Appel à communications :

Strangers at the gate !

The (un)welcome mouvement of people and idea on the Medieval world

The medieval world was a dynamic place. Stories, texts, and ideas flowed from one community to another, changing and growing in the process; an individual’s journey could bring and spread intellectual, artistic, or administrative innovations; larger groups moved, seeking fresh beginnings or an escape from current tribulations. And, just as today, new arrivals were sometimes seen as welcome opportunities for growth, and sometimes as unsettling threats.

This conference will explore instances of such migrations and their reception from across the medieval period. It aims to be fully interdisciplinary, and welcomes submissions from scholars of all disciplines, including but not limited to manuscript and literary studies, art history, archaeology and history. Papers from PhD students and early career researchers are welcomed.

Topics could include, but are not limited to:

• influences between texts, scripts, artworks, or other cultural artefacts;
• transfer of styles, motifs, technologies, and approaches;
• exploration of travel and travellers in any medium;
• languages in contact;
• conquest and diplomacy;
• migrants, refugees, exiles, and invaders;
• pilgrims, missionaries, and preachers;
• inclusive and exclusive narratives of ethnogenesis.

Keynotes will be delivered by Profs. Winfried Rudolf (Göttingen) and Richard North (University College London). A select collection of papers will be published in an edited volume.

Abstracts of 300-500 words are invited for submission by 30 January 2017, to simon.thomson@rub.de.

The conference will be held at the Lehrstuhl für Mediävistik und Sprachwissenschaften, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 17th & 18th June 2017.