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2025

Dear MAM Colleagues -

Looking forward to seeing you at ICMS 2025.

We will be hosting a welcome hour and business update

and would love for you to join us at our sessions and our

social hour.  If not in person, then see our virtual 

offerings. 


It would be great to share good news and to

have friends with us to welcome our new speakers for

this year's sessions, as well as the chance to get to

know potential speakers for our Medieval+ Monsters

conference in the fall (see below) - so please join us at

the Welcome Hour. 



The agenda will be: to elect a new president, if you

have someone you would like to nominate, or wish to self-

nominate please let us know as soon as possible (before

May 8, 2025) by sending an email to:

Amity Reading our MAM secretary.

(AmityReading@depauw.edu).


We are also currently seeking a co-editor for Enarratio,

please contact Alex Kaufman with suggestions or interest.

(alkaufman@bsu.edu)


We will also be fielding suggestions for 2026 ICMS

sessions and will vote on them at our social hour,

so if you could send suggestions asap that would

be great. We would like to vote on them at the meeting.

Please email Mickey Sweeney

(msweeney@dom.edu) or Tory Schendel-Vyvoda 

(tischend22@gmail.com).


We will share updates from our Editor and Treasurer. 



Good luck for the end of term!

All the best, Mickey

Mickey Sweeney

President of  MAM 

Professor of English, Dominican University





Sessions at ICMS 2025:


Sessions: 11, 90,142, 158, 337, & 441 (Eastern time)


Happy Hour: Thursday May 8, Student Center 1024, 6-7:30 pm 



THURSDAY MAY 8, 20205



Friday May 9, 2025


Saturday, May 10, 2025

          Sangren 4560  10:00-11:30 am


441 Mysticism and the Twenty-First Century (A Roundtable)

         Waldo 3027  3:30-5:00pm     




Updates:


Medieval + Monsters Conference (2025) information:


We are very excited to report that we (MAM, IMA, MAMA) 

have had a great response to our Call for Papers to the Medieval +

Monsters Conference, over 90 individual and session submissions. 

Thanks to all of you that have already submitted.


We have just agreed our Speaker - Maria Dahvana Headley

(author of The Mere Wyf - see below) and are working with the

Newberry Library to develop workshops. 


Please share with your colleagues and consider submitting

your own ideas, especially for a workshop. 


Medieval + Monsters Conference

Medieval + Monsters: 
MAM, MAMA, & IMA Joint Conference with                   The Newberry Library

October 17 & 18, 2025

Hosted @ Dominican University & the Newberry Library

Questions:  Monsterconference2025@gmail.com


Maria Dahvana Headley will be our keynote speaker on

Friday October 17, 2025.


With the new addition to our Conference, we are hoping to engage

even more of our medieval and medievalism colleagues as the

creative and the academic merge in Headely's works, most

especially Beowulf and The Mere Wyf. We already have some

wonderful abstracts, but we hope to engage an even more

diverse number of fields to participate. Please share this conference info

with your grad students and colleagues as we seek to build a supportive

network for all.

New York Times Bestselling Author
Academy of American Poets Harold Morton Landon Translation

Awards
Joyce Carol Oates Prize Finalist
NPR Book of the Year 
 

Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling, World Fantasy and

Hugo Award-winning author of eight books, most recently Beowulf: A New

Translation (FSG, 2020), which won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Prize

from the Academy of American Poets, and The Mere Wife (FSG, 2018), a

contemporary novel adaptation of Beowulf. Her full cast musical adaptation of 

The Aeneid, titled Vergil: a Mythological Musical, came out from Audible in 2023.

She delivered the Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature at Oxford in 2023, and

has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence and Bennington, among many others.  


When asked by Slate about her use of contemporary slang in her Beowulf

translation,Headley responded, “My whole career has been grabbing bits of

folklore and repurposing them, and testing out different meters and repurposing

them. That’s the writer I am. But in terms of using some of the more recent slang,

I was really just interested in how much of the English language has been

constructed out of slang always.That’s just the nature of the language. It’s a

language that grabs culturally, jumps class." 


The Jim Falls Paper Prize

The Jim Falls Paper Prize will be awarded to the best paper by a graduate

student delivered at the 2025 joint meeting of (MAM), (MAMA), and the (IMA).

The prize includes a monetary award of $100. 

Deadline: 15 September 2025.

Graduate students are encouraged to send a completed copy of the accepted

paper (no more than 10 pages not including notes) along with their name, university

institution, and graduate status to blantonv@umkc.edu

. Please include in the subject line: Jim Falls Graduate Prize.  The paper you submit

should be the paper you intend to present at the conference. Please do not submit

an entry if you have previously received this award.

See the previous winners of the Jim Falls Paper Prize.

Additional Information

Registration Information

Cost to register for the conference:

$100.00 for faculty & working professionals (includes membership to

MAM for 2025)

$75.00 retired/independent scholar (includes 2025 MAM Membership)
Students: no charge
Payment options coming 

Conference Sessions will be at Dominican University (River Forest, IL),

the Newberry Library (Chicago, IL), and online. More to follow.

Graduate Student Travel Grants & Fees

Travel Information

Conference Publication Opportunities

For questions, please contact

Mickey Sweeney

 
Professor of English, Dominican University
Honors; Medieval & Renaissance Minor
President of the Medieval Association of the Midwest


Strength in Collaboration: Learn more about our publications and

partnerships

This conference is all about the strength in collaboration and partnerships,

we are looking to support all our colleagues in the future of their professions

and research. Enarratio, MAM's journal & Essays in Medieval Studies, the journal

for IMA, will be sharing the submissions for our mutual publications. Be sure to

see our 2024 collections now available online. 

Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies

We are delighted to partner with the Center for Renaissance Studies and the

Newberry, which is a public research library located in Chicago that houses a

strong collection of medieval manuscripts, printed books, and other objects.  

We are looking forward to a session, a workshop, and a tour of the library's

Medieval and Renaissance collections. 


We are also grateful for the CARA grant that will support graduate

attendance at this conference.








Medieval + Monsters Conference

Medieval + Monsters: 
MAM, MAMA, and IMA Joint Conference with The Newberry Library

October 17 & 18, 2025

Hosted @ Dominican University & the Newberry Library

Call for Papers

Individual abstracts of 250 words should be submitted to: Monsterconference2025@gmail.com by March 15, 2025.  

If you are graduate student, note if you want to participate in an on-line session in your proposal. Proposed panels are also accepted. Questions: Mickey Sweeney

Abstracts focused on medieval, or medievalism monstrous themes are welcome; this topic is broadly conceived to encourage colleagues from all relevant disciplines, such as art historians, linguists, literature, theologians, historians, history of science, and forms of medievalism etc., to apply. We also have an active group of graduate students & emerging scholars who are interested in developing online sessions, as well as in-person workshops in teaching the medieval through medievalism, gaming, etc. Please note on your abstract if you are interested in an in-person session or an online session and if you are proposing a graduate session/roundtable/traditional paper/session. 

The Jim Falls Paper Prize

The Jim Falls Paper Prize will be awarded to the best paper by a graduate student delivered at the 2025 joint meeting of (MAM), (MAMA), and the (IMA). The prize includes a monetary award of $100. 

Deadline: 15 September 2025.

Graduate students are encouraged to send a completed copy of the accepted paper (no more than 10 pages not including notes) along with their name, university institution, and graduate status to blantonv@umkc.edu. Please include in the subject line: Jim Falls Graduate Prize.  The paper you submit should be the paper you intend to present at the conference. Please do not submit an entry if you have previously received this award.

See the previous winners of the Jim Falls Paper Prize.

Additional Information
 

Registration Information

Graduate Student Travel Grants & Fees

Travel Information

Conference Publication Opportunities

For questions, please contact

Mickey Sweeney 
Professor of English, Dominican University
Honors; Medieval & Renaissance Minor
President of the Medieval Association of the Midwest

Strength in Collaboration: Learn more about our publications and partnerships

This conference is all about the strength in collaboration and partnerships, we are looking to support all our colleagues in the future of their professions and research. Enarratio, MAM's journal & Essays in Medieval Studies, the journal for IMA, will be sharing the submissions for our mutual publications. Be sure to see our 2024 collections now available online. 

Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies

We are delighted to partner with the Center for Renaissance Studies and the Newberry, which is a public research library located in Chicago that houses a strong collection of medieval manuscripts, printed books, and other objects.  We are looking forward to a session, a workshop, and a tour of the library's Medieval and Renaissance collections. 

We are also grateful for the CARA grant that will support graduate attendance at this conference.     





2024  Conferences

Kalamazoo in May (sessions posted on home page)

Leeds session July 3rd (details and zoom link to follow)

& Co-hosting MAMA/MAM in the fall (see CFP on our page)



THIS IS WHAT 2023 Looked Like - We Were BUSY

IMC 2023 Session

Session 927
Title The Benefits of Being Entangled: A Round Table Discussion
Date/Time Tuesday 4 July 2023: 19.00-20.00 (English time)
 
Sponsor Pearl-Poet Society / Medieval Association of the Midwest (MAM)
 
Organiser Mickey Sweeney, School of English, Dominican University, Illinois
 
Moderator/Chair Ashley Bartelt, Department of English, Northern Illinois University
Mickey Sweeney, School of English, Dominican University, Illinois
 
Abstract Anglophone academic institutions increasingly argue against supporting medieval language and literary studies on the grounds that the discipline is irrelevant to current 'practically' driven, diversity / justice-inspired curriculums. This round table offers a forum for exploring strategies for cross-temporal and cross-disciplinary entanglements in the teaching of late 14th-century Middle English texts. As we are slowly being written out of the profile of English, History, and Philosophy degrees, on account of perceived student 'wants', or management's misunderstanding of relations between subjects of study within individual disciplines, we need to find ways to assert our joyfully messy and plural, yet intellectually rigorous, entanglements with all aspects of the humanities deemed specifically relevant to the present, entanglements that make knowledge of medieval culture integral not only to the learning goals and objectives of our own departments but of the liberal arts as a whole. So many of the great works of the present or cultural concerns of 2023 are grounded in a relationship with works / events of the past and the 'soft' skills that employers seek are bread and butter learning outcomes for our classes. We will also discuss strategies for devising courses that will convince people of the need to understand the origins of our contemporary culture. Like all good teaching, this round table offers practical and theoretical ways to continue to be a part of the work that needs to be done to help our colleagues and all our students to thrive in this complex time. 
We will invite the audience to come prepared with their ideas and suggestions. 

Participants include Ashley Bartelt (Northern Illinois University), Catherine J. Batt (University of Leeds), Jane Beal (University of La Verne, California), Michael Calabrese (California State University, Los Angeles) and Katie Jo LaRiviere (Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon).

FALL 2023:  MMH Conference in Grand Rapids October 

Thanks to the Midwest Medieval Historical Conference (10 / 2023).  It was great to be invited to host an online session for the MMHC, a dynamic group of people were there and a really lively discussion followed.  It was decided by the MMHC that they would like to try and participate in our joint MAM/MAMA conference in 2024, so great news to welcome some potential sessions by historians. 


MAM Annual Meeting in collaboration with MAMA postponed to 2024

The Medieval Association of the Midwest holds an annual meeting, usually in late September or early October. This conference offers panels of papers, round tables, plenary sessions, as well as the occasional workshop on printing, manuscripts, or other tours or presentations related to medieval studies. The conference is generally held at a location in the Midwestern United States or the occasional exotic location (Mayaguez or Madrid).

The Association always welcomes invitations to host future conferences. For those who are interested in doing so, please review the brief pamphlet on resources for hosts of the MAM conference. Upcoming conferences are planned for the following locations:

Information about past conferences (with photos) can be found on the MAM Conference page.

Please join us for a joint meeting of

The Mid-America Medieval Association & the Medieval Association of the Midwest

The Medieval Out of Time & Place

Plenary: Dr. Elizabeth K. Hebbard of the Peripheral Manuscripts Project

French & Italian, Indiana University – Bloomington

In case you missed it:

2023 MAM Kalamazoo meeting Agenda:

We would like to introduce our 2023 presenters to our association & we are keen to reconnect to our MAM memebers. 

We have some work to do - we need a quorum for making desperately needed changes to our constitution. We want ideas on how best to move forward with a regional organization and insight into the needs and expectations of our members. 

MEETING AGENDA:

  1. Approve the minutes from our MAM zoom meeting: MAM members zoom meeting 2-24-23 1.docx. Please see minutes for questions that we are still trying to answer, and hope to think about at this meeting. 
  2. Reports from our current treasurer and secretary.
  3. Vote to adopt the new Constitution. 
  4. Vote for a new Treasurer.  We have had one volunteer, Mark Singer, and Harriet has already volunteered to "train him in" if he is elected. 
  5. Do we want to postpone our conference for next year? Our link to MAMA continues to be strong but they have had to postpone until 2024.  What do we want to do?
  6. We need to search for a new Secretary, what is the best way to advertise the position? Would any of you be interested in being secretary? 
    1. Duties include preparing minutes of Executive Board meetings and annual membership meetings. These are submitted prior to the following meetings of those bodies for approval there.  The Secretary maintains MAM’s records and posts approved minutes on the webpage. They may also be called on to take notes at informal zoom meetings to share with officers and others present.
  7. How to really focus and maximize the potential of this year's sessions both in terms of new members, new contributions to Enarratio, and refocusing on our goals for the next five years. 
    1. How do we want to reach out to our speakers at these sessions and really welcome them as new members?
    2. How do we help bring in new submissions for Enarratio?  Will cosponsoring sessions with other groups and associations (MAMA & MMHC) really help?  Do we want to approach our sessions differently, really ask people to submit their papers right there and then, think of them as drafts that we could work with rather than waiting for them to submit? 
    3. How do we best determine what our goals should be for the next five years and how do we build out a series of assessments along the way to see that what we are trying is working? What are our measures of success? 
  8. How best to publicize our upcoming Leeds session?

 

Revised Constitution for your consideration: 2023 MAM constitution .pdf 

Details about the constitution and the changes: 

The old constitution says it can be amended if approved by 2/3 of the Council and then by a majority of members present at the business meeting and responding by absentee ballot.  In any case we will need a quorum, which is one-third of the membership, to approve the change.  

  • The current document is outdated (approved 1977) and disorganized (9 amendments 1978-2011, including restructuring of officers). It specifies a larger governing body than we have been able to maintain in recent years: fewer people are available to fill officer and Council seats. Parts of the document reflect concerns and practices no longer current in academia.

Changes:

  • The office of Vice President is eliminated.  This position entailed no specific duties.
  • The size of the Council is reduced from nine to six elected members. Length of term is unchanged. The appointed Convener of Conferences, formerly ex officio (non-voting) member would become a voting member. The past MAM conference host, formerly the Vice President, would become an ex officio member.  
  • The title "Convener of Conferences" is changed to "Coordinator of Sessions" to more accurately reflect the duties of the office.
  • The name of the Council is changed to "Executive Board" to better reflect current usage in designating such bodies.  
  • The whole document has been re-written for clarity.


HERE are the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies MAM sessions 2023 - Join Us

Medieval Association of the Midwest (MAM) Meeting & Drinks Reception @ Bernhard Center 242 Thursday (5/11) 5:30–6:30 p.m. 

The Medieval Association of the Midwest is pleased to announce five sponsored sessions that cover a breadth of topics (4 in person, 1 virtual) at the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 11–May 13, 2023. MAM supports scholars at all stages in their careers and greatly values your contribution. For any questions feel free to reach out to Dr. Stephen Yandell yandell@xavier.edu.  

1. Wanted Dead and Alive: Schrödinger’s Cat and the Middle Ages// Session 61 Bernhard Center 208 @ Thursday (5/11) 1:30pm  & the Second ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ is  Session 111, Thursday, 3:30 pm. Bernhard 208.

These sessions invite contributors to explore ways that conceptions of death and understandings of what it means to live interweave in all aspects of medieval life. Where does one find life and death intersecting in and across medieval fields? What appears simultaneously alive and dead in medieval scholarship today?

This session invites contributors to explore ways that conceptions of death and understandings of what it means to live interweave in all aspects of medieval life. Where does one find life and death intersecting in and across medieval fields? What appears simultaneously alive and dead in medieval scholarship today?

2. Vikings and Medieval Violence in the Modern Mind // Session 322 Bernhard Center 210 Saturday (5/13) @ 10:00am

This session invites scholars to consider the popular depiction of Vikings as simultaneously adventurous and threatening. Papers are encouraged to explore any number of questions: what is the history of the romanticization of Vikings and medieval violence? What differences exist between medieval and modern cultural memories of Vikings and violence? How should medievalists as public intellectuals represent and respond to Vikings and medieval violence?

3. Conspicuous Consumption: Feasting, Fighting, and Tomfoolery (co-sponsored with the Pearl-Poet Society). VIRTUAL session // Friday (5/12) @ 1:30pm 

In this panel papers will consider ways that indulgence and gluttony are portrayed in medieval literary works (in the Pearl-Poet and beyond): how feasting and fighting can indicate the values of a medieval audience, and why authors like the Pearl-Poet condemned such excess, whether in the church or court, in nobility or commoner.

4. Teaching the Medieval in the Midwest // Session 176 Schneider Hall 1135 Friday (5/12) @10:00am

This session seeks papers that explore the particular challenges and opportunities that arise when one teaches medieval topics in Midwestern classrooms. We are particularly interested in contributions from graduate students who have navigated medieval teaching experiences in the Midwest at the university level, including pedagogical practices, course development, and student engagement. The top graduate-paper submission will be awarded mentorship for preparing the piece to be published in the journal Enarratio.

5. Second Helping: Reading between the lines of celebration and heartbreak in Chaucer's feasts //Session 26 Schneider Hall 1245 Thursday (5/11) @10:00 am

This session invites scholars to explore Chaucer's deliberate pairings of feasting and celebration with characters who are exposed at key moments in the Chaucerian corpus. The Prioress's genuine emotion for animals over innocent people says much about the preoccupations of her “kind,” for example. Papers are invited to explore this topic from any number of perspectives. What might Chaucer have intended by exposure of his characters specifically in food settings?

Medieval Association of the Midwest






The Medieval Association of the Midwest (MAM) is a non-profit association of scholars devoted to the study of the Middle Ages. For more information, contact the website editor, Mickey Sweeney (msweeney@dom.edu).

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