The Nanovic Institute for European Studies
announces an interdisciplinary, international conference on the history
and literature of the Iberian empires from the High Middle Ages through
the conquest of the New World. Although many scholars have
acknowledged similarities between late-medieval Iberia and its colonies
in the New World, few have offered precise answers to the questions that
arise from these similarities. What is the relationship, for example,
between “inquisition” in a medieval context and in the New World? Is it
meaningful to compare minority Muslim communities in
fifteenth-century Spain to indigenous peoples in the New World? How
were the legal and political instruments of late medieval kings
foundational for early modern Europe and Latin America? This conference
encourages new ways of approaching the topic, based on the conviction
that medievalists, early modernists, and Latin Americanists can
make meaningful contributions to each other’s fields.
Panels will likely include the following topics:
-
Medieval and early modern Inquisition
- Global
exploration and conquest
- Law, politics, and administration
- Language, literature, and translation
- Race, minority populations, and identity
- Evangelization,
“Christianization,” and conversion
The conference will take
place at McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame on Friday,
September 17 and Saturday, September 18, 2010. Papers from history
and literature departments are welcome; they are not required to be
comparative in nature. Contributions from graduate students are also
welcomed and a prize of $200 will be awarded to the best graduate
student paper as determined by a faculty panel. The authors of all
accepted papers will be fully compensated for one night’s lodging and
will be provided with a travel subvention of up to $100. There are also
two travel subventions of up to $500 for accepted
international presenters. All contributions should be sent to John
Moscatiello, Chair of the Conference Committee, at
[log in to unmask] by
May 1, 2010 and include an abstract of 250 words (for a
twenty-minute presentation), a cover letter, and a
curriculum vitae.
Authors of selected papers from the conference will be
invited to
submit an adapted version of their paper to a special issue of the
peer-reviewed
Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies. The editors
of
JMIS welcome the submission, at any stage, of high-quality
scholarship in all fields of medieval Iberian studies, including work
that addresses Iberia in a transatlantic or Latin American frame. For
details, please see
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ribs, or
contact
[log in to unmask].
Featured presenters:
- Felipe Fernández-Armesto, University
of Notre Dame
- Paul Freedman, Yale University
- Michael Gerli,
University of Virginia
- Sabine MacCormack, University of Notre Dame
- Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto
- João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, New University of Lisbon
-
Pablo Pastrana-Pérez, Western Michigan University
On Friday,
September 17, the Medieval Institute will host a dinner and reception in
honor of Jocelyn Hillgarth, Professor Emeritus of History, Pontifical
Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto in celebration of
the acquisition of his personal collection by the Hesburgh Libraries of
Notre Dame.
For online registration and more information, please visit
http://iberiaconference.eventbrite.com.