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GSC NEWSLETTERThe Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America
Volume VIII, Number 2 Winter 2017
Message from the Chair
Welcome to 2017! The GSC has several upcoming initiatives that we hope will be of use to graduate students in medieval studies in North America and around the world. First, be sure to register soon for the MAA Annual Meeting in Toronto, which will take place April 6-8. The GSC will be represented at the conference, and Committee members are always pleased to meet with graduate students. See page 4 for more details.If you plan to be at Kalamazoo this year, we invite you to attend the GSC-co-sponsored roundtable addressing ways graduate students and recent PhDs can develop and articulate their teaching skills (pages 4-5). Scholars from several disciplines, and with diverse teaching experiences, will share their advice.I encourage you also to participate in our popular Mentorship Programs at the MAA, Kalamazoo, and Leeds (page 6). The Programs are a great resource for graduate students of all stages to receive advice on their academic development and career options from advanced scholars. The GSC will continue its new mentorship program at Kalamazoo for undergraduate students thinking about graduate school and academic careers (page 6). Please consider volunteering to be an under-graduate mentor and assist us by advertising this opportunity to undergraduates.This issue’s featured professional organization is Middle East Medievalists (pages 2-3), which has great opportunities for graduate student involve-ment that are well worth considering! Details about joining MEM can be found in this feature.For many in the medieval field, 2017 promises to bring challenges: political change, threat to the NEH and sudden uncertainty surrounding travel to
the US must make many young medievalists look to their futures with concern. These are serious issues for our field – and ones that dispropor-tionately affect groups of scholars already in the minority and often marginalized within medieval studies. The MAA has recently issued a statement regarding the recent Executive Order suspending entry of refugees to the United States, and blocking entry into the US for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, which continues to progress in the US courts. Medievalists hesitant to travel to the MAA Annual Meeting in Toronto as a result of this ongoing travel uncertainty can contact MAA Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis directly: [email protected] for involvement in creating a diverse and welcoming academy are available through our mentorship programs and MAA panel on teaching diverse syllabi. We have several projects directly addressing the diversity of our field planned for 2017, and would welcome further suggestions for initiatives of assistance to graduates. If you are interested in having your group or event featured in the newsletter, suggesting additional material for the newsletter, or sharing your story in a future newsletter, please contact us at [email protected]. I wish you all a safe and successful year. Sincerely, Anya Adair (MAA GSC Chair)
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2016-2017 MAA Graduate Student Committee
Anya Adair (Yale University) – Chair [email protected] Justin Barker (Purdue University) [email protected] Caudill (Tulane University) [email protected] Griego (University of Missouri)
[email protected] Hutchison (University of Delaware)
[email protected] Sedovic (Trinity College, Dublin)
Please feel free to contact any member of the committee with questions, comments, and concerns. We strive to serve the graduate students of the MAA, and always want to hear from our constituency.
In This Issue
Spotlight on Professional Organizations: Middle East Medievalists
GSC at MAA 2017 (Toronto) GSC at Kalamazoo 2017 GSC Graduate Mentorship Programs GSC Undergraduate Mentorship Program GSC Digital Presence Conversion Narrative Graduate Workshop at MAA Toronto in April Upcoming Deadlines for Grants and
Fellowships Upcoming Deadlines for Summer Programs Upcoming CFPs and Conferences
Spotlight on Professional Organizations:Getting Involved in the Medieval Community
MIDDLE EAST MEDIEVLISTS
Middle East Medievalists (MEM), which formed officially in 1989, is an international association of scholars interested in the study of the Islamic lands of the Middle East during the medieval period (defined roughly as 500-1500 C.E.). MEM’s activities include sponsoring panels at conferences and meetings in North America and elsewhere, to increase the representation of medieval scholarship generally; another major goal is to foster communication among those with an interest in the study of the medieval Middle East. A broad goal of MEM’s future is to advance the study of the medieval Middle East through a range of activities, including conferences and scholar exchanges. MEM’s Facebook page(www.facebook.com/MideastMedievalists/) offers an active forum to find out about recent discoveries and research in Middle Eastern medieval studies, relevant courses and training, new publications and events of interest to the
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MEM community, as well as the opportunity for discussion with the MEM community. MEM conducts its business meeting annually in the autumn, normally in conjunction with the meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), which is usually held in November. The general business meeting is open to all current members of MEM as well as to those considering membership.Each year the Board of Directors of MEM offers a prize for the best graduate student paper on a medieval topic at the annual Middle East Studies Association meeting. The winner is announced at the business meeting. The award aims to encourage graduate students with an interest in the medieval period to attend the MESA conference. Graduate students need not be members of MEM to be considered for this prize. Graduate Students who are scheduled to present a paper on a medieval topic at MESA and who would like to have their contributions considered for this prize should submit a copy of their paper to MEM’s secretary Antoine Borrut:([email protected]).As part of its effort to promote scholarship and facilitate communication among its members, MEM publishes Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists, an online, open source, and peer-reviewed journal. Since 1992, Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta (until 2015 a Bulletin) has published short articles, information on scholarly meetings and resources, and reviews or notices of significant scholarly books published in the Middle East in local vernaculars (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish). Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta seeks to provide a forum for information about these words, which are generally not reviewed in Western journals and often remain little known among Western scholars. Members are invited to submit brief notices or reviews of such works they may have read, and to submit news of new resources, future conferences, or other items deemed of interest to MEM’s membership, for publication in Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta. News articles, suggestions, or queries about Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta should be sent to the current
editors: Antoine Borrut ([email protected]) or Matthew Gordon ([email protected]).MEM encourages graduate and early career scholars to become involved in the organization. Regular membership is open to all persons interested in any aspect of the history and civilization of the Middle East in the medieval period. Individual MEMbers can join MEM or renew their MEMbership through our website.Membership queries should be sent to Antoine Borrut, Secretary of MEM, History Department, University of Maryland. Mail: [email protected]. MEM is a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Illinois; contributions to MEM are considered exempt from federal income tax by the United States Internal Revenue Service.
Website: https://islamichistorycommons.org/mem/
Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists
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GSC at the Medieval Academy of America Annual MeetingToronto: April 6-8, 2017
The GSC will be represented at the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy in Toronto in April by one of its members: Katherine Sedovic will be available to speak about any issues of concern to graduate students. If you would like arrange a meeting, you can contact [email protected], or email the Chair, Anya Adair, to arrange a meeting.This year’s MAA will feature a panel organized by the MAA Graduate Student Committee. This year’s theme centres on pedagogy. Our particular focus is on the role of graduate students in encouraging and supporting diversity in their medieval teaching. Tearing Down Walls, Building Bridges: Medieval Diversity and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Syllabus Design and Teaching (A Roundtable Discussion). Chair: Jessica Henderson (University of Toronto). Panelists: Katherine Sedovic (Trinity College, Dublin), Jonathan Hsy (George Washington University / BABEL Working Group), Sharon Kinoshita (UC Santa Cruz), Michelle R. Warren (Dartmouth College), Hélène Sirantoine (University of Sydney).Participants in this roundtable will discuss how the historical record and/or literary represent-tations of interactions between different cultural and racial groups (e.g. the Christian and Muslim worlds) during the medieval period can be used to stimulate thoughtful discussion within the modern classroom. This roundtable will address topical issues such as migration, stereotyping and profiling, integration, racism, religious extrem-ism, misconceptions about religion, and the development of national identity, using the Middle Ages as a starting point or central focus. Particular attention will be directed towards introducing these topics with consideration for student sensitivities, as well as furthering defined learning goals.
Within modern academic departments, the texts and topics of medieval subjects can be seen as fundamentally failing to reflect the diversity of modern students: this panel will present a medieval pedagogy rich in examples of diversity, cross-cultural encounters, and minority voices. Attendees will leave with topics, texts, and strategies to implement within their own teachingOther EventsStay tuned for information about other graduate-student events during the meeting in the next issue of the newsletter.
GSC at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo
May 11-14, 2017
The GSC will be represented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo in May. The chair and other committee members will be available to speak about any issues of concern to graduate students. If you would like arrange a meeting, with any of the members, you can contact [email protected], or email the Chair, Anya Adair, to arrange a meeting.Online registration for ICMS Kalamazoo will open in February. This year’s ICMS Kalamazoo will feature a panel organized jointly by the Rice University Center for Teaching Excellence and the Medieval Academy Graduate Student Committee. The particular focus is professional development in teaching.To “Gladly Teche”: Becoming Great Teachers in Graduate School (A Roundtable) Organizers: Joshua Eyler, Rice University; Caitlin Hutchison, University of Delaware; Tamara Bentley Caudill, Tulane University, Frank Napolitano, Radford University; Shyama Rajendran, George Washington University. Presiders: Joshua Eyler and Caitlin Hutchison.Panelists: Kalani Craig (Indiana University –Bloomington); Christine Evans (University of Wisconsin – Madison); Beth Fischer (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill); Meg Gregory, Illinois State University; Shyama Rajendran;
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Frank Napolitano; and Gregory Roper, University of Dallas.Are you interested in developing the best teaching practices for a future career in academia? Are you looking for strategies to market your diverse experiences associated with teaching or research assistantships? This year’s GSC-sponsored roundtable, “To Gladly Teche: Becoming Great Teachers in Graduate School”, brings together advanced graduate students and early career scholars who have demonstrated excellence in teaching. The participants will discuss how graduate students and recent PhDs can develop, implement, manage, improve, and promote their teaching practices.With a frequent emphasis on coursework and the dissertation, doctoral programs may project a disconnect between degree requirements and the teaching component required for a successful career in academia. How do you balance the demands of your scholarship with the obligation to teach? What do you do when teaching opportunities are rare or nonexistent in your department? How can you parlay experience teaching lower-level classes into proposals for upper-level courses, as required during the job application process? How can a medievalist utilise his/her specialty within general courses? And finally, what is needed to craft a compelling teaching statement?Please join us on Thursday, May 11 at 3:30 in Schneider 1280 for this informative discussion. The Graduate Student Reception will follow the panel at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 11 in Fetzer 1055. Everyone is invited to continue the conversation about the teaching over drinks and light refreshments.
GSC Digital Presence Our Facebook and Twitter numbers continue to grow, with over 1,450 likes and over 670 followers! If you have not done so already, you can follow us at @GSCMAA on Facebook and @GSC_MAA on Twitter. We encourage members of the MAA to contribute to either or both pages by posting links to relevant news content; and if you let us know about your conference, journal, or other event, we can help you with publicity. Don’t forget to join and post to our listserv as well ([email protected]). We review every submission, so you should never receive any spam.Would you like to get more out of our digital presence? Please feel free to email any of us, but particularly Tamara Caudill ([email protected]), with your suggestions or comments.
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GSC Graduate Mentorship Program
The GSC will continue to offer its Mentorship Program at the three major medieval conferences in 2017, pairing graduate students with more established scholars at the MAA Annual Meeting, ICMS Kalamazoo, and IMC Leeds. The GSC is also happy to announce the continuation of the expanded scheme which will graduate and undergraduate students. Graduate students participating in the Program in the past have found it to be very worthwhile: we encourage more participants to make use of the excellent opportunity it offers.The 2017 Mentorship Program is organized by GSC members Justin Barker and Danielle Griego, and is currently seeking participation from faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. These professional exchanges are intended to help students establish professional contacts from whom they can receive advice regarding their academic development and career. The primary intent of the exchange is to foster an active relationship during an academic conference; however, mentors and mentees may choose to continue a line of communication after the conference has ended. For the Medieval Academy of America meeting (April 6-8 in Toronto, Canada), the deadline to sign up for this session approaches: March 10, 2017. For ICMS Kalamazoo (May 11-14), the deadline is 14 April 2017; and for IMC Leeds (July 3-6) the deadline for mentorship is 2 June 2017. Due to the organizational demands of the program, it may be necessary to restrict the number of participants, so please sign up early! Mentor shortages in this popular program have been a reality in past years, so if you know faculty attending these conferences, please encourage them to volunteer.Sign up online here! Any questions regarding the program may be sent to Justin Barker ([email protected]) or to Danielle Griego ([email protected]).
GSC Undergraduate Mentorship Program
As a result of the success of last year’s undergraduate mentorship program, the GSC will continue this scheme at Kalamazoo 2017. This program, modeled after our successful graduate mentorship program, will pair budding under-graduate scholars with graduate students. We hope that this program will give under-graduates the opportunity to make useful professional connections with graduate students. These exchanges will allow undergraduates to discover more about the process of applying to graduate school and what it’s like to be a graduate student; they will also help undergraduates establish contacts early in their careers and build relationships during the conference. The program will also provide graduate students invaluable mentorship experience; we hope that the experience may be as beneficial to the graduate participants as to the undergraduates. Further details, including the online form, are forthcoming. Keep an eye on the MAA/GSC Facebook page for more details! For ICMS Kalamazoo (May 11-14), the deadline for mentorship program signup is 14 April 2017. Any questions regarding the program may be sent to Justin Barker ([email protected]) or Danielle Griego ([email protected]).
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Conversion Narrative
Danielle Griego
PhD CandidateUniversity of Missouri
Growing up in New Mexico, surrounded by a landscape dotted with ruins, I wanted to pursue a degree in Southwestern archaeology. When I was an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, I enrolled in archaeology classes that focused on local sites. I worked in an archaeology lab for two years, cataloguing ground stone and obsidian flakes found during excavations at Chaco Canyon. I even participated in an excavation at a Paleo-Indian site in the Jemez Mountains. At the time, exploring material culture and history outside of the Southwest was not at the forefront of my mind. In the second semester of my sophomore year, everything changed. I needed a history course to fulfill my undergraduate core requirements and decided to take my first medieval history class. Dr. Timothy Graham’s “The Medieval World” course introduced me to the world of Bede and Charlemagne.
I was fascinated by the historical documents from the period, and by excavations at sites like Sutton Hoo and the cemetery at Sewerby, which contained the famous double grave. From that point forward, I decided to combine my love of archaeology and history. I began taking as many interdisciplinary medieval classes that I could find, and changed my minor to medieval studies. I had fallen in love with the history and material culture of the Middle Ages, so much so that I continued my study of the period in graduate school. I went on to study descriptions and archaeological evidence of execution and other deviant burials at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Drs. Rosamond McKitterick and Catherine Hills. As I write my PhD dissertation, “Child Death, Grief, and the Community in High and Late Medieval England,” at the University of Missouri under Dr. Lois Huneycutt, I cannot imagine a life without medieval studies.
Graduate Workshop at MAA Annual Meeting 2017
At the 2017 Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, graduate students from the University of Toronto will offer a graduate training workshop on Digital Humanities and Manuscript Studies. The workshop is one of several continuations of a graduate-run training and network-building project supported in its early stage by the MAA-GSC Grant for Innovation in Community Building and Professionalization. The course will run on April 5, 6 and 9: before and after the MAA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Applications are due 3 March 2017; participants will be notified of acceptance by 6 March 2017.Workshop Details: This three-day workshop aims to introduce graduate students to the fundamentals of manuscript studies and digital editing. Led by graduate students, it will foster a collaborative environment in which to explore:
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• Describing & cataloguing manuscript fragments• Manuscript transcription and scholarly editing• The difficulties in editing fragments and other non-standard manuscript objects• Text encoding fundamentals: XML and TEI• Using digital editing tools: the graphical XML editor, oXygenThe workshop is designed to lead participants through the experience of encountering an un-known and uncatalogued fragment in an archive, the process of examining the codicological and palaeographical information it contains, and the development of scholarly material on it including a catalogue description and a digital edition. Learning in this workshop is driven by the par-ticipants themselves, through their active role in the investigation and creation of these materials. The goal of the workshop is to enable par-ticipants to pursue more in-depth, work in the digital humanities. This workshop will be limited to 12 places, with preference given to graduate students with demonstrated need for training in manuscript study and text encoding. No prior encoding experience is required. TO APPLY:Please email to Jess Henderson, University of Toronto ([email protected]) the following documents by March 3.1. A two-page CV2. A completed application, briefly answering
the following questions: a. Do you have any experience working
with manuscripts or with palaeography /codicology? If yes, please give brief details.
b. Do you have any experience with critical editing? If yes, please give brief details.
c. Do you have any experience with coding (XML/TEI or otherwise)? If yes, please give brief details.
3. A short Statement (300-500 words) explaining your field of study and how training in manuscripts and digital editing would benefit your work.
(Some) Upcoming Deadlines for Fellowships and Grants
1 March 2017ICMA Student Travel GrantThe ICMA has initiated a new form of grant for graduate students in the early stages of their dissertation research. Three grants will be awarded this year, at $3,000 each, to enable a student to travel to Europe (including the Eastern Mediterranean) to visit the monuments or museum objects or manuscripts on which the dissertation will be based. The grant is designed to cover one month of travel. The ICMA will contact institutions and/or individuals in the area to be visited; these will help the student gain access to the relevant material and aid in other practical matters.
March 16-8 July IHR BursariesIHR Bursaries help students pursue research at the IHR or other London-based archives. The IHR Bursaries award students up to £500.
31 March Visiting Fellowship SchemeFaculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and PhilosophyMaynooth UniversityAcademic Year 2017-18
No Formal Deadline, Review begins April 1 NEH Research Fellowships: $1,750 stipend per five-week period, plus travel costs and accommodation for research at The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Study at St. Louis University. Applicants must possess an earned doctorate or be a Ph.D. candidate at the dissertation stage. Available for five-, ten-, or fifteen-week periods.
EasterLynne Grundy Memorial Trust Several grants every year (generally up to £500 each) are given to scholars and students in the disciplines of Old English/Anglo-Saxon or Humanities Computing.
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Receipt Deadline April 12, 2017 for projects beginning in January 2018NEH Research FellowshipsFellowships are intended to fund individuals pursuing advanced research that is valuable to both humanities scholars and general audiences.
Additional fellowships can be found on these databases: Cornell: http://gradschool.cornell.edu/fellowshipsDuke: https://researchfunding.duke.edu/Harvard: http://gsasgrants.fas.harvard.edu/ggg.cgiH‑Net: http://www.h‑net.org/announce/group.cgi?type=FundingUCLA: https://grad.ucla.edu/asis/grapes/search.asp
(Some) Upcoming Deadlines for Summer Programs
26 FebruaryDurham University Summer InstituteDurham University, Durham, UK2-29 July 2017
1 MarchNEH Summer Seminar for College and University TeachersThe Formation and Re-formation of the Book, 1450-1650 Huntington Library, San Marino, California 18 June - 15 July 2017
SCRIPTO Summer School WolfenbüttelIntroduction to the digital cataloguing of manuscriptsWolfenbüttel, Germany12-16th June 2017
Mellon Summer Institute in Spanish PaleographyNewberry Library, Chicago, Illinois12-30 June 2017
10 MarchMellon Summer Institute in Italian Paleography
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CaliforniaJune 12-30
15 MarchSan Gemini Preservation Studies: International Institute for Restoration and Preservation Studies Programs include:Restoration of historic buildings; restoration of archaeological ceramics; making and restoring book bindings (29 May-23 June)Paper restoration in books and archival documents; traditional painting methods and restoration (10 July-4 August)San Gemini, Italy
22 MarchMedieval Institute Summer Study University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 15 AprilMAA/CARA Summer Scholarships for Medieval Languages or Manuscript StudiesBetween four and eight awards will be given yearly, depending upon the number of worthy applicants and the cost of the summer programs. Applications will be judged by the Committee for Professional Development and the Chair of the CARA Committee. The list of eligible summer programs for 2017 can be found at the MAA website, CARA Tuition page.
30 AprilSCRIPTO Workshop Paris (SWSP)Carolingian Writing CultureParis, France21-23 June 2017
1 MaySummer Latin ProgramCentre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, CanadaBeginning: 23 May - 14 July 2017Level 1: 29 May - 7 July 2017Level 2: 10 July - 18 August 2017
Conversational Latin SeminarUniversity of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky20-26 July 2017
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Summer German Script Programhttp://www.moravianchurcharchives.org/programs/german-script-courseMoravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa.June 5, 2017 to June 16, 2017
1 JuneGreek and Latin Summer SchoolUniversity College Cork, Ireland19 June – 10 August 2017 2 JuneLondon International Palaeography Summer SchoolInstitute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study University of London, UK12-16 June 2017
24 JulyCambridge University International Summer School- Medieval StudiesUniversity of Cambridge, UK6-19 August 2017
Several other summer programs of interest to medievalists are listed on the NEH website and the MAA blog.
For a forum listing many Latin and Greek summer courses in North America and abroad, visit: www.summer-classics.com
(Some) Upcoming Deadlines for CFPs
CFP Deadline: 27 FebruaryBeyond Between Men: Homosociality Across Timehttps://beyondbetweenmen.wordpress.com/June 19University of Oxford
CFP Deadline: 28 FebruaryThe Cost of Living and the Cost of Books in 15th-Century EuropeMuseo Correr, Biblioteca Nationale Marciana, Fondazione Cini, VeniceSeptember 2018 CFP Deadline: 1 MarchHortulus Spring Issuehttps://hortulus-journal.com/2017/01/09/call-for-papers-spring-2017-open-issue/
CFP Deadline: 1 MarchContested Borderspaces: Transnational Geographies vis-à-vis Fortress Europehttp://www.contested-borderscapes.net/September 28 – October 1, 2017International ConferenceMytilene, Lesvos (Greece) CFP deadline: 15 March 2017RMMRA 2017'Reformations during the Middle Ages and Renaissance'Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, Colorado22-24 June 2017
CFP Deadline: Enrollment open from 2 December 2016- 24 March 20177th International Medieval Meeting LleidaFeelings in the Middle AgesUniversitat de Lleida, Spain26-28 June 2017
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CFP deadline: 31 March 2017Second Fiddles in Medieval RitualsDepartment for Historical Studies NTNU, Trondheim, Norway 20-22 September 2017
CFP deadline: 31 March 2017CHAT 2017'Heritage, Art, Memory, and Agency'University of Amsterdam, Netherlands3-5 November 2017
CFP deadline: 1 April and 1 May(for special sessions and thematic conversations) Middle East Studies Association Annual MeetingWashington, D.C.18-21 November 2017
CFP deadline: 20 April 2017'Concealment and Revelation in the Art of the Middle Ages'Archaeological Research Unit of the University of CyprusNicosia, Cyprus22-24 September 2017
Additionally, a thorough list of conferences and CFPs can be found on the Medieval Academy of America’s conference calendar.
For more information about the newsletter, or to discuss features in future issues, please contact Anya Adair [email protected] or Katherine Sedovic [email protected]
Images in this issue from MEM webpage and Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS Arabe 5847. Maqamat Al-Hariri.
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