Tuesday, July 26, 2016

CFP for sessions at Kalamazoo in 2017


Medica is seeking proposals for our two sessions exploring the material culture of healing at the upcoming meeting of the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan from May 11-14, 2017.

We are also seeking a participant for a roundtable session on “Medieval Tools,” which will be co-sponsored AVISTA (The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Technology, Science, and Art), DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion), Societas Magica, The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, and EXARC.

The paper sessions are:

1)  Materia Medica: Plants, Animals, and Minerals in Healing
This session invites papers that investigate how medieval healers employed a wide range of materials drawn from plants, animals, and minerals to treat their patients. Papers can examine medieval manuals of herbal medicine to learn about herbal cures and dietary prescriptions in practice and theory. Papers can also examine bestiaries or hunting manuals for insight into the medicinal value of animal parts. In addition to examining the specific materials used in cures, papers might consider the production and sale of medicinal remedies. This opens the opportunity to explore subjects like the development of monastic herbal gardens, the trade routes by which medicinal materials reached their market, and the regulation of apothecary shops. The aim of the session is to bring together scholars considering the theory behind developing medicinal cures as well as the material culture that shapes those cures.

2) Surgeons and Their Tools
This session seeks papers that examine the theory and practice of medieval surgery. This could include looking at the training of craft surgeons and/or the development of surgery curricula at university medical school. Papers that examine specific surgical techniques, the application of surgery to treat specific conditions, or the tools used by surgeons, are of special interest. As with the session on "materia medica" this session also encourages papers that examine the material culture of medieval surgical practice as witnessed from textual and artistic perspectives.


Roundtable: Medieval Tools
This roundtable session provides an opportunity for short presentations, demonstration, and discussion of medieval tools and technology from various realms, including artistic production, agricultural labor, construction, shipbuilding, and household use. Medica seeks a participant who could contribute to the roundtable with a discussion of the use of tools in medical settings, or for the purposes of personal health or hygiene. The organizers are encouraging participants to bring illustrations and/or replicas of tools, although this is not required.

Though not required, an applicant for the roundtable would also be welcome to submit a paper proposal to one of the paper sessions

I would suggest for any Medica members who are also MEDMED-L readers that this roundtable could allow a speaker to follow up on the recent queries concerning “ancient bottom wipers,” or the Roman latrine stick/sponge and its use for personal hygiene.

If interested in presenting for either of the paper sessions and/or the roundtable, please submit an abstract of roughly 250-300 words along with a Participant Information Form (PIF), which can be found at http://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions. All proposal materials are due by September 15, 2016.

If you have questions about either of the sessions, or would like to submit an abstract, please direct emails to Harry York at why@pdx.edu.


Saturday, February 27, 2016

Medica's 2016 Schedule at Kalamazoo

International Congress on Medieval Studies, 12-15 May 2016
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Thursday, May 12
noon, Bernhard 211-- Medica Business Meeting
open to members and non-members

Friday, May 13
1:30 p.m., Schneider 1130
Session #243 Epidemic Diseases: Medieval Witnesses

Presider: William H. York, Portland State University

The Disappearing Leper and Clandestine Christ: Understanding a Theological Topos in Bonaventure’s Life of Saint Francis of Assisi
             Mark M. Lambert, University of Chicago
Diagnosis of Plague in Gui de Chauliac’s Chirurgia Magna
             Meagan S. Allen, Indiana University, Bloomington
Bone, Stone and Text: Jewish Responses to the Black Death
             Susan L. Einbinder, University of Connecticut

3:30 p.m., Schneider 1130
Session #297 Epidemic Diseases in the Middle Ages: 
Twenty-First Century Understandings
Presider: Monica H. Green, Arizona State University

Plague Diffusion within and out of Europe’s Uplands
             Ann G. Carmichael, Indiana University, Bloomington, Emerita
Is that Plague Image Really an Image of the Plague? Tackling the Digital Disconnect between Medieval Witnesses and Twenty-First Century Understandings of Epidemic Diseases in the Middle Ages
             Lori Jones, University of Ottawa
The Rise and Fall of a Historical Plague Focus: The Case of Ottoman Anatolia
             Nükhet Varlik, Rutgers University, Newark

5:15 p.m., Fetzer 1060 -- Medica Reception with cash bar

Thursday, February 4, 2016

"Wake the Blog!" Looking forward in 2016 . . .


International Congress on Medieval Studies
12-15 May 2016
The society will sponsor two sessions focusing on epidemics in the Middle Ages at this year's Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo conference:

Epidemic Diseases: Medieval Witnesses

Presider: William H. York, Portland State University

The Disappearing Leper and Clandestine Christ: Understanding a Theological Topos in Bonaventure’s Life of Saint Francis of Assisi
Mark M. Lambert, University of Chicago

Diagnosis of Plague in Gui de Chauliac’s Chirurgia Magna
Meagan S. Allen, Indiana University, Bloomington

Bone, Stone and Text: Jewish Responses to the Black Death
Susan L. Einbinder, University of Connecticut

Epidemic Diseases in the Middle Ages: Twenty-First Century Understandings
Presider: Monica H. Green, Arizona State University

Plague Diffusion within and out of Europe’s Uplands
Ann G. Carmichael, Indiana University, Bloomington, Emerita

Is that Plague Image Really an Image of the Plague? Tackling the Digital Disconnect between Medieval Witnesses and Twenty-First Century Understandings of Epidemic Diseases in the Middle Ages
Lori Jones, University of Ottawa

The Rise and Fall of a Historical Plague Focus: The Case of Ottoman Anatolia
Nükhet Varlik, Rutgers University, Newark

New Roles
This year the mantle of Medica's presidency passes to William H. (Harry) York, Portland State University. Of course, most of you know Harry as he has admirably filled the position of Medica's vice president for many years. But for those who haven't met him as yet, Harry is an independent historian in Oregon and author of Health and Wellness in Antiquity through the Middle Ages (2012). His current research focuses on animal health and veterinary medicine in medieval and early modern Europe. Harry will officially assume the role of president at Medica's annual business meeting at Kalamazoo.

While I will be stepping down as president of Medica, to assist with the coming year's transition, I will be reversing roles with Harry and staying on as the interim vice president. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the constant support and friendship you have shown me over the years. It has been both a great privilege and a pleasure serving as the society's president. Thank you.


You can congratulate Harry on his new position at the reception Medica is hosting at this year's conference. It's also a great opportunity to relax and share your thoughts with others interested in medieval medicine, so please come and bring your friends.

One Final Note
Moving Medica's listserv is on the agenda for this year. Please bear with us as the logistics for the best method of maintaining communication with the society's members and friends are still being worked out. 

To ensure that our records are accurate and up-to-date, if you haven't done so already, please take a moment and send your name, affiliation, mailing address, and email address to me at lmkeyser@gmail.com. We don't want to lose you! And many thanks to all of you who have already been in touch.


Cheers,

Linda


Linda Migl Keyser, Ph.D.

President, Medica






Wake the Blog! Looking back at 2015 . . .

Medica's blog may have been resting, but its members have not!

2015 in Review:
As you'll recall, 2015 was a very good year for the society. In May at the Medieval Congress at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Medica honored one our own, sponsoring three sessions and hosting a reception in recognition of the academic research and mentorship of Linda Ehrsam Voigts, Professor of English Emerita, University of Missouri-Kansas City.


Medica honoree Linda Ehrsam Voigts
Among Professor Voigts’s many contributions to the study of medicine are her extensive work with Latin and vernacular medical texts from late medieval England. In addition, research in medieval medicine is heavily indebted to her for the development, with Patricia Deery Kurtz, of a database of 10,000 texts and prologues searchable from the website of The National Library of Medicine, "Scientific and Medical Writings in Old and Middle English (eVK2),"and for the publication of an electronic version of Thorndike and Kibre, "Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (eTK)."

The sessions:
Future Directions for Research in Medieval Medicine (A Roundtable)
Presider: M. Teresa Tavormina, Michigan State University

Panelists:
Medica Reception for Dr. Voigts

Luke Demaitre, School of Medicine, University of Virginia
Irma Taavitsainen, University of Helsinki

Alpo Honkapohja, University of Zurich
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University
Lea T. Olsan, University of Louisiana at Monroe

In Honor of Linda Ehrsam Voigts I:
Theory and Practice in Latin and Vernacular Medieval Medical Texts 
Presider: Patricia Deery Kurtz, Independent Scholar

What Hath eVK Wrought? Connecting the Vernacular to Latin, England to Europe
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University


“It be a solace to myne age”: Revisiting the Vernacular Versions of Bernard de Gordon’s Prognostic
Luke Demaitre, School of Medicine, University of Virginia

New Light on the Voigts-Sloane Group of Medical and Alchemical Manuscripts
Alpo Honkapohja, University of Zurich


In Honor of Linda Ehrsam Voigts II:
Theory and Practice in Latin and Vernacular Medieval Medical Texts
Presider: Jake Walsh Morrissey, Trent University

Learned Genres of Late Medieval Medical Writing: Commentaries and Their Afterlives

Irma Taavitsainen, University of Helsinki

The Gynecology of the Friars in Fifteenth-Century England
Peter Murray Jones, King’s College, Cambridge University

Equine Medicine in New York Public Library MS Spencer 9
Paul Acker, Saint Louis University

Many thanks to all the participants!