer be shortly, and will not be able to supervise any theses. This was, but is no longer an option for a PhD.

Harvard University:

Yes, Prof. Mitchell is here. And there is room for interdiscipline studies. But it is also Harvard, so all the difficulties implied for getting accepted stand.


I am welcome to more suggestions of other places to apply. I realize I have picked a subject that not many people in North America are working on or can supervise, but I am interested in continuing my studies in North America since I would like to be a scholar in North America. Don't get me wrong, wouldn't trade my MA in Norse and Viking Studies from the University of Nottingham (see photo above) for anything. But how will I be known if I can't do the conference circuit here instead of there. I hope these tips and this experience can help others as well as generate some help for me.

Crossroads

It is not a plight reserved only for Public Historians, though I was attempted to make that statement in the title. Most of us ambitious come to this point, at the intersection of rejection, anticipation and triumph, where so much is happening so very quickly that you are missing all the action while you are busy waiting for your life to start.

For this Public Historian/Medievalist, confident in her own abilities yet no stranger to rejection, I find myself poised on the edge of such a moment.


I graduated from the Public History program at Western in October. Technically the program finished in August, but I was able to prolong my internship at L'Anse aux Meadows into October. Now, like many trained professionals I want a job in the field I am trained for, though my main criteria for employment is that it is challenging and that I enjoy it.

When we met for graduation in October not one of us from the graduating class yet had a job. Not surprising. Nor is it surprising that some of us have found work in the field, some of us have found other kinds of work, some of us are still looking and some are now doing more school.

This week I am expecting to hear back from three jobs. One I interviewed for in November. They said the decision would take them a few weeks. Ha! Fair enough, as long as you judge weeks in 'government time.' One I interviewed for last week seems really interesting and would also be in my field. One is Blockbuster, where I have worked before. And I do love movies, so I would be happy there, but it rather pales in comparison.

I have also applied to PhD programs. Like employment, the waiting is what kills you as they leave you in a state of limbo. I have had one rejection letter so far, which is not all that disheartening, because that is wont to happen. But it rather adds to the sense of sitting around and waiting for your life to start.

A sensation that is mitigated by the many triumphs I have had this year. My article 'Putting the Vikings on the Canadian Map' was published in the special project Mapping Medievalism at the Canadian Frontier due to the tireless efforts of Dr. Kathryn Brush of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Western Ontario. One of my life goals of seeing my name in print for something I wrote is accomplished. I am also going to be delivering a version of the paper in a lecture for the Society for the Public Understanding of the Middle Ages panel at the 2011 International Congress of Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo Michigan. Look for me, 8:30 am Sunday morning. It is an international forum for my work, so that I can start trying to build a reputation.


As I say, my life is at a crossroads, and many things that may happen this week are going to start pointing me down different paths. It is a place most people are going to end up on their road. I just hope to be strong enough to be able to wait for the rejections that will point me to my eventual triumphs.