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Call for Paper Abstracts, proposal deadline: September 15

Session:
American Medieval: American Popular Culture in Medieval Film
42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
May 10-13, 2007

Depictions of the "medieval" in film often have very little to do with
medieval culture. Instead, the medieval period often becomes a
metaphor for issues, anxieties, and themes that are both modern and
culturally/nationally situated. This panel explores American
cinematic constructions of the "medieval" in an effort to discuss
medievalism in terms of American cultural studies.

Papers should be 15-20 minutes in length, and might address issues
such as:

The Function of modern accent/dialect and/or anti-british sentiment

Narratives of rugged individualism

The savage versus the civilized

Race and ethnicity cast backward onto the medieval past

Medieval violence as a metaphor for modern violence

Defining the female role and/or feminism in the constructed middle ages

Depictions of homosexuality, and its narrative function in a
constructed "savage past"

The attempt at merging knighthood with the American "bootstraps
narrative" ("_can_ commoners be knights?")

Narratives of Empire and colony: Britain as Rome, America as
Scotland/Ireland/Wales, etc. or America as Empire

Proposal abstracts should be no more than 300 words, and must be
received by September 15th. Please send to:

Ilan Mitchell-Smith
English Department
Angelo State University
ASU Station #10894
San Angelo, TX 76909-0894

or by email to
ilan1_at_juno.com

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Received on Fri Aug 04 2006 - 09:26:05 EDT