MAM at the International Congress for Medieval Studies (ICMS)
(Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Alongside MAM's annual Fall meeting, the ICMS in May every year at Kalamazoo, Michigan, is the other premier opportunity for the Association's members to gather and exchange their stories. MAM holds two meetings: one for the executive council and one for the general membership (the "business" meeting). The business meeting offers a venue where those interested can learn about the Association's activities and plans, as well as to introduce ideas their own ideas for future MAM gatherings. At the meeting we hear about future MAM conferences, updates on the previous conference, as well as initiatives to bring the membership together electronically.

Remember, too, that papers given at MAM sessions can be considered for publication in Enarratio.

Questions about MAM's program at the ICMS may be directed to Mickey Sweeney (msweeney@dom.edu) .

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?

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?