Annual ACMRS Conference

2015

Trades, Talents, Guilds, and Specialists: Getting Things Done in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

ACMRS welcomed papers that explored any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and especially those that focus on the topic "Trades, Talents, Guilds, and Specialists: Getting Things Done in the Middle Ages and Renaissance."

Keynote speaker: Henry S. Turner, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Program in Early Modern Studies at Rutgers University. Intellectually imaginative and energetic, Professor Turner is one of the few - and the finest - scholars now writing on the historical intersection of literature and science. His first book, The English Renaissance Stage: Geometry, Poetics, and the Practical Spatial Arts, 1580- 1630, was awarded honorable mention from the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, in competition for being the best book in interdisciplinary science studies in 2007.

2014

Catastrophes and the Apocalyptic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

ACMRS welcomed papers that explored any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and especially those that focus on the theme of catastrophes and the apocalyptic.

2013

Beasts, Humans, and Transhumans in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

ACMRS welcomed papers that explore any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and especially those that focus on the theme of beasts, humans, and transhumans, both in literal and metaphorical manifestations.

Keynote speaker: Professor Juliana Schiesari, Chair, Department of Comparative Literature, Professor of French/Italian and Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis. Professor Schiesari’s areas of research include: feminist theory, psychoanalysis, Renaissance and early modern literature, women's literature and cultural studies. She is currently writing a book on the politics of domestication of women and animals.

2012

Erotica and the Erotic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Keynote speaker: Professor Albrecht Classen, noted medievalist in the Department of German Studies at The University of Arizona. Professor Classen's keynote address is titled "The Erotic and the Quest for Happiness in the Middle Ages. What Everybody Does and Hardly Anyone Truly Achieves." He has a broad range of research interests covering the history of German and European literature and culture from about 800 to 1800. In 2010 he was elected Vice President and President Elect of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. In 2011 he also assumed, once again, the role of President of the Arizona Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German.

2011

Performance and Theatricality in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Keynote speaker: Pamela Sheingorn, who specializes in the European Middle Ages, especially in visual, cultural, and women's history. Her research areas include hagiography, drama, and visual culture. Her books include: Myth, Montage, and the Visible in Late Medieval Manuscript Culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea (2003, co-authored with Marilynn Desmond); Writing Faith: Text, Sign, and History in the Miracles of Sainte Foy (1999, co-authored with Kathleen Ashley); The Book of Sainte Foy (1995); Interpreting Cultural Symbols: St. Anne in Late Medieval Society (1990); and The Easter Sepulchre in England (1987). Her current research projects focus on representations of the late medieval family, medieval masculinities, a cultural history of Joseph the Carpenter, and illuminations in medieval drama manuscripts.