April 20-23, 2023
The Medieval Association of the Pacific welcomes paper and session proposals from all areas of medieval studies for our 2023 conference, including overlapping areas of early modern and late antique studies. MAP encourages paper submissions from students, emerging professionals, and independent scholars.
Proposals are due 15 December 2022 05 January 2023 (extended deadline). Individual proposals should include (1) a cover page with the author’s name, discipline, and contact information, including any institutional affiliation, and e-mail address and (2) a title and abstract of approximately 500 words. Session proposals should include abstracts for the three papers as well as the contact information for each participant and session organizer. Please submit all proposals attached as .doc or .pdf files with “MAP 2023” in the subject line to this link.
MAP will be meeting in the beautiful Pacific Northwest United States, on the lands of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Western Oregon. This year’s conference events will mainly occur in Eugene, with events downtown and on the University of Oregon campus, but will also feature a Sunday send-off with Mass, monks, and manuscripts at Mount Angel Abbey (add-on at registration). Online papers or panels (virtual presentations) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
MAP 2023 seeks paper and session proposals interested in medieval technologies (broadly defined), and connections between medieval and 21st century technologies, to form a thematic focus for the conference. Session organizers should strive for a balance of gender and career stage among their participants. As is the MAP tradition, papers do not need to relate to this theme to gain acceptance.
The subjects of technology and innovation have long interested scholars of the medieval and early modern periods and their associated fields, who have employed these terms with a range of meanings. Medieval and early modern authors, thinkers, and artists produced a vast and influential corpus using technologies old and new, inspiring innovations in thinking and making while they navigated the social implications of the changes brought about by technologies. Likewise, scholars of these periods have recently been stimulated by the theory and practice of technologies and their consequences. This thematic focus will discover and query concepts, theories, literatures, the arts, modern perspectives, and knowledge creation, that are invested in and affected by the technologies and innovations of the Middle Ages and adjacent periods. Papers may consider both medieval technologies and the application of modern technologies in scholarly interpretation of the Middle Ages. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Technologies of production
- Cultural technologies, including the arts, literature, religion, economy, etc.
- Restricted, dangerous, or forbidden technologies
- The relationship between technology and technique and/or craft
- Code or tech-specific language(s)
- Future casting, or technologies of prophecy
- Epistemologies or ontologies of technology
- Technologies of selfhood and/or identity
- Digital Humanities in the 21st century as applied to medieval studies
- Technology and teaching in medieval studies
Please click here for more information on MAP’s program vetting policy.
MAP is pleased to offer prizes for papers associated with this conference. Please see our website for more information.