September 1, 2004


Dear Members and Prospective Members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific:

In April, 2004, we had an extremely successful joint meeting with the Medieval Academy at Seattle, Washington. Many thanks to Richard K. Emmerson, Executive Director of the Medieval Academy and to the local program committee for their efforts to assure that everything ran smoothly.

I take this opportunity to introduce myself to new members as the current President of MAP, and to inform the membership about next year’s annual conference, to be held in San Francisco, March 11-12, 2005. The local arrangements are being handled by William Bonds and Jarbel Rodriguez. Proposals for sessions or for individual papers should be sent by October 21, 2004, preferably by e-mail or e-mail attachment, to Brenda Deen Schildgen, or by postal mail to Brenda Deen Schildgen, Comparative Literature Program, University of California, Davis, 95616.

Complete sessions, organized by an individual or an organization, with an assigned chair, are particularly welcome.  We also welcome offers to chair sessions from members who expect to attend the conference.  Proposals and abstracts should be under one page in length, and should include the name, discipline, academic rank, and institutional affiliation of the presenter, as well as full contact information such as postal and e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers.  The presenter should also indicate if he or she wishes to use A-V or computer equipment.

All presenters at a MAP conference must be members of the organization.  Prospective members will find a membership application at the appropriate link on the MAP website.

I remind graduate student members that MAP subsidizes your registration fees, and that two prizes are available annually: the John F. Benton Travel Award to conferences or research for independent scholars and graduate students, and the Founders’ Prize for the best graduate student paper delivered at a MAP conference.  Details of these prizes and application deadlines are available at the appropriate places on the MAP website (www.medieval.ucdavis.edu/map/).

I look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco in March 2005. The 2005 conference promises to be exciting and rewarding.

Sincerely,

Siân Echard
President, MAP

        
                                                                     

August 29, 2004

34th Medieval Workshop at the University of British Columbia Medieval Authorship: Theory and Practice,  November 12-13, 2004. Keynote by Alastair Minnis (Ohio State University). The conference will approach the topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, consider several geographical regions, and explore theoretical and practical aspects of authorship throughout the Middle Ages.

Information and registration:
Erik Kwakkel (History Dept.)    kwakkel@interchange.ubc.ca
Stephen Partridge (English Dept.)   sbp@interchange.ubc.ca

July 9, 2004

The Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard University is holding a conference New Directions 2: The Early Middle Ages Today on October 29-31, 2004.

Information on the conference is available at:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~medieval/nd2

The Committee on Medieval Studies,             
Harvard University,                                      
201 Robinson Hall,
Cambridge, MA 02138

tel: 617 495 8993
fax: 617 496 3425
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~medieval

April 20, 2004

Dear Members and Prospective Members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific:

It is a pleasure to welcome returning members of MAP, as well as to issue a warm invitation to those of you who may be considering joining the Medieval Association of the Pacific for the first time. I became a member of MAP when I joined the English department of the University of British Columbia in 1990, and since that time have met many of you at conferences up and down the west coast: MAP more than lives up to its reputation as one of the liveliest and most congenial of regional scholarly associations.

Our most recent conference in Seattle saw the retirement of James Otté as President, my move from Vice President to President, and the election of Phyllis Brown as the new Vice President. We said our grateful farewells to 4 retiring council members, and welcomed 4 new ones: John Ott, History, Portland State; Nick Howe, English, UCB; Michael Calabrese, English, CSU, Los Angeles; Laura Hollengreen, Architecture, University of Arizona.

The Seattle conference was a remarkable experience, thanks to the dedicated work of the local committee, led by Micéal Vaughan, and the generous cooperation of the Medieval Academy’s Rick Emmerson. Our thanks to all those who helped to make this joint MAP-Medieval Academy meeting so memorable for all of us.

MAP’s next meeting will take place in San Francisco, hosted by San Francisco State University, March 11-12, 2005. Local arrangements are being handled by Williams Bonds (bonds@sfsu.edu)and Jarbel Rodriguez (jarbel@sfsu.edu). Abstracts for papers will be due November 1, 2004.

MAP offers a stimulating and collegial venue for graduate students presenting papers. If you are a faculty member, please encourage your students to join and to attend our meetings: you might even consider making them a gift of a graduate student membership.  Graduate student members are reminded that MAP subsidizes student registration fees for our annual meetings, and that it makes available the following awards and prizes: the John F. Benton Travel Awards, which contribute $400.00 towards the cost of travel to conferences for independent scholars and graduate students; and the Founders’ Prizes, given to the best graduate student papers delivered at the annual MAP conference. The next deadline for the Benton awards is November 1, 2004: applications should be made to the Vice President, Phyllis Brown. For information, see the MAP website at http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/map/. The deadline  for the Founders’ Prize nominations is June 1,  2004, and these can go to the committee chair, David Tinsley who can be contacted at tinsley@ups.edu.

I hope to see as many of you as possible in San Francisco next March. In the meantime, do check in with the website for updates as to our activities.

Sincerely,
Siân Echard
President, MAP

The Founders' Prize

MAP awards a maximum of three prizes ($500/ $250/ $250) for the best papers presented by graduate students at the annual meetings.

Winners of the MAP Founders' Prize for 2004

Alicia Walker in Art History, Harvard:
“Articulating a Medieval Community of Kings: Diplomatic Gifts in The Book of Gifts and Rarities.”

Michael P. McGlynn, Comparative Literature, University of Oregon:
“Mund, mâg (skepi), uurd, uuord: law in the Heliand.”

If you have questions about this prize, direct them either to Gina Greco (grecog@pdx.edu) or Phyllis Brown (pbrown@scu.edu).

The John F. Benton Award

This award, named in honor of its progenitor, John F. Benton, MAP President 1982-1984, provides travel funds for all members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific--independent medievalists and graduate students in particular--who might not otherwise receive support from institutions.

Winners of the John F. Benton Award (2004)

1) Andrea Fitzgerald Jones (PhD student, English, UCLA), “The Body, the Taboo, and Epistemology in The Miller’s Tale and The Summoner’s Tale” (2003 MLA)

2) Tiffany Beechy (PhD student, English, University of Oregon), “Poetic Interpretation and the Sinews of Deor” (2004 Kalamazoo)

3) Laura Faatz (MA student, History, University of Utah), “The Legend of Good, Holy, and Learned Women: The Library of Priory of Dartford, Kent” (2004 Kalamazoo)

4) Karina Marie Ash (MA student, Comparative Literature, San Francisco State University), “A Reconsideration of Wolfram’s Vrou Uote: Heroic Parody or Mournful Piety? (2003 Texas Medieval Association)

Upcoming Deadlines

13 April 2003

Dear Members and Prospective Members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific:

Please allow me to take this opportunity to once again welcome returning members and to introduce myself to new members as the current President of MAP. My name is James K. Otté. I am a twenty-six year veteran of the Department of History at the University of San Diego, which has twice hosted the annual MAP Conference, once in 1996 and again in 2002.

In the name of MAP I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor John Ott and his able colleagues at Portland State University in Portland, OR, for hosting this year’s MAP conference. John and his colleagues made the conference a model of organization; they created an environment conducive to both intellectual inspiration and collegial exchange.

Next Year, 1-3 April, 2004, MAP will meet jointly with the Medieval Academy of America at the University of Washington, Seattle WA. Professor Miceal F. Vaughan, miceal@u.washington.edu, will be in charge of local arrangements.  Because we are meeting jointly with MAA, abstracts for papers are due May 15 rather than our usual November 1 deadline.  Please see the February issue of the Medieval Academy Newsletter for information about submitting proposals to the 2004 conference.  For web access to the call for papers, go to http://www.medievalacademy.org/t_bar_2.htm, click on annual meetings, then future annual meetings, then CALL FOR PAPERS under annual meeting 2004.

Graduate student members are reminded that MAP subsidizes your registration fees for our annual meetings, and that awards and prizes are available annually: 1) the John F. Benton Travel Awards to conferences or research for independent scholars and graduate students and 2) the Founders’ Prizes for the best graduate student papers delivered at a MAP conference.  This year the deadline for Founders’ Prize submissions is May 15; the deadline for Benton Travel Award submissions is September 1.

As your president, I look forward to seeing returning members and meeting new ones in Seattle, WA.

Sincerely,

James K. Otté
President, MAP

The Founders' Prize

MAP awards a maximum of three prizes ($500/ $250/ $250) for the best papers presented by graduate students at the annual meetings. 

The deadline for submissions of papers presented at the 2003 annual meeting is May 15, 2003.  Submissions should be sent to Gina Greco (grecog@pdx.edu).

Winners of the MAP Founders' Prize for 2002-3 (papers presented at the 2002 meeting in San Diego, CA) are

First Prize: Liam Moore, UC Davis
"The Use of the Title "Imperator" in the Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris."

Runner-up Prize: Samuel Dean, University of Utah
"Fuerwitz and the Passion for Fashion."

Winners of the MAP Founders' Prize for 2001-02 (papers presented at the 2001 meeting in Tempe, AZ) are

First Prize: Glenn Keyser, University of Utah.
"One Way Streets: Urban Geography and Anti-Semitism in Chaucer's Prioress's Tale."
(Will Be Printed in Chronica 2003)

Runner-up Prize: Christina Fitzgerald, UCLA.
"Of Magi and Men: Christ's Nativity and Masculinity in the Chester Drama Cycle."

Runner-up Prize: Ronald Ganze, U of Oregon.
"Leaving the Bed-Chamber Behind: Chaucer's Announcement in the Book of the Duchess."

Winners of the MAP Founders' Prize for 2000-1 (Papers Presented at the 2000 meeting in Victoria, BC) are

First Prize:  Eleonora Stoppino, UC Berkeley
"Between East and West: Bernardo del Carpio and the drawing of cultural boundaries in XIIIc Spain."

Runner-up Prize:  Christina Fitzgerald, UCLA
"A Guild Afloat:  Domestic and Social Ideology in Chester's 'Noah's Flood'"

Runner-up Prize:  Asa Mittman, Stanford University
"'Light Words,' Weighty Pictures."
(Printed in Chronica 2002)

If you have questions about this prize, direct them either to Gina Greco (grecog@pdx.edu) or Phyllis Brown (pbrown@scu.edu).

The John F. Benton Award

This award, named in honor of its progenitor, John F. Benton, MAP President 1982-1984, provides travel funds for all members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific--independent medievalists and graduate students in particular--who might not otherwise receive support from institutions.

The award may be used to defray costs connected to a paper at any conference, especially for the conferences of the Association, or connected to scholarly research.  Three awards will be presented each year, for $400.00 apiece. The 2003 application deadline for the these awards is September 1.  Applications should include a 1-page vita, an abstract of the paper submitted to the conference, and a photocopy of the Call for Papers or conference announcement; if the application is for travel to research, it should include a 1-page vita and a letter outlining the research project. Send applications or enquiries to the Vice-President of the Association.

Professor Sian Echard
Department of English
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia
CANADA  V6T 1Z1
sian@interchange.ubc.ca

Spring Conference at UC Santa Cruz, May 16-17:
Authenticity and Revision in Performance: The Case of Hrotsvit and Terence

This conference will complement a double production of "The Eunuch" by Terence and "The Conversion of the Whore Thais" by Hrotsvit; the keynote speaker will be David Wiles of the University of London.

Contact Mary-Kay Gamel, mkgamel@cats.ucsc.edu for more information.

Annual ACMRS Conference:
Translatio, or Transmission of Culture
12 - 14 February 2004

ACMRS (the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) at Arizona State University invites session and paper proposals for its tenth annual interdisciplinary conference to be held February 12-14, 2004. The Center welcomes papers that explore any topic related to the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and especially those that focus on this year's theme of translatio or transmission of culture. Papers may address, for example, issues surrounding the translation of various texts into various languages or the transmission of culture from one people to another or the various kinds of translations possible in ecclesiastical contexts." 

By October 1, 2003, submit paper and or session proposals online (preferred method) at http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/acmrs/conference (not yet available); or e-mail two copies of session proposals or one-page abstracts, including whether you need a/v equipment or not, and two copies of your current c.v. to acmrs@asu.edu; or send your proposal or abstract to Robert E. Bjork, Director, ACMRS, Arizona State University, Box 872301, Tempe, AZ 85287-2301. Phone: (480) 965-5900. Fax: (480) 965-1681.

Selected papers related to the conference theme will be considered for publication in the tenth volume of the "Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance" series, published by Brepols Publishers (Belgium). Papers dealing with any facet of the Mediterranean region will be considered for publication in the journal Mediterranean Studies, sponsored by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, the University of Kansas, and ACMRS.

The conference will also host The Medieval Book: A Workshop in Codicological Practice. This pre-conference half-day workshop will happen during the afternoon of Thursday, April 12. Led by Richard Clement of the University of Kansas Spencer Library, the workshop will focus on the making of the medieval codex. Participants will discuss the production of parchment, paper, pens, and ink, and then will make several quires in preparation for writing. Note: This workshop does not cover scripts and is not calligraphic.

The setting of the conference will be the Fiesta Inn Resort, 2100 S. Priest Dr. in Tempe. It is situated close to ASU as well as numerous attractions in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe, and approximately 15 minutes from Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. The high temperature in the "Valley of the Sun" during February averages 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius).

The conference registration fee is just $75 ($40 for Students) and includes welcoming and concluding receptions, two days of concurrent sessions (Friday and Saturday), and the keynote address by Mary Carruthers, Dean for the Humanities and Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Literature at New York University.

International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Conference

ACMRS will host the 2003 International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS) conference, which this year will focus on "Conversion and Colonization."  The conference dates are August 4-9, and the location will be the Chaparral Suites Resort in Scottsdale.  To learn more about the conference, Chaparral Suites, and the related events and excursions, please visit the ACMRS website, where you can also find information on the next year's Annual ACMRS Interdisciplinary Conference: Translatio or Transmission of Culture (to be held 12 - 14 February 2004).
 

Chaucer & Co.

"Founded in 1997, Geoffrey Chaucer & Co. is dedicated to touching the lives and spirits of audiences around the world by bringing to life on stage the Canterbury Tales, making accessible some of the greatest cultural gifts of
the English language, rich in wisdom, history, philosophy, and ethics. As a non-profit classical theatre Geoffrey Chaucer & Co. stages Chaucer's masterpieces, superb theatrical explorations of the human comedy and condition, in modern translation with original music. Chaucer & Co. invites you to visit their website at www.chaucertheatre.org. They have been performing primarily around the San Francisco Bay Area, but are currently booking a more extensive tour of the Clerk's & Merchant's Tales (a musical) in Fall 2003. Contact Executive Director Becky Geist at 415-491-0818 or toll-free at 1-877-4-CHAUCE-R or by email at beckygeist@attbi.com."

Heckman Research Stipends

The Hill Monastic Manuscript Library invites applications for the Heckman Research Stipends, made possible by the AA Heckman Fund at the Library. Each year HMML awards up to 13 such grants, in amounts ranging up to $1,500. Stipends may be used toward the cost of travel, room and board, microfilm reproduction, photo-duplication and other expenses associated with research at the Library. Length of residence may vary from a minimum of two weeks up to six months. Graduate or post-doctoral scholars (those who are within three years of completing a terminal master's or doctoral degree) are eligible. The program is specifically intended to help scholars who have not yet established themselves professionally and whose research cannot progress satisfactorily without consulting materials to be found in the collections of the Hill Manuscript Library.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, a brief description of the research project including length of stay, an explanation of how the Library's resources will enable them to advance their project, and a confident letter of recommendation from their advisor, thesis director, mentor, or, in the case of post-doctoral candidates, a colleague who is a good judge of their work. Please direct all inquiries and materials to the Committee on Research, Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Box 7300, Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321.

Grants are awarded twice each year, with application deadlines of 15 April and 15 October. For instance, applications made by April 15, 2001 will be for research occurring during the period July through December 2001.

The Hill Monastic Manuscript Library houses extensive resources for the study of manuscripts and archives. With nearly 90,000 manuscripts on microfilm, HMML has microfilmed extensively in Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Malta, and Ethiopia; and it is currently microfilming the manuscript collection at the Royal Library in Stockholm, Sweden. Because HMML has filmed entire collections of manuscripts, its resources support research across a wide spectrum of topics. The Library is particularly strong in theology, philosophy, history, literature, liturgy, and music. Scholars may consult the Library's website for further information, including a partial electronic inventory of its collections. Please go to www.hmml.org.  

Upcoming MAP Meetings:

2004 at University of Washington--contact Prof. Míċeál Vaughan (miceal@uwashington.edu or 206-543-2285)

2005 at San Francisco State University--contact Prof. Bill Bonds (bonds@sfsu.edu or 415-338-1669)