The Centennial Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hosted by Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Fitchburg State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stonehill College, Tufts University, and Wellesley College. While the conference will take place in person, the plenary lectures and some other events also will be live streamed. Plenary addresses will be delivered by Kristina Richardson (Professor of History and Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Virginia), Sara Lipton (Incoming President of the Medieval Academy of America and Professor of History, Stony Brook University), and Wendy Belcher (Professor of Comparative Literature and African American Studies, Princeton University). The Annual Meeting will be followed by the Sunday annual meeting of the Medieval Academy's Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA). Conference Location: The conference sessions, receptions, and pre-conference programs will take place at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard campus is accessible by taxi and public transit from Boston's Logan Airport as well as from the South and Back Bay Amtrak stations. In addition to Harvard's own museums and libraries, visitors can take advantage of greater Boston's rich dining, entertainment, and cultural resources, including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Boston Public Library, all easily reached by the MBTA subway from Harvard Square. Proposals: The Program Committee invites proposals for papers and panels on any topic from scholars studying the medieval world in all its variety, in all disciplines, regions, and periods of Medieval Studies. Panels usually consist of three 25-minute papers, and proposals should be geared to that length. Panel organizers, however, may wish to propose different formats for their panels, and the Program Committee may choose a different format for some panels after the proposals have been reviewed. Any member of the Medieval Academy may submit a paper or panel proposal. Others may submit proposals as well, but they must become members in order to present at the meeting. Exceptions may be given to individuals whose specialty would not normally involve membership in the Medieval Academy. Please contact MAA Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis (lfd@themedievalacademy.org) with any questions about this policy.
We are particularly interested in papers and panels that cross traditional disciplinary and geographical boundaries, or that use various approaches to examine a given topic. Our goal is to create a rich and diverse program that embodies the conference theme "The Medieval Academy at 100,” placing detailed, methodologically rigorous scholarship on the Middle Ages into conversation with broader reflections on the histories and possible futures of Medieval Studies itself. We encourage those proposing papers and panels to engage with one or more of the threads below.
