CFP for Kalamazoo, May 9-12, 2019

Medica will be sponsoring two sessions at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, which will be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan from May 9-12, 2019. 

1) Leprosy in the City: Medical, Charitable, and Regulatory Responses to Leprosy in the Middle Ages

This session invites papers that explore the multifaceted approaches and responses to leprosy and leprosy sufferers in the Middle Ages. Leprosy occupied a unique place in the medieval world and was simultaneously viewed and understood in medical, legal, social, and religious terms. Papers in this session could explore different types of approaches or responses to the disease including those of learned medical practitioners, local healers, religious figures, and the cities themselves. Papers that consider questions about medical treatments, institutions, or other related topics concerning medieval leprosy are also welcomed. 

2) Women Healers in Medieval Family and Community Life

Both historical and fictional, textual and artistic representations portray medieval women performing a customary domestic responsibility, treating illness and injury among their family and neighbors. This session seeks papers that enlarge typical characterizations by offering insight into the contributions and practices of female healers as they functioned in the day-day reality of medieval life. Not limited to midwifery, the health care activities of medieval laywomen, noblewomen, and religious women included surgery and bloodletting, therapeutic treatments, herbalism, practical nursing, and disposal of the dead. Paper proposals are invited that examine training, treatments, historical records, legal status, and individual figures, both professional and non-professional. In addition, papers are encouraged to examine the textual and empirical sources of information employed by medieval female healers, such as botanicals, late medieval self-help texts, medical texts and teaching manuals, traditional home recipe texts, native intelligence, and apprenticeships. As in the past, Medica encourages interdisciplinary perspectives that explore medieval female health care providers across the cultural spectrum of history, literature, and art.

If interested, 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, 2017.

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.