The
e-Newsletter of the Texas Medieval Association (TEMA) - Fall/Winter 2004
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:
Report on TEMA 14, University of Dallas
Afterword - with a Proposal to help celebrate next year
Past issues of Mirabilia: Summer 2004 |
Winter 2003 | Summer
2003 | Winter 2002
Welcome to the newest issue of Mirabilia. As you shall see, there is not much news this go around. This issue mainly contains a write-up of the most recent conference in Dallas. For there to be much more than that, for this to be a true "newsletter," I must have items of interest submitted by the members - of which there was little this time. I cannot make news up … well, I could, but -- ! Enough of that. Let's get straight to business.
Report on TEMA 14, University of Dallas
We
would like to thank Philipp Rosemann and the University of Dallas for hosting
a very fine fourteenth annual meeting of TEMA on
the 17th and 18th of September. As I sat down to write up this account of the
conference, I realized that Philipp's "Welcome" on the inside cover
of the printed conference program - which, incidentally, raises the bar for
future organizers in terms of completeness and utility - gives an account of
the weekend that I really cannot surpass. For members who were unable to attend
(and those who may have turned their copy of the program over to their University
administrations as proof of their own attendance), I quote it liberally:
| This
year, the conference features over seventy papers in twenty-five sessions.
Almost all aspects of medieval culture are covered - from literature, history,
philosophy and art to hagiography and theology. Numerous sessions are devoted
to interdisciplinary topics such as women in the Middle Ages and modern
and postmodern medievalism. There should be something of interest for everyone. In keeping with the tradition of TEMA, I am pleased to welcome among our speakers medievalists from many different backgrounds. Naturally, a majority are professional medievalists who teach at institutions of higher education; others are graduate students working towards that goal; yet we are also happy to have among us a number of independent scholars whose lives have taken them in other directions, but who have remained active in research on medieval thoughts and culture. Although most of our presenters are associated with a college or university here in the state of Texas, many hail from institutions elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad. We are particularly honored by the presence of Professor Minghan Xiao, who teaches at Hunan Normal University and Sichuan Normal University in China; of Ms. Meredith Riedel, from Exeter College in Oxford; and of Professor Wesley Stevens, from the University of Winnipeg. Our two plenary lectures will deal with Peter Lombard, the author of the famous Book of Sentences - a work which exercised a profound influence upon medieval thought through the commentary that every aspiring master of theology was expected to produce on it. My presidential address will serve as an introduction to current trends in research on Peter Lombard, while our invited guest speaker, Professor Steven J. Livesey (University of Oklahoma), will speak on "Accessus ad Lombardum: The Secular and the Sacred in Medieval Commentaries on the Sentences." I hope that the importance of the Sentences as the standard textbook of Scholastic theology will render these plenary addresses interesting to many." |
That they were, Philipp. Thank you in particular for your presidential address
"paving the way" for Professor Livesey's presentation. These were
as complementary as any presidential and plenary addresses I remember hearing.
Although I did not arrive until Friday morning, I have it on good authority
that the Thursday evening reception sponsored by the Dallas Medieval Texts and
Translations series at the Hotel Lawrence was enjoyed by all. Finally, here
follows a run-down of the major points attended to at the business luncheon
on Saturday.
Don Kagay reported that TEMA has achieved financial "solidarity" and
as of that date had approximately $9,120 in the bank. Looking to the future,
meetings will be held as follows: TEMA 15 (2005) at the University of Houston;
TEMA 16 (2006) at Baylor; and TEMA 17 (2007) at Texas A&M. As is the TEMA
custom, the following year's meeting (18 - 2008) was proposed and accepted for
Texas Tech by the proposal and election by acclamation of John Howe as the president
of TEMA for that year. As is also the TEMA custom, by "implicit acclamation"
given the above schedule of future meetings, the roster of officers now stands
as follows for 2005:
| - President:
Sally Vaughn, University of Houston - First Vice President: Tom Hanks, Baylor University - Second Vice President: Cary Nederman, Texas A&M University - Secretary-Treasurer: Don Kagay, Albany State University (Georgia) - Webmaster: Edwin Duncan, Towson University (Maryland) - Newsletter Editor: Kent Hare, Northwestern State University (Louisiana) |
It
was furthermore announced that TEMA will meet at the University of Texas, Austin,
in either 2009 or 2010.
After making a plea for news items of interest to be submitted for inclusion
in Mirabilia (a plea which evidently fell on deaf ears, by the way),
Don announced the proposal and acceptance of eight TEMA-sponsored sessions for
next year's Fortieth International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo).
TEMA is now exceeded in its number of sponsored sessions at Kalamazoo only by
the "Queer Medievalists." The TEMA sessions at the time of the meeting
stood at something like ninety percent filled, and are, with their organizers:
As is customary, Ed Duncan then presented our plenary speaker, Professor Steven
Livesey, with an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the Texas Medieval Association
- "although he resides in an unnamed state to the north of here."
Sally Vaughn, the new TEMA president for 2005, then formally announced next
year's meeting at the University of Houston for Friday and Saturday, 14-15 October.
Sessions will be held largely in the newly remodeled library, with a reception
in the Rockwell Pavilion. There will be a display of medieval manuscripts in
Texas and a performance of period music. Sally - who as seen above organized
four of the eight Kalamazoo sessions - also put forth a call for papers in TEMA-sponsored
sessions at next year's International Medieval Conference in Leeds (11-14 July
2005). There were two such sessions this year; she was hoping to fill three
for next year, and according to a subsequent e-mail it looks like she was successful.
So, next year England will see Texas Medievalists contributing to the following
sessions:
Finally, Philipp Rosemann brought the business meeting to a close by introducing
the plenary speaker, whose address followed.
There is little news to report this time. Despite Don's plug during the business meeting, I have exactly one bit of news to include in this issue of Mirabilia outside of a couple items regarding next year's Kalamazoo and Leeds and incorporated above. Cary Nederman reports the following: "Leah Devun has joined the History Department at Texas A&M University, College Station, as Assistant Professor. A 2003 graduate of Columbia University, she spent the previous academic year as a visiting faculty member at Sarah Lawrence College. Leah's dissertation, supervised by Caroline Bynum, focused on the relation between science and magic in the thought of John of Rupicissa." TEMA and Mirabilia would like to welcome another medievalist to Texas.
Afterword - with a Proposal to help celebrate next year
That's
pretty much it, folks. Thanks again to all who made this year's meeting possible,
particularly Philipp Rosemann. I know Sally Vaughn's already been talking with
him about suggestions for next year. Thanks as always to Ed Duncan, our indefatigable
webmaster, for the actual (virtual?) publication of this newsletter and so much
more for TEMA.
As usual, beyond the scholarly inspiration gleaned from hearing presentations
on a variety of topics both in and out of our own areas of scholarly interest,
a good part of the conference was the opportunity to chat, drink, and dine with
friends and colleagues. Over one of those "after-sessions" Saturday
evening, a group of us at a Mexican restaurant bandied about the idea of a t-shirt
for next year to celebrate the Texas Medieval Association achieving a milestone
- its fifteenth annual conference. Some ideas that I'll keep to myself for right
now were thrown around. I personally have no real idea what would go into actually
producing such a shirt, but if the interest is there I might be willing to undertake
that project - with, of course, the approval of the other officers. It can't
be too difficult - or too high a financial outlay. Being the father of an eight-year-old
son, I'm involved with the Cub Scouts here in Natchitoches, and the lady in
charge of our local pack - which is not at all large and by no means flush with
funds - has managed to make available event-specific t-shirts for several camp-outs
and activities over the last couple of years. So how about it? Is there interest?
Who else would like a souvenir of TEMA 15? You may contact me as always at khare@nsula.edu.
Finally, I will not be able to make it to Kalamazoo - or Leeds - next year,
so I would like to ask now if someone who is attending could volunteer to provide
me with a short account of one or both of these meetings. Kalamazoo is, of course,
the major news for the other issue of Mirabilia that usually appears
each year round about June, but if I do not have a roving reporter there I won't
be able to put together much of an issue! An account of Leeds would, I think,
make a fascinating "sidebar" to our usual post-Texas, October issue
- Texans in England, what a concept! And at the risk of sounding like a broken
record, please send me some news! Otherwise I may have to follow up on threats
past and open my copy of Billington's Limericks Historical and Hysterical
. . . .
Adios! -- Kent