Notes From the President

Hot and dry . . .

. . . then chilly and wet.

That was Kalamazoo mid-May. But no matter the weather, this year's Medieval Congress was bustling with interesting sessions and lively conversations.

Medica and AVISTA: the Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Technology, Science and Art in the Middle Ages were exceptionally busy at Kalamazoo this year. Thursday, May 12th, the two societies co-sponsored four excellent and very well attended sessions on The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing. The series of sessions began with a moving memorial to Geoff Egan by his colleague from the British Museum Michael Lewis. Through his work with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Geoff was researching pilgrim badges whose designs make reference to the curing or alleviation of illness and was to have presented his findings in session I: Images and Objects. His passing at the end of 2010 deprives us all of a valued scholar and good friend; his absence from our sessions was acutely felt.

The speakers of The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing then commenced delving deeply into an investigation of the objects, images, sites, and texts of medieval medicine (see the posting for Monday, January 11, 2011 for the final list of papers and speakers in this series). I'm happy to report that Barbara Bowers of AVISTA and myself, in concert with Ashgate Publishing, have begun the process of developing a volume to publish the proceedings from this special series of sessions. I'll keep you apprised of developments.

Thursday, May 12th also marked Medica's annual business meeting. The highlights of that meeting follow:

Announcements and Updates:

• W. Harry York (Portland State University) was formally named Medica's Vice President. Congratulations and thanks,Harry.
• Two sessions were proposed for submission to the 2012 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo: 1) Noble Suffering: Representations of the Experience of Pain will focus on soliciting papers that investigate the redemptive aspects of both emotional and physical suffering as evidenced in medieval art and literature, and 2) Health and Healing in Early Medieval Medicine: Influences, Theory, and Practice, co-sponsored with The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe, will examine all aspects of health and healing in Europe and the Mediterranean world from approximately 400 to 1100 AD.
• A tentative session on Law and Medicine in the Middle Ages was broached for the 2012 Leeds Medieval Congress. The congress's theme, "Rules to Follow (or Not)," will be held 9-12 July, 2012. Anyone interested in organizing this session should contact me (keyserl@georgetown.edu).
• And speaking of the Medieval Congress at Leeds, Iona McCleery filled us in on the papers being presented in the four sessions that make up The Rich Man's Feast and the Poor Man's Fare: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Food and Nutritional Health in the Middle Ages at this year's conference (11-14 July). Co-sponsored by the Wellcome Trust and Medica, this series of sessions will examine diet and nutrition in the MiddleAges from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives. All four sessions will be held on Tuesday, 12 July: I) Regimen for Rich and Poor, II) Cooking Food for the Modern Public, III) Feasting and Fasting, and IV) Early Medieval Recipes: Theory and Practice. Thank you for all your hard work in organizing these sessions, Iona! (see the posting on Leeds 2011 for more details on speakers and papers)
• Membership dues was collected; Medica's membership runs from Kalamazoo conference to conference (i.e. May to May). Members who were unable to attend this year's conference can pay their dues directly to Medica's Treasurer, Gerard NeCastro. Please contact Gerard for details (necastro@umaine.edu).
• Addendum: Following the conference, Medica was offered the opportunity to co-sponsor two sessions in honor of our own John M. Riddle at the 2012 Kalamazoo Medieval Congress. The sessions have been proposed by the Institute for Medieval Studies at University of New Mexico and will also be co-sponsored by the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions.

All in all, this year's Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo was very exciting and successful for Medica. Many thanks to all those colleagues whose hard work made that possible. And many thanks to Medica's members and friends for your continuing support.

Cheers and have a restful and fun summer,

Linda

Linda Migl Keyser, Ph.D.

President, Medica

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)