CFP: 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 13-16, 2010 Special Session, “Susanna and the Elders: Medieval to Early Modern”
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The story of Susanna and the Elders has always been a little suspect. After all, its sources weren’t Hebrew, but Greek. In Jerome’s edition it wasn’t even considered part of the true Bible: instead, it appears as an appendix to the Book of Daniel. But the story’s association with the prophet Daniel, and its vivid, economical–even miraculous, narrative made it a lively model for the moral inculcation of youth, especially young women.

Why Susanna? Susanna’s plot is inherently dramatic. It lends itself to an easy excuse to portray the female nude. Its emphasis on the strength of faith alone makes it popular with reformers of all denominations, and the crux of its plot hangs on how the testimony of witnesses is collected–and the importance of a tree. To us today, the story appeals to interests from a range of disciplines–literary study, legal history, art history, codicology.

Given ‘her’ popularity and profusion across the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries and across media, it is unusual that so little scholarship has been devoted to that model of a good woman who refused any compromise with her virtue. In an effort to redress that deficiency, we’ve proposed a session on the story of Susanna and the Elders, to put ‘Susanna’ on trial, so to speak. We hope to gather scholars from across fields and periods who are focusing on this story to generate a cross-disciplinary exchange to explore ‘her’ variations, be it in prose, poetry, drama, or art.
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Abstracts of 100-250 words, welcome until August 30, 2009. Contact Terry Wade, jt.wade@mac.com or Jamie Taylor, jktaylor@brynmawr.edu for further information, or to submit an abstract.

THIRD INTERNATIONAL MARGOT CONFERENCE

THE DIGITAL MIDDLE AGES:

TEACHING AND RESEARCH

JUNE 16-17, 2010

BARNARD COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

NEW YORK, USA

Proposals for complete sessions and individual presentations are currently being accepted for the Third International MARGOT Conference (Moyen Age et Renaissance Groupe de recherches � Ordinateurs et Textes) held at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York from June 16 to June 17, 2010. This conference is co-sponsored by the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

SCHOLARLY FOCUS

During this two day conference, we will explore the use of digital resources in teaching and research in the Middle Ages. We especially encourage submissions on the current state of the art in digital studies, on teaching and curricula matters, and on recent new and expected future developments in the field. Topics may include but are not limited to:

– digital paleography

– translation and dictionary projects

– digital projects in the visual and performance arts (material culture, image annotation tools, paratextual information, etc.)

– text corpora (creation of a corpus, search systems, etc.)

– encoding of medieval manuscripts and printed texts (use of XML, TEI and extensions of these protocols)

– management and preservation of digital resources

– information design and modeling

– the cultural impact of the new media

– software studies

– the role of digital humanities in academic curricula

– funding and sustainability of long-term projects

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL:

We welcome three types of submissions:

1. Demonstrations/showcasing of existing projects which will include discussion of their creation and implementation for research and/or teaching 2. Abstracts for regular paper presentations

3. Proposals for entire sessions (including the names, titles, and abstracts of three/ four presenters)

Regular papers will last for 20 minutes, and will be followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Project demonstrations will last for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes of discussion. We ask participants to include the following information in their proposal: 1. Paper or Session title

2. Session type � Regular or Project Demonstration

3. 250 word abstract

4. Contact information and bio paragraph

The Committee will look at all the proposals and their compatibility with the sessions that are planned. As far as possible, we will try to avoid parallel sessions. The language of the Colloquium will be English.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION:

The deadline for submitting your proposal is Friday, October 2, 2009. For information about the conference, including proposal submissions, registration, and accommodation, please go to http://www.barnard.edu/digitalmiddleages2010. The website will be updated periodically. For inquiries, please contact Prof. Laurie Postlewate: lpostlew@barnard.edu.

We look forward to your participation.

The Conference Committee:

Christine McWebb (University of Waterloo)

Laurie Postlewate (Barnard College, Columbia University)

Delbert Russell (University of Waterloo)

Helen Swift (St. Hilda�s College, Oxford University)