Modern Meets Medieval: Scholars and the Public, Then and Now

deadline for submissions: 
April 15, 2023
full name / name of organization: 
Midwest Modern Language Association
contact email: 

MMLA 2023 Permanent Session: Old and Middle English Language and Literature

“Modern Meets Medieval: Scholars and the Public, Then and Now"

The General Call opens with an analogy between now-times and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, invoking an approach that is both medieval and modern by looking at how the arts, the academy, and general society should, can, and do interact. In that spirit, the general question for this panel is “what is the value of studying medieval history, culture, art, and/or literature in today’s world?”

Possibilities include but are not limited to considering political and social issues/questions in medieval texts and how they inform our knowledge of the past, present, and future; medievalisms and how to discuss them in the public sphere (esp. concerning appropriation by racist/misogynist/etc groups); how to deal with original texts and contexts now considered socially or otherwise unacceptable; and academic and/or governing structures medieval and modern, what they are and how they might relate or be related.

Please send abstracts of approximately 350 words, along with a cv or brief biographical statement, to Dr. Kathleen Burt at katheen.burt@mga.edu by no later than April 15, 2023.