Open Call for Papers: IMC 2019

The Call for Papers for the twenty-sixth International Medieval Congress (IMC) held annually at the University of Leeds, with the Special Thematic Strand 'Materialities', is currently open.

International Medieval Congress (IMC) 2019

The IMC 2019 is the twenty-sixth annual Congress, and will be held from 1-4 July 2019 at the University of Leeds. The Congress welcomes proposals on any topic related to the Middle Ages, and features a Special Thematic Strand each year; this year's focus is 'Materialities'.

Special Thematic Strand: 'Materialities'

The theme 'Materialities' seeks to bring into conversation recent work on materialities by art historians, archaeologists, paleographers, historians, economists, musicologists, liturgists, philosophers, philologists, and scholars of literature, critical theory, and religious studies, among other fields.

Recent attention to objects, artefacts, matter, and material culture has reshaped scholarship in many fields. This strand seeks to address the impact of this new interest in things, theories, and methods as they relate to an expansive understanding of 'materiality'. Material objects and practices served as markers of cultural difference but could also - simultaneously - become part of a shared culture of consumption, proximity suggesting gender and class affinities. Materialities shaped cultures of consumption, created regimes of circulation, and informed networks that defined both subjects and objects.

Ultimately materialities encompass interactions between peoples both near and far and offer an analytical framework that suggests the unity of the medieval world across religious, ethnic, and spatial distances and differences. Themes to be addressed may include but are not limited to: