L'Agenda des Médiévistes

CfP – Deadline: 31.07.2021
L’Architettura normanna e il Mediterraneo. Dinamiche dell’interazione culturale

The expansion of the Normans in medieval Europe and beyond is proving to be a wide and very rewarding field for research into the complex phenomenon of transcultural exchange processes (after the conceptual narrowing as « popolo d’Europa » in 1994, most recently Burkhardt/Foerster 2016; Scirocco/Wolf 2018; Stringer/Jotischky 2019 and Tabanelli/Tranchina 2020 as well as the exhibition in the Mannheim Reiss-Engelhorn Museum 2022/23). On the one hand, studies deal with the great mobility of people, ideas and goods within the territories under Norman rule; on the other hand, the powerful dynamics of the exchange between the new Norman upper class and the population already living in these areas are increasingly coming into view. Here it should be noted that the Norman territories in the 11th and 12th centuries – in particular Normandy, England, southern Italy and the Principality of Antioch – were discontinuous and generally only connected by sea. There has been much less investigation into the Norman presence, albeit organised differently and of lower intensity, in the Dalmatian coastal region, on the east coast of the Ionian Sea, on the Iberian Peninsula (the Dukedom of Tarragona), in Ifriqiya (North Africa) and in the Holy Land.

The special issue of this journal focuses on the contribution of the Normans to the architectural culture of the southern and eastern Mediterranean region. Contributions are particularly sought which treat of the associated mutual cultural exchange processes in the sense of a Histoire croisée. Works are particularly welcome which combine theoretical reflections with the concrete treatment of architectural contexts. Here the narrow focus of the research on the Palermo royal court should be widened with a significantly broader geographical and social approach. Along with contributions to the cultural relations of the various ethnic groups in southern Italy and eastern Sicily, investigations are of interest into the visible signs of cultural interaction between the various Norman territories with other cultures in the Mediterranean area. Here the interest is directed at questions of town planning as well as individual buildings (sacred and secular). In terms of the thematic focus, particularly noteworthy are the transfer of construction know-how and of spatial and vault solutions, architecture as promoter of social participation, the importance of port cities and other „contact zones“, strategies of spoliation and possible semantics, aspects of residential comfort, the relationship between space and liturgy, and building sculpture with its ruling-related and socio-politically interpretable image programs.

Proposals are welcome for two types of contributions in English and Italian: – Articles with a length of 20,000–40,000 characters (including spaces and notes) and up to 12 illustrations; short articles or miscellanea of 5,000–10,000 characters (including spaces and notes) and up to 3 illustrations.

Prospective contributors are asked to send an abstract (up to 400 words) and a short CV to redazione.aistarch@gmail.com by July 31, 2021. Editorial rules and other guidelines will be announced after receipt of the suggestions. The contributions must be unpublished; the deadline for contributions is the 20th of December 2021. Contributions received will be discussed by the editorial committee and undergo a peer-review (double-blind) procedure.

Timetable
– Submission deadline for proposals to redazione.aistarch@gmail.com: 31st of July 2021
– Feedback from the editors: 3rd of September 2021
– Submission deadline for contributions: 20th of December 2021
– Publication of the special issue: June 2022

redazione.aistarch@gmail.com

Source : H-Soz-Kult

The study of Disability history has recently experienced substantial shifts in scholarly approach. Academics since the 2000s have recognised more clearly than ever that the meaning and experience of Disability changes over time, and within and between cultures (Turner and Pearman, 2010). It is now understood as a socio-cultural phenomenon, an embodied state which diverges from culturally constituted “norms” at a given moment in time (Barsch, Klein and Verstraete, 2013). Scholars have approached Disability/illhealth in different contexts, from social histories of communities of Disabled or chronically ill people; to cultural studies of Disability/illness across different genres; to identifying Disability as an intrinsically liminal position (Crawford and Leet, 2010; Eyler, 2010; Baker, Nijdam, and van’t Land, 2012; Metzler 2013). Recently, several publications have tried to better delimit the field of research with the aim of contributing to a deeper understanding of disease and Disability in medieval culture and thought (Künzel and Connelly, 2018; Hsy, Pearman and Eyler, 2020).

 The special thematic strand of the International Medieval Congress for 2022 invites scholars to question how notions of borders, variously defined, serve to limit communities and identities. We therefore seek to put together a session or sessions exploring the border(s) between Disability and ability, and/or health and illhealth.

Proposals may include (but are not confined to) the following:

• How the definition and differentiation between Disability/illhealth and ability/health division varies in different contexts,  E.g. the suffering of a saint as part of their sanctity vs suffering as something to be cured by a saint; mysticism vs mental illness; sin as an ‘illness’ vs the redemptive opportunities of suffering; different physical expectations/requirements of different genders/occupations/social strata.
• Where does the impact of Disability/illhealth end? Does it move beyond the borders of an individual/group to affect the wider society? E.g. impact of caring for Disabled/ill persons; opportunity for charity towards a Disabled/ill person.
• How does Disability/illhealth fit within, on, or interact with the ‘borders’ of or in society? How does it fit with ideas of marginalization, or how does Disability/illhealth intersect with other  socio-economic experiences? E.g. experiences of Disability/illhealth in different social strata, ages, gender identities, cultural roles.
• Where is the border between illhealth and Disability? How were they defined? Do definitions/descriptions differ across source materials? E.g. descriptions of Disability/illhealth in medical texts, literature, religious texts, legal texts.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words for a 20 minutes paper presentation should be submitted to the session organisers Adelheid Russenberger (a.v.s.russenberger@qmul.ac.uk) and Dr Ninon Dubourg (ninon.dubourg@gmail.com) by 31 August 2021.

Source : DisHist