CFP Kalamazoo 2011

Call for Papers: The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing: Sessions I-VI

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 12-15 May 2011

An exciting suite of six sessions under the umbrella theme The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing will be presented at the 2011 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. The four societies sponsoring these sessions -- Medica: The Society for the Study of Healing in the Middle Ages, AVISTA: The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML), and Societas Magica -- invite submissions that focus on sites, images, objects, and texts to explore the multivalent practices and meanings of healing in all its forms. A wide range of approaches is encouraged.

1. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing I: Sites and Images

2. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing II: Objects and Instruments (co-sponsors AVISTA and Medica)

Sessions I and II will focus on the art, architecture, and technologies of healing in the Middle Ages.

Contact: Barbara Bowers (AVISTA, bowers.41@buckeyemail.osu.edu)

3. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing III: Texts

4. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing IV: Texts (co-sponsors Medica and AVISTA)

Sessions III and IV will explore the different textual traditions in which medieval authors considered matters of health and healing. For example, papers might examine texts produced by and for scholastic physicians or laymen, questions about Latin and vernacular medical textual traditions, specific issues addressed in medical texts, such as theology, animal husbandry, etc., or the ways other literary genres draw upon or treat medical subjects.

Contact: Linda Migl Keyser (Medica, keyserl@georgetown.edu)

5. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing V: Texts (co-sponsors HMML and Medica)

Session V will focus on texts as a partial purveyor of healing knowledge to go along with architectural setting, art image, and artifact. Papers will discuss specific manuscripts, collections of healing prayers, recipes, and explore the healing properties of manuscripts as objects.

Contact: Theresa Vann (HMML, tvann@csbsju.edu)

6. The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing VI: Texts: Re-Siting (co-sponsors Societas Magica and Medica)

Session VI expands textual traditions to include additional sites, such as the body as text.

Contact: Marla Segol (Societas Magica, msegol@skidmore.edu)

Please send proposals for papers (abstracts of no more than 300 words) and a completed Participant Information Form by e-mail to the contact person for that session by 15 September 2010.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact either Linda Keyser (keyserl@georgetown.edu) or Barbara Bowers (bowers.41@buckeyemail.osu.edu).

CFP Leeds 2011

Medica and the Wellcome Trust are co-sponsoring a session on food and nutritional health at next year's Medieval Congress at Leeds. The Call for Papers follows:

International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 11-14 July 2011

The rich man's feast and the poor man's fare:

multidisciplinary approaches to food and nutritional health

in the Middle Ages

Sponsors: Wellcome Trust / Medica

In a recent article for the Journal of Medieval History Chris Woolgar drew attention to the rich multidisciplinary opportunities for research and collaboration afforded by the study of medieval food. Yet historical food and dietary health are still not very well established as an academic field and the subject seems ripe for exploration as part of the special thematic strand Poor … Rich at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in 2011. We are looking for papers (for one or more sessions) that consider at least one of the following topics from a comparative socio-economic perspective (i.e. comparing rich and poor people’s nutrition and foodstuffs). We welcome international proposals from people working in museums, schools, historical re-enactment, food science and bioarchaeology, as well as from historians, art historians and literary specialists.

· Cooking medieval food for the modern public: problems and opportunities

· Teaching history through food

· Dietary health and regimen for rich and poor

· Eating and morality

· Feasting and fasting

· Food and charity

· Food production and food processing

· Bioarchaeological approaches

· Food and finance: medieval cost of eating

· Malnourishment, undernourishment, excess

· Social determinants of nutritional (ill-)health

The International Medieval Congress attracts over 1500 participants every year from more than forty countries, thus making it the largest conference of its kind in Europe. For more information, including registration, accommodation and bursaries, please go to http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2011_call.html. This call for papers is inspired by a new Wellcome Trust-funded engaging science award: You Are What You Ate: Food Lessons from the Past (grant no: 092293). Over the next three years the project will bring together historians, scientists, bioarchaeologists, re-enactors, museum officers and nutritionists in the exploration of diet and eating habits, past and present. There may be some project funds to cover registration costs at the congress for museum professionals and school teachers, and also re-enactors who are not in academic posts. Please make your status clear when sending in your proposal (appropriate proofs will be required).

Please send all proposals to: Iona McCleery, School of History, University of Leeds, LEEDS LS2 9JT, i.mccleery@leeds.ac.uk, phone: +44 (0)113 34 38543

Closing date for proposals: 9 September 2010 (submission 250 words, preferably by e-mail)

(submitted by Iona McCleery)

Medica at Leeds 2010

For those of you attending the International Medieval Congress at Leeds this July, remember to add the Medica-sponsored session on "Healing Journeys" to your schedule. The papers in this session promise to offer three insightful perspectives on the quest to find healing through both geographical and preternatural journeys.

Tuesday, 13 July from 4:30 p.m. - 6:oo p.m.

(Session 827) Healing Journeys: Travels for Body and Soul in Medieval Culture

Organizer/Presider: Virginia Langum (Magdalene College, University of Cambridge)

• Hilary C. Powell (University of Cambridge) "A Move to the Country?: Nature and Healing in Medieval England"
• Michelle Garceau (College of Charleston, South Carolina) "Healing Practices and Journeys as Seen in Catalan Miracle Stories"
• Chris Wilson (University of Exeter) "Corporeality and Visions of the Otherworld in the Long 13th Century"

Session abstract: The panel considers various aspects of travel for healing in the Middle Ages. The first two papers consider medical "pilgrimage" within different geographical and spatial contexts. Michelle Garceau investigates Catalan miracle stories for evidence of healing practices and their particular significance for gender studies. Hilary Powell discusses travel to healing locations in medieval England other than to the widely known saints' shrines. She delineates the status of these springs, trees, and stones within official and unofficial religious culture. In the final paper, Chris Wilson explores a less material form of travel – the otherworldly vision - and its physical and physiological consequences.

Notes from the President

This Year at Kalamazoo . . .

Dear Members and Friends,

Medica made a strong showing at the 2010 Medieval Congress at Western Michigan. A fine crowd of attendees gathered to hear the four papers presented in this year's Medica session "Regimens of Health: Housebooks and Everyday Medicine" (see picture, left to right): Iona McCleery (Univ. of Leeds) "Preserving the Health of Body, State and Soul: Recipes and Regimen in the Commonplace Book of King Duarte of Portugal (1433-38)," Sarah Matthews (Univ. of Iowa) "Bloodletting in Monastic Customaries," Donna Trembinski (St. Francis Xavier Univ.) "Household Cures for Common Pain," and Efraim Lev (Univ. of Haifa) "Mediators between Theoretical and Practical Medieval Medical Knowledge: Notebooks in the Cairo Genizah and their Importance." An enthusiastic discussion with members of the audience followed.

After the session, we held Medica's annual business meeting. Highlights of our discussion follow.

Announcements and Updates:

* Of special note, at the 2011 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo Medica will co-sponsor 5-6 sessions with AVISTA, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, and Societas Magica. The theme of the sessions is "The Scared and the Secular in Medieval Healing." The sessions will focus on papers addressing sites, images, objects, and texts to explore the multivalent practices and meanings of medieval healing. Keep an eye out for the upcoming CFPs as this promises to be a very special Congress! I'll keep you apprised of developments.

*In addition, we discussed sponsoring a session on Food, Nutrition, and Health at next year's Leeds Medieval Congress. The theme for the 2011 conference is "Rich . . . Poor." Details will follow.

*Also on the agenda, members discussed the open position of Vice President of Medica. Members are requested to start thinking of possible nominations -- yourself or a colleague. Nominations should be sent to the Chair of the Nominating Committee, Gerard NeCastro (necastro@maine.edu).

*In the meantime, William H. York, aka "Harry," the session organizer for "Housebooks and Everyday Medicine," has graciously agreed to step in as Interim Vice President. Thank you, Harry!

*A final gentle reminder to members. It's that time of year again. Membership for Medica runs from Kalamazoo to Kalamazoo. Annual dues is $20 for full-time professionals and $10 for students and retired, part-time, or unemployed faculty and researchers. Please make out checks to Medica and mail to our Treasurer and Secretary, Gerard NeCastro, Department of English, 9 O’Brien Avenue, University of Maine at Machias, Machias, ME 04654. For more information contact Gerard at necastro@maine.edu.

Thanks to all who made this yet another successful Medieval Congress for Medica. And for those traveling across the pond this summer, remember that Medica is sponsoring the session "Healing Journeys: Travels for Body and Soul in Medieval Culture" at the Leeds Medieval Congress, 12-15 July 2010.

Cheers,
Linda Migl Keyser

Kalamazoo 2010: Medical Themes

The following is a brief list of papers with medical themes that will be presented at the Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo this year. This is a cursory list meant to assist those interested in hearing papers presenting current research in medieval medicine; I apologize for any papers overlooked.

And don't forget, Medica's session, #34 "Regimens of Health: Housebooks and Everyday Medicine" will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, May 13. Following this session, our annual business meeting will be held at noon. Members and friends welcome. See posting below for details.

Papers on Medieval Medicine:

Thursday 10:00 a.m.

#19 Platinum Latin I: "Medical Imagery and the Rhetorical Psogos in Claudian’s Invectives," Cillian O'Hogan, Univ. of Toronto

Thursday 3:30 p.m.

#138 Globalizing the Middle Ages?: "Researching the Indian Contribution to Medieval Cooking and Medicine," Rachel Wexelbaum, St. Cloud State Univ.

Friday 1:30 p.m.

#277 Poison and Medicine in the Fourteenth Century:

"Defining Poison ca. 1300-1600," Frederick Gibbs, George Mason Univ.

"Poison and Medicine in the Western World before the Appearance of the Treatises about Poisons (End of the Thirteenth Century)," Franck Collard, Univ. de Paris X-Nanterre

"Poison, Medicine, and the Medieval Apothecary," Marie A . Kelleher (no affiliation noted in program)

#293 Religious Practices: "Medical Theory and the Christianization of Sleep in Late Antiquity," Leslie Dossey, Loyola Univ. Chicago

Friday 3:30 p.m.

#321 Science and Religion in the Fourteenth Century: "Swooning in Fourteenth-Century Medical and Religious Texts," Daniel Thomas Moore, Independent Scholar

#358 Early Medieval Europe I: "Christian and Pagan 'Temple Medicine': Incubation Cults in Late Antiquity," Amy Norgard, Univ. of Illinois-Urbana-Champagne

#360 Books, Readers, and Religions in the Middle Ages III: "Bodily Paynes: Middle English Devotional Literature and Late Medieval Medicine," Anna Dysert, McGill Univ.

Medica on Thursday at Kalamazoo 2010

Dear Friends and Members,

As you prepare for your trip to Kalamazoo this May, keep an eye on the schedule for Thursday, May 13th. At 10:00 a.m., please come to Room 1280 in the Schneider Building to hear speakers present a fascinating look at various perspectives of everyday medicine at the Medica-sponsored session Regimens of Health: Housebooks and Everyday Medicine. After which, walk down the hill to Valley III, Room 304 to attend Medica's Annual Business Meeting at noon. We'll be discussing plans for future Medica sessions at Kalamazoo and Leeds, as well as plans for growing the society. Bring a lunch and a friend. All are welcome. See details below.

Thursday 10:00 a.m., Room 1280 Schneider
(Session 34) Regimens of Health: Housebooks and Everyday Medicine

Presider: William H. York (Portland State University)

• Efraim Lev (University of Haifa), “Mediators between Theoretical and Practical Medieval Medical Knowledge: Notebooks in the Cairo Genizah and their Importance”
• Donna Trembinski (St. Francis Xavier University), “Household Cures for Common Pain”
• Sarah Matthews (University of Iowa), “Bloodletting in Monastic Customaries”
• Iona McCleery (University of Leeds), “Preserving the Health of Body, State and Soul: Recipes and Regimen in the Commonplace Book of King Duarte of Portugal (1433-38)”

Thursday 12:00 noon: Room 304 Valley IIII
Medica Business Meeting

Open meeting for members and anyone interested in researching illness and healing in the Middle Ages.

See you in May,

Linda Migl Keyser
Medica, President

Medica at Leeds 2010

At the 17th International Medieval Congress, Leeds (July 12-15, 2010 at Leeds University, Leeds, England), Medica will sponsor the following session:

Session 827: Healing Journeys: Travels for Body and Soul in Medieval Culture

Time: Tuesday, 13 July - 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Abstract: The panel considers various aspects of travel for healing in the Middle Ages. The first two papers consider medical 'pilgrimage' within different geographical and spatial contexts. Michelle Garceau Catalan investigates Catalan miracle stories for evidence of healing practices and their particular significance for gender studies. Hilary Powell discusses travel to healing locations in medieval England other than to the widely known saints' shrines. She delineates the status of these springs, trees, and stones within official and unofficial religious culture. In the final paper, Chris Wilson explores a less material form of travel – the otherworldly vision - and its physical and physiological consequences.

Organizer and Presider: Virginia Langum (Magdalene College, University of Cambridge)

• Hilary C. Powell (University of Cambridge), "A Move to the Country?: Nature and Healing in Medieval England"
• Michelle Garceau (College of Charleston, South Carolina), "Healing Practices and Journeys as Seen in Catalan Miracle Stories"
• Chris Wilson (University of Exeter), "Corporeality and Visions of the Otherworld in the Long 13th Century"