The
e-Newsletter of the Texas Medieval Association (TEMA) - Summer 2003
Published by TEMA through the Department of Social Sciences at Northwestern
State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana 71497
Edited by Kent G. Hare khare@nsula.edu
In this Issue:
TEMA 2003 at Baylor University
TEMA at Kalamazoo '03: A Report by Edwin Duncan
TEMA at Kalamazoo '04 - Session Proposals
Here, a little later than I intended, is another issue of Mirabilia under my helm. I would first like to thank our webmaster, Ed Duncan, for the very attractive first issue that he formatted, distributed, and posted a few months back (you can see it here). Even before it gets to that stage, this second issue owes much of its existence to him as well. Thanks, Ed.
I would next
like to repeat my plea for TEMA members to send me any news articles, calls
for papers, or whatever you believe your fellow members would find helpful or
interesting. So far I have received very little (actually, nothing), with the
exception of Ed's report on Kalamazoo which appears below. If any of you have
or know about resources for medieval studies in Texas or surrounding states,
remember the "Texas Treasures" column that once existed. I've actually
had a nibble along those lines, and hopefully that column will be revived with
our next issue.
Don't think that what you send me has to be directly TEMA-related - personal or professional milestones and accomplishments would, I'm sure, be of interest to your colleagues in TEMA. I know that I have some friends that I visit with basically just once a year, at our conference, and it would be nice getting little updates during the rest of the year. Probably others feel the same way, and if I get enough material Mirabilia may come out more often. So, have any of you taken a new job? - gotten tenure? - published a book or article? - or gotten married? - had a child? - or any other news of note? Unfortunately, not all such news would be good news, of course, but there are other items of potential interest nonetheless. Have we lost any colleagues since last October? A notice or a short tribute would be nice. One of the purposes of Mirabilia as I see it would be to foster better communication among our membership as a community of scholars and friends. But, as I said in the first issue, "I cannot do it without you!" Please help me out here to make this a meaningful newsletter for us all. Send anything you have to khare@nsula.edu.
TEMA 2003 at Baylor University
Looking forward,
the Thirteenth Annual Conference of TEMA is coming up fast now. Hopefully you've
all gotten an e-mail as well as a snail-mail Call for Papers, but if not (or
if you deleted or lost it), no worry, here are the particulars.
Our host will
be Baylor University in Waco,
Texas. The dates are Thursday, September 25, through Saturday, September 27,
2003. As always, papers on any aspect of medieval studies are welcome - literary,
historical, musical, philosophical, and art-historical. Please submit session
and paper abstracts of between 150 and 300 words by the submission deadline
of Friday, August 1, to Paul Larson (Paul_Larson@baylor.edu),
Modern Foreign Languages Department, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, or to
Don Kagay (dkagay@asurams.edu), 2812-A
Westgate, Albany, GA 31721.
We would like particularly to invite graduate students to consider attending and giving a paper. It looks great on your c.v. and it's not that hard. We're a friendly crowd at TEMA. Your editor should know as his very first and most subsequent conference papers were given in Texas. There is a great "Guide for the Conferentially Perplexed" by former TEMA President Theresa Vann that gives a lot of good suggestions and guidelines for writing and presenting a conference paper.
TEMA at Kalamazoo '03: A Report by Edwin Duncan
With an estimated 2700 attendees, the 38th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, May 8-11, was in some respects what the conference always is: an opportunity to see old friends and make new ones, to rush up or down the hill to hear papers you checked in the program on your way up, to be inspired by the scholarship and ideas of others, to fret and stress over your own paper (given early in the conference if you're lucky) until you give it before an attentive and knowledgeable audience, to visit the book displays and check out the wares, to drink wine and exchange ideas at the five o'clock receptions, to eat with colleagues and new acquaintances, and, in general, to escape the daily routine at home for three or four days with a vast array of medievalists of all colors and stripes.
As in years past, there was a sizeable contingent of current and former TEMA members, most of whom read papers or chaired sessions. Several TEMA-sponsored sessions were held, and, as far as I know, all went off without a hitch. The informal Friday night meeting at the gazebo was smaller than in previous years; nevertheless, Don Kagay reported the submission of several proposals for TEMA-sponsored sessions for Kalamazoo '04 (see below).
Many participants
attended Benjamin Bagby's reading of Beowulf on Thursday night, and those
who did reported that he gave what may have been his best performance ever.
Others partook of the Medieval Film Fest which included, among others, the perennial
favorite Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A few of the more hardy
even made
the 8:30am plenary speaker sessions, which this year featured talks by David
Nirenberg of Johns Hopkins and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne of Fordham. However, none
of these events were likely as well attended as the free open bars sponsored
by Boydell & Brewer and the University of Toronto Press on Thursday night
or the University of Pennsylvania Press on Friday night.
The weather was
mild and humid throughout, and, although rain threatened a couple of times,
it never quite made it-at least not until the dance closed on Saturday night,
and revelers came out of the Bernhard Center to thunder, lightning, and pouring
rain. A few danced around in the rain like lunatics, but most waited under the
outdoor roof for a bus back to the Valley dorms.
Then, at the end of it all, there was the repacking, the checking out, the bus
ride back to the Kalamazoo airport, and, finally, the return home with the memories
of another memorable medieval conference.
TEMA at Kalamazoo '04 - Session Proposals
Ed Duncan also sent along the list of session proposals for next year that Don Kagay reported during the gazebo meeting, along with the caveat: "Not all of them will be accepted, but there is no way to know which ones until the Medieval Institute sends out its Call for Papers, usually in late June." More information will, of course, be forthcoming, but here's the list to get your ideas a-flowing:
1. "Family, Politics and Power in 10th-century Northern France" - Sally Vaughn, University of Houston.
2. "Justice, Mercy and Social Control in English Medieval Law" - Sally Vaughn, University of Houston.
3. "Ritual and Magic in Early Europe: Pagans and Christians in a Changing World" - Sally Vaughn, University of Houston.
4. "Just Say Boo! The Medieval Experience of the Occult" - Bruce Brasington, West Texas A&M University.
5. "Medieval Madness in Late Medieval England" - Wendy Turner, Augusta State University.
6. "Trends of Late Medieval Medicine" - Wendy Turner, Augusta State University.
7. "Fables and Storytelling in the Libro de Buen Amor" - Paul Larson, Baylor University.
8. "The Investigation of Murder in the Late Middle Ages" - Don Kagay, Albany State University
Well, that's it for this go around. Hope to see you all in Waco. And please consider submitting your own bits of TEMA, professional, or personal news to Mirabilia. Heck, does anyone even know any good medieval jokes? Send 'em on! - Kent in "Nakotish" is looking for something to edit.