CfP – Contested Ground: Ownership and Belonging in the Middle Ages

Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, 3rd-4th September

In recent years, the erosion of international norms and laws has underlined the instability of fundamental concepts of ownership and belonging. The overturning of these political certainties raises critical questions. How are claims to land, resources, and bodies articulated and sustained? How might we understand belonging as it operates on an emotional and relational level, often distinct from political and legal demarcations? Furthermore, we are prompted to consider who is empowered to make claims of ownership or belonging, and how these competing claims are amplified or silenced. The tensions surrounding these questions are acutely visible in our modern contexts, but are not without historical precedent. Although the medieval past is often treated as a static precursor to modernity, it has nevertheless been the site of complex legal, emotional, and political negotiation on these themes. The study of this medieval past can thus offer important perspectives on the root causes of our present crises. The A.D.A.M. network therefore invites proposals to their second workshop, ‘Contested Ground’,  which aims to explore the themes of ownership and belonging in medieval studies, with an eye to their contemporary significance. Contributors are encouraged to consider how these concepts have been, and continued to be, shaped by both modern and medieval positionalities. Beyond the suggested topics below, applicants are encouraged to propose topics based on their own interpretations of ownership and belonging, and to suggest innovative or unconventional approaches to these themes. Suggested topics: •     Ownership, belonging, and patronage in medieval textual culture•     Continuity, or the lack thereof, in medieval and modern belonging•     Medieval expressions of ownership and/or belonging•     Methodological approaches to ownership and/or belonging  •     Postcolonial approaches to  ownership and belonging•     Ownership, belonging, and structures of power•     Legal negotiations of ownership•     Imperial and colonial narratives•     The “ownership” of bodies Please submit abstracts of 250 words, along with an author bio, to elliot.worrall@hhu.de by June 1st at the latest. Note that there are some limited funds available for assistance with travel. If you would like to be considered to receive these funds, please note in your application the approximate cost of your travel and your access to any other travel funds.