The 98th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place at the Grand Hyatt Washington in downtown Washington, DC. The meeting is jointly hosted by the Medieval Academy of America and a consortium of medievalists from DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland.
The conference program will feature sessions highlighting innovative scholarship across the many disciplines contributing to medieval studies. The Program Committee invites proposals for papers on all topics and in all disciplines and periods of medieval studies and medievalism, including on the themes and strands proposed below. Any member of the Medieval Academy may submit a paper proposal; others may submit proposals as well but must become members in order to present papers at the meeting. Special consideration will be given to individuals whose field would not normally involve membership in the Medieval Academy. We are particularly interested in receiving submissions from those working outside of traditional academic positions, including independent scholars, emeritus or adjunct faculty, university administrators, those working in cultural heritage institutions (libraries, archives, museums, scholarly societies, or cultural research centers), editors and publishers, and other fellow medievalists. The Program Committee seeks to construct a program that fully reflects and expands the diversity of the Medieval Academy’s membership with respect to research areas and representation.
Thematic Strands
The Program Committee envisions a conference to include the following strands:
The Programming Committee particularly invites contributions on a first strand of sessions on the topic of Internationalisms. This focus reflects the Committee’s desire to highlight the capital region as an international hub, as well as to examine critically the promises and challenges of the idea of internationalisms for medieval studies. As the capital city of the United States, Washington, DC is rich in cross-cultural expertise and is a center for many international networks in academia. With the recent turn towards the Global Middle Ages and the newfound reliance upon transnational digital exchange during the global pandemic, the hosts of MAA 2023 seek to capitalize on the region’s strengths to invite fellow medievalists to examine medieval studies in an international context and to consider the necessity of embedding medieval studies in the American academy in a globalized and decentered world. This approach also invites critical reflection on the entanglement of medieval studies in narratives of nationalism, colonialism, and racism. In sum, we seek to draw on the pluralities of international engagement that emerge from our location in Washington, DC and to engage critically with the existence of multiple centers, networks, peripheries, and dynamics that impacted the medieval world in the past and continue to shape how we study it today. Specific themes that might be addressed include:
- Medieval Studies Today
- Legacies of National Schools of Historiography
- Disciplines, Periodizations, and Frameworks
- Postcolonialisms and Decolonization
- Neo-medievalism
- Digital Medieval Studies
- Queerness across Boundaries
- Migrations and Movements
- Foreign Service in the Middle Ages
- Transportation and Trade
- Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Translation, Translators, and Multilingualism
- Religious Encounters
- Race and Racialization
A second strand of sessions has been proposed by the Program Committee. We particularly invite submissions addressing the following themes, which may or may not intersect with the Internationalisms themes, to include:
- Cosmographies and Microcosms
- “Beyond the King”: Broadening Concepts of Medieval Power and Rulership
- Belief and Unbelief
- Certainty and Speculation
- The Five Senses
- Dialogue with the Sciences of the Human Past
- Archaeology, Public History, and the Conservation Sciences
- Climate Histories, Archives, and Proxies
- The Epidemiology and Paleogenomics of Infectious Disease
- Deploying the Medieval in Fiction, Fantasy, and Games
- Artisanal Epistemologies
- Textiles
- Expanding the Audience for Medieval Studies
- Advocacy for Medieval Studies
- Presenting the Middle Ages to the Public
- Encouragement of Study of World Languages and Study Abroad
The third strand of sessions will emerge from the papers and sessions proposed by members of the Academy. We invite proposals on any theme in Medieval Studies from diverse chronological, geographical, methodological, and disciplinary perspectives. We also welcome innovative sessions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries or that use various disciplinary approaches to examine an individual topic.
Submissions
All proposals, for individual papers, sessions, or special formats, should include the following information:
- Proposer’s name (in format for the program)
- Statement of Medieval Academy membership (or statement that the individual’s specialty would not normally involve membership in the Academy)
- Professional status/affiliation, if relevant (in format for the program)
- Email address
- Postal address
- Telephone number(s)
- Paper title
- Theme for which the paper should be considered (or “general session”)
- Abstract (maximum 200 words)
- Audio-visual equipment requirements
- Accessibility requirements
Selection Procedure
Paper and panel proposals will be assessed via blind review and evaluated for their quality, the significance of their topics, and their relevance to the conference themes. The Committee seeks to put together a diverse slate of sessions, reflecting the breadth and scope of the field. The Program Committee will evaluate proposals during the summer of 2022 and the Committee will inform all applicants of acceptance or rejection by September 1, 2022. Please note that acceptance of a paper or session does not come with any financial support for attendance at the conference.
Conference Location
The Washington, DC Area is a major transportation hub with three area airports: Reagan National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Thurgood Marshall/BWI International Airport. Collectively, these airports offer numerous daily non-stop flights to US and international destinations. Amtrak service is also available to Union Station (also on the metro rail line) from areas all along the East coast, while the metro rail and metrobus provide public transport within the District of Columbia and across the metro DC area. Registration and book exhibits will take place at the conference hotel. Other events are scheduled at local museums, libraries, and institutions of interest to medievalists.
Student Bursaries and Prizes
All graduate students who are accepted to present at the Annual Meeting are eligible for a graduate student bursary and prize for the best graduate student paper. Students selected to present at the conference will receive details about how to apply for the bursaries and prize with their selection notification.
Professional Behavior
All participants in the Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting are expected to read and adhere to our Professional Behavior Policy.
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