CFP for NESS panel for 53rd ICMS (Kalamazoo 2018): Representations of the Body in Saga Literature

We are delighted to once again offer a panel for those interested in Old Norse literature, history, and culture. This year’s panel theme is “Representations of the Body in Saga Literature,” a sponsored session that will explore the ways in which bodies and corporeality are constructed and represented in saga literature.

The body is an object upon which culture writes itself.  It is the site of definition and re-definition as it witnesses history, moves through time and space, and is shaped by social, political, and cultural phenomena.  Understanding how medieval audiences viewed the body and participated in the social construction of the body as object is essential to a better appreciation of medieval ideations of the human condition.  We are interested in cultural, ideological, and literary investigations of the experience of embodiment in medieval Scandinavia and the representation of this experience in literature, art, philosophy, ethics, law, theology, and science.

Topics could include, but are not limited to:

• body-mind dichotomy
• ideological constructions of the body
• ableness and disability
• the monstrous
• gender and sexuality
• illness, death, and dismemberment
• body-soul dichotomy
• pagan vs. Christian bodies
• queer theory
• medicine
• medical transformations of the body
• body as landscape
• images of bodies

Brief (100-200 word) proposals are welcome anytime before September 15, 2017. E-mail submission to either of the organizers is invited.

Andrew Pfrenger (apfrenge@kent.edu)

John P. Sexton (john.sexton@bridgew.edu)

CFP for NESS panel for 50th ICMS (Kalamazoo 2015): The Icelandic Sagas as History

The New England Saga Society is still seeking papers for its panel at the International Congress in Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI, May 14-17, 2015).

This panel invites papers on any aspect of the vexed question of the historical value, meaning, and intent of the sagas or of Old Norse literature more generally. Papers on this topic might address the historicity of the sagas as nationalistic literature, toponymic practices, genealogies as narratological emplotment, the problem of the fantastic in saga history, the question of evidence in saga narrative, how archeological work continues to be shaped by (and shape) saga interpretation, the nostalgic impulse in saga writing, etc. We hope to present various interdisciplinary approaches to “history” as conceptual space as well as practice.

Brief (100-200 word) proposal abstracts must be received before September 15, 2014. E-mail submission to either of the organizers is invited.

Panel organizers:

Andrew Pfrenger (apfrenge@kent.edu)

John P. Sexton (john.sexton@bridgew.edu)

We look forward to hearing from interested contributors!

 

Thanks for another successful year at Kalamazoo!

We’re back from the 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and wish to thank the panelists who made this year’s panel so successful:

Alison Isberg (“Swords, Stones, and a Skald: Weapons and Masculine Identity in Anglo-Scandinavian Yorkshire”)

Maria Volkonskaya (Moscow State University & National Research University Higher School of Economics: “Insular Spelling Reforms in the Middle Ages: The Ormulum and the First Grammatical Treatise“)

Matthew Bardowell (St. Louis University: “Making Sense of Experience: Art in Response to Emotion in Egils Saga“)

Thanks as well to those who attended and contributed to the Q&A afterward. We’ll put out a call for the 2015 Congress later this summer!

CFP for NESS panel for 49th ICMS (Kalamazoo 2014): The Anglo-Scandinavian World

The New England Saga Society is still seeking papers for its panel at the Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, MI (May 8-11, 2014).

This panel seeks papers addressing any aspect of the centuries-long cultural interaction among England, Iceland, and the Scandinavian world. Subjects might include saga literature, historical data, linguistic influence, commerce, archeological evidence, cultural exchanges, the depiction of one culture through the eyes of the other, etc. We encourage and welcome approaches from diverse disciplines.

Brief (200-250 word) proposal abstracts must be received before September 15, 2013. E-mail submission to either of the organizers is invited.

Panel organizers:

Andrew Pfrenger (apfrenge@kent.edu)

John P. Sexton (john.sexton@bridgew.edu)

We look forward to hearing from interested contributors!

Medieval Icelandic Textiles: A Talk by Michele Hayeur Smith at Bridgewater State University (11/16/2012)

NESS is gearing up for a busy summer, as we begin planning panels for the coming year and as Andrew Pfrenger and I continue collecting submissions for the SMART issue on Teaching Old Norse Literature.

While those are going on, I’ve recently become aware that a talk on Medieval Icelandic Textiles, given by Michele Hayeur Smith at Bridgewater State University a few months ago, is now available on YouTube through BSU’s television project. Dr. Smith’s research is fascinating, and is worth a listen for anyone interested in learning more about textile production, gender studies, or archeology in a medieval Icelandic context. There’s a great deal here of direct consequence to anyone teaching or researching the sagas. I’m embedding it here for anyone who’d like easy access to it.

Call for Papers: Special Journal Issue on Teaching Old Norse Literature

Exciting news! On behalf of the New England Saga Society, Andrew Pfrenger and John Sexton are pleased to announce plans for a special issue of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching (SMART). This issue will address the subject of Teaching Old Norse Literature. We will consider proposals concerning any perspective on this subject, and are especially interested in essays offering innovative ideas for integrating Old Norse literature into the modern undergraduate curriculum.

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching is a journal of essays designed to assist teachers in communicating an understanding of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. SMART essays are scholarly and pedagogical, informative and practical. All papers are judged by at least two peer reviewers.

We invite short abstracts (250 words) from interested parties proposing articles of 3000-5000 words on all aspects of this topic.

We anticipate the following schedule:

Abstracts due: August 31, 2013

Completed articles due: June 30, 2014

Abstracts or requests for further information can be sent to either of the following (e-mail attachments preferred):

 

John P. Sexton
john.sexton@bridgew.edu
Department of English
Bridgewater State University
45 School St.
Bridgewater, MA 02325

Andrew M. Pfrenger
apfrenge@kent.edu
Department of English
Kent State University–Salem
2491 St. Rt. 45 South
Salem, OH 44460

Watch for updates on this site. We hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks!

As we all head home from this year’s ICMS at Kalamazoo, The New England Saga Society would like to thank our roundtable participants and audience, who braved the early hour and inclement weather to take part in a spirited pooling of ideas for teaching Old Norse literature in the undergraduate classroom.

To follow up on a couple of sites recommended during the session:

 

• http://public.gettysburg.edu/~cfee/

Chris Fee’s homepage at Gettysburg College, offering syllabi, schedules, multimedia, and other information. Some of Fee’s treasure trove of saga assignments are available at: http://public.gettysburg.edu/~cfee/sagaassignments/

 

• http://www.vikingnorse.com/

Jesse Byock’s site attached to his newly-released “Viking Language Series,” offering text samples, audio recordings of Old Norse, teaching videos, and more.

 

N.E.S.S. will be submitting panels for the 2014 Congress very soon, and will be making other announcements about new projects in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, safe travels to all making their way home today!