Flaying Volume CFP

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR AN EDITED VOLUME

Title: Images of Flaying in the Middle Ages

Editor: Larissa Tracy

From images of Saint Bartholomew holding his skin in his arms, to scenes of grisly execution in Havelok the Dane, to laws that prescribed it as a punishment for treason, this volume explores the gruesome practice of skin removal—flaying—in the Middle Ages. This volume examines the widely diverse examples of this grisly practice, and explores the layered responses to skin-removal in art, history, literature, manuscript studies and law. How common was this punishment in practice? How does art reflect spiritual response? How is flaying, in any form, used to further political or religious goals? The papers in this volume will literally get beneath the skin of medieval sensibilities regarding punishment and sacrifice in a nuanced discussion of medieval flaying. Abstracts covering any aspect of literal skin removal from late antiquity to the early modern period will be considered.

* Please submit abstracts of 250 words by Sept. 1, 2013 to Larissa Tracy

(kattracy@comcast.net or tracylc@longwood.edu)

* Please include your affiliation and brief bio with your abstract.

* Please include your last name in the file name, and please include a brief bio.

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SEMA CFPs: Murder and Teaching Monsters

Calls For Papers—SEMA 2013

Appalachian State University, Oct. 3–5, 2013 

Session: On the Edge of Law: Murder in the Middle Ages

Sponsor: MEARCSTAPA

Organizer: Dr. Larissa Tracy

Medieval society, not unlike its modern descendants, was plagued with a series of crimes both petty and capital. Murder, one of the worst crimes imaginable because it involves robbing another of life, has captivated audiences and communities since the earliest law codes were established. But in the medieval period, murder had very specific legal parameters depending on time, culture, geography, and legal structures. This session explores the variety of circumstances associated with murder in the Middle Ages ranging from law, literature, art, punishments, justifications and prohibitions to iconography and material culture. Papers on manslaughter, assassins and crimes of passion as well as premeditated murder will be considered.

Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to Dr. Larissa Tracy: kattracy@comcast.net

Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract itself.

Deadline: June 1, 2013

AND

Session: Monsters and the Margins: Teaching Monstrosity (A Roundtable Discussion)

Sponsor: MEARCSTAPA

Organizer: Dr. Larissa Tracy

Monsters are all the rage these days. Several erudite studies have been published on monstrosity in the Middle Ages in the last twenty years, and medieval monsters have made they way onto syllabi across disciplines. This roundtable will feature discussions on how monstrosity can be applied in the modern classroom, exchanging ideas about teaching medieval monsters in art, literature, or history. Do students relate better to the Middle Ages through the valence of monstrosity? Is this fascination with monsters a modern phenomena more than a medieval one? Is teaching monstrosity a way of contextualizing the distant past for current students? Which texts work? Which don’t? Do monsters provide a bridge for teaching across cultures, disciplines and periods? In short, what can monsters add to the courses we teach?

Each discussant will give a short, 5-minute presentation before the floor is opened for conversation.

Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to Dr. Larissa Tracy: kattracy@comcast.net

Please include your name, title, and affiliation on the abstract itself.

Deadline: June 1, 2013