Kalamazoo 2016 Call for Papers:
International Society for the Study of Medievalism
51st International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 12-15, 2016.

Special Session: Ritus, Artes, Musica: A Session in Honor of Nils Holger Peterson

Theoretical approaches across medieval studies disciplines are returning to questions of aesthetics and form. Expanded and invigorated by the ideological criticism of more recent history, but feeling constrained by the lack of pleasure in their studies, scholars turn again to questions of value, artistry, and the sublime, looking for what connects humanity to artistic expression. This current trend is a welcome opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Nils Holger Peterson, whose own interdisciplinary work on the sublime and the sacred in music, poetry, and religious texts is very much in the spirit of these recent inquiries. Peterson's work has not only spanned traditional disciplines, but it has also united studies of both the Middle Ages and medievalism, pursuing transhistorical aesthetic continuity. This panel welcomes papers that interrogate aesthetics across disciplines, focused either on the medieval period or on medievalism in later periods (or on connections between the two).

Please follow the Medieval Institute's rules governing participation and submission of abstracts. Abstracts of no more than 300 words together with the Participant Information Form should be sent before September 15, 2015 to Amy S. Kaufman at amy.kaufman@mtsu.edu.