Annual Meeting 2009 Report

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, 2009

The Medieval Academy of America held its eighty-fourth annual meeting in Chicago on 26-28 March 2009. The Illinois Medieval Association met jointly with the Academy. DePaul University, the Illinois Medieval Association, Loyola University Chicago, the Newberry Library, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago were the hosts for the meeting.

Meeting of the Corporation

The annual meeting of the Corporation was held on Friday, 27 March. President Patrick J. Geary presided. The minutes of the eighty-third annual meeting were approved. Reports were delivered by the Executive Director, the Editor of Speculum, the Treasurer, and the Delegate to the American Council of Learned Syou ocieties.

The Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize was awarded to Suzanne LaVere for her article "From Contemplation to Action: The Role of the Active Life in the Glossa ordinaria on the Song of Songs," published in Speculum 82 (2007), 54-69.

The John Nicholas Brown Prize was awarded to Jean A. Givens for her book Observation and Image-Making in Gothic Art, published by Cambridge University Press in 2005.

The Haskins Medal was awarded to Barbara Newman for her book entitled God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2003.

The Robert L. Kindrick-CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies was awarded to Thomas H. Ohlgren of Purdue University.

The CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies was awarded to Richard K. Emmerson of Florida State University.

The Chicago Program Committee awarded travel subventions for meritorious papers to the following graduate students: S. Adam Hindin, Andrew B. Kraebel, Jamie Kreiner, Ryan McDermott, and Mary Raschko.

The 2009 slate chosen by mail ballot was presented to the assembled members. All present, without dissent, voted to accept the slate and elect the following: President (2009-10): Herbert L. Kessler, Johns Hopkins University; First Vice-President (2009-10): Elizabeth A. R. Brown, City University of New York; Second Vice-President (2009-10): Alice-Mary Talbot, Dumbarton Oaks; Councillors (2009-12): Rita Copeland, University of Pennsylvania; Robin Fleming, Boston College; Carol Symes, University of Illinois; and Nancy L. Wicker, University of Mississippi; Nominating Committee (2009-11): Sharon Farmer, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Paolo Squatriti, University of Michigan.

Session sponsored by the Fellows

The session sponsored by the Fellows was held on Saturday, 28 March. Joan M. Ferrante, President of the Fellows, presided. In the 2009 election Olivia Remie Constable, Ruth Mazo Karras, Christopher Kleinhenz, Irfan Shahîd, and Grover Zinn were elected Fellows. Malcolm Barber, Monique Bourin, Joachim Henning, and Cécile Morrisson were elected Corresponding Fellows. Professors Constable, Karras, Kleinhenz, and Zinn were present for formal induction, as were Professors Danuta Shanzer and Jan M. Ziolkowski, elected Fellows in 2008, and Professors Paul Binski and Nigel Palmer, elected Corresponding Fellows in 2008. Citations were read by John V. Fleming, Orator of the Fellows. The session concluded with an address by Sara S. Poor, Princeton University, "Sister Act: Gender, Reform, and the Devotional Book in Late-Medieval Germany."

Plenary lectures

Jaroslav Folda, University of North Carolina, delivered an address entitled "Chrysography in Thirteenth-Century Painting East and West"; the session was chaired by Rachel Fulton, University of Chicago. Patrick J. Geary delivered the presidential address, "Whatever Happened to Latin?" on Saturday morning; the session was chaired by Herbert L. Kessler, Johns Hopkins University.

CARA session

Gábor Klaniczay, Central European University and Collegium Budapest, moderated the roundtable session "Gateway, Crossroads, Frontier: Mapping Central Europe in the Middle Ages," sponsored by the Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA), on Friday morning. Participants in the discussion were Nora Berend, University of Cambridge; David Mengel, Xavier University; Maria Dobozy, University of Utah; and Piotr Górecki, University of California, Riverside.

Concurrent sessions

Concurrent sessions were held on Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday. The Thursday afternoon sessions were as follows: Theology in the Early Middle Ages (Willemien Otten, University of Chicago, chair): Giselle de Nie, University of Utrecht; Jamie Kreiner, Princeton University; and Adrian Guiu, University of Chicago; Arthurian Geography (Dorsey Armstrong, Purdue University, chair): Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan University, and Laurie A. Finke, Kenyon College; Kenneth Hodges, University of Oklahoma; and Joy Santee, Purdue University, with Patricia Clare Ingham, Indiana University, as respondent; Virtues and Vices in Latin and the Vernacular: William Peraldus and His Reception (Robert Lerner, Northwestern University, chair): Richard Newhauser, Arizona State University; Larry Scanlon, Rutgers University; and Manu Radhakrishnan, Princeton University (Mr. Radhakrishnan was unable to attend; his paper was read by Professor Lerner); 1300 Years of Reading Aldhelm (Carin Ruff, Cornell University, chair): Scott Gwara, University of South Carolina; Rebecca Stephenson, University of Louisiana, Monroe; and Emily Thornbury, University of California, Berkeley; Late-Medieval Ecclesiology (Takashi Shogimen, University of Otago, chair): Frank Godthardt, University of Hamburg; Lora Walsh, Northwestern University; and Thomas M. Izbicki, Rutgers University; Christianity, Islam, and Spaces In Between (Olivia Remie Constable, University of Notre Dame, chair): Stefan Stantchev, University of Michigan; Joshua C. Birk, Eastern Illinois University; and Michael Lower, University of Minnesota; and Medieval Perceptions and Modern Receptions of Beguines (Elizabeth Makowski, Texas State University, chair): Sean L. Field, University of Vermont; Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane, University of Minnesota, Morris; and Tanya Stabler, Purdue University, Calumet.

The Friday morning sessions were as follows: History of Emotions, 1: Early Middle Ages (Thomas Greene, Loyola University Chicago, chair): Kevin Uhalde, Ohio University; Frederick S. Paxton, Connecticut College; and Andrew J. Romig, Harvard University; Dramatic Spirituality (Susanna Fein, Kent State University, chair): Eric Stanley, Pembroke College, Oxford; Elisabeth Dutton, Worcester College, Oxford; and Tamara Atkin, Queen Mary, University of London; Bishops, Empire, and Reform (Jonathan Lyon, University of Chicago, chair): Sean J. Gilsdorf, Smith College; John Eldevik, Pomona College; and Brigitte Meijns, Catholic University of Leuven; Demons and Witches (Dyan Elliott, Northwestern University, chair): Laura Ackerman Smoller, University of Arkansas, Little Rock; Gábor Klaniczay, Central European University and Collegium Budapest; and Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University; Shaping Medieval French Patrimony (Anne F. Harris, DePauw University, chair): Elizabeth Carson Pastan, Emory University; Alyce A. Jordan, Northern Arizona University; and Janet T. Marquardt, Eastern Illinois University; British Holy Women, 1 (Anne Clark Bartlett, DePaul University, chair): Kay Slocum, Capital University; Rosalynn Voaden, Arizona State University; and Jacqueline Jenkins, University of Calgary; The Stigmata in Art, Politics, and Theology (Rachel Fulton, University of Chicago, chair): Tamar Herzig, Tel Aviv University; Carolyn Muessig, University of Bristol; and Cordelia Warr, University of Manchester; and Santiago in Chicago (Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern University, chair): John Dagenais, University of California, Los Angeles; John Williams, University of Pittsburgh; Corinna Rohn and Klaus Rheidt, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus; and Fernando López Alsina, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.

The Friday afternoon sessions were as follows: History of Emotions, 2: High Middle Ages (Barbara Newman, Northwestern University, chair): Brian Patrick McGuire, Roskilde University; Babette Hellemans, University of Utrecht; and Jessica Rosenfeld, Washington University; Medieval Drama across Boundaries (Edward Wheatley, Loyola University Chicago, chair): Maren L. Donley, University of Colorado; Jesse Njus, Northwestern University; and Lofton L. Durham III, University of Pittsburgh; Iberian Voices (Ronald Surtz, Princeton University, chair): Emily C. Francomano, Georgetown University; Denise K. Filios, University of Iowa; and Rita Costa-Gomes, Towson University; British Holy Women, 2: The Whole Company of Heaven (Sherry L. Reames, University of Wisconsin, chair): Caroline M. Barron, Royal Holloway, University of London; Catherine Sanok, University of Michigan; and Joel T. Rosenthal, State University of New York, Stony Brook; Urban Legends: Foundational Myths and Italian Cities (Alfred Thomas, University of Illinois, Chicago, chair): David M. Perry, Dominican University; Carrie Beneš, New College of Florida; and Jenna Soleo-Shanks, City University of New York Graduate Center; Music and Mysticism (Anne Walters Robertson, University of Chicago, chair): Robert C. Lagueux, Columbia College Chicago; Margot Fassler, Yale University; and Toni J. Morris, University of Indianapolis; "The Romance of the Rose" and Its Offshoots (Lori J. Walters, Florida State University, chair): Michelle Bolduc, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Gabriella Baika, Auburn University; Christine McWebb, University of Waterloo; and Anne F. Harris, DePauw University; History of Emotions, 3: Middle English Literature (Thomas Bestul, University of Illinois, Chicago, chair): Mickey Sweeney, Dominican University; Travis W. Johnson, University of Iowa; and Emily Rebekah Huber, Duke University; New Directions in Boethian Studies (Krista Sue-Lo Twu, University of Minnesota, Duluth, chair): Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr., Troy University; and Christopher Cannon and Carolyn Dinshaw, New York University; Minority Languages and Interlinguistic Contact (Ray Wakefield, University of Minnesota, chair): Joshua Byron Smith, Northwestern University; and Marianne Kalinke, University of Illinois; Mapping Inside and Out (Elina Gertsman, Southern Illinois University, chair): Alexa Sand, Utah State University; Katharine Breen, Northwestern University; and Asa S. Mittman, California State University, Chico, and Susan Kim, Illinois State University; Roads, Bridges, and Waterways (Charles Bowlus, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, chair and respondent): Gregory Halfond, Framingham State College; Valerie Allen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; and Jennifer M. Lee, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; St. Michael the Archangel: Cult, Iconography, Music (Carla Arnell, Lake Forest College, chair): Richard F. Johnson, Harper College; Dale Disney, independent scholar; and Edina Eszenyi, University of Kent; and Chicago's Chaucer: Manly and Rickert's Edition, Seventy Years On (Christina von Nolcken, University of Chicago, chair): Simon Horobin, Magdalen College, Oxford; Kellie Robertson, University of Wisconsin; and Henry Ansgar Kelly, University of California, Los Angeles.

The Saturday morning sessions were as follows: Biblical Exegesis, 1: High Middle Ages (Theresa Gross-Diaz, Loyola University Chicago, chair): Andrew B. Kraebel, Yale University; Eileen Kearney, St. Xavier University; and T. J. H. McCarthy, New College of Florida; Medieval Grand Narratives and Postmodern Theory, 1: Historiographies of the Roman and Byzantine Empires (Michael Kulikowski, University of Tennessee, chair): Leonora Neville, Catholic University of America; Anthony Kaldellis, Ohio State University; and Paul Stephenson, University of Durham; Political Theorists and the Rule of Women (Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, chair): Keith Sisson, University of Memphis; Mary Dockray-Miller, Lesley University; and Nancy McLoughlin, University of California, Irvine; Pedagogy in Medieval Studies: Making the Transition from Student to Teacher. A Panel Discussion (Kristin Canzano Pinyan, Rutgers University, chair): Anne Clark Bartlett, DePaul University; Gina Brandolino, DePauw University; Kara Morrow, Albion College (Ms. Morrow was unable to attend; her paper was read by Jennifer M. Feltman, Florida State University); and Jill Stevenson, Marymount Manhattan College; Authors-Meet-Readers: Clemens and Graham, "Introduction to Manuscript Studies." A Roundtable Discussion (Carla Zecher, Newberry Library, chair): Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern University; Lezlie S. Knox, Marquette University; Roy Liuzza, University of Tennessee; and Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, Western Michigan University, with Ray Clemens, Illinois State University, and Timothy Graham, University of New Mexico, as respondents; Cultural Crossings: Medieval Travel Writing, 1: West Meets West (Simon Gaunt, King's College London, chair): Lori J. Walters, Florida State University; Rebecca Krug, University of Minnesota; and Susan E. Phillips, Northwestern University; Parish Life: Town and Country (Katherine French, State University of New York, New Paltz, chair): Mary Clemente Davlin, O.P., Dominican University; Mary Erler, Fordham University; and S. Adam Hindin, Harvard University; and Royal Monuments, Collectors, and Collections (Elizabeth Sears, University of Michigan, chair): Deborah M. Deliyannis, Indiana University; Mary B. Shepard, Friends University; and Mariah Proctor-Tiffany, Rhode Island School of Design.

The Saturday afternoon sessions were as follows: Biblical Exegesis, 2: Late Middle Ages (Katherine Zieman, University of Notre Dame, chair): Ian Christopher Levy, Lexington Theological Seminary; Mary Raschko, University of North Carolina; and Ryan McDermott, University of Virginia; Medieval Grand Narratives and Postmodern Theory, 2: Methodologies and Teleologies (Gabrielle Spiegel, Johns Hopkins University, chair and respondent): Carol Symes, University of Illinois; Abigail Firey, University of Kentucky; and Steven Justice, University of California, Berkeley; Kingship and Mythologies of Origin (Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, University of Pittsburgh, chair): Alfred Thomas, University of Illinois, Chicago; Tina-Marie Ranalli, University of Pennsylvania; and Daisy Delogu, University of Chicago; Cultural Crossings: Medieval Travel Writing, 2: East Meets West (Susan E. Phillips, Northwestern University, chair): Wan-Chuan Kao, City University of New York Graduate Center; and Thomas Sizgorich, University of California, Irvine; The Legacy of Father Leonard E. Boyle, 1923-1999 (Carmela Vircillo Franklin, American Academy in Rome, chair): M. Michèle Mulchahey, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies; Joseph Goering, University of Toronto; and Jacqueline Hamesse, Université Catholique de Louvain; The Art of Incarnation (Aden Kumler, University of Chicago, chair): Christopher R. Lakey, University of California, Berkeley; Beatrice Kitzinger, Harvard University; and Cristina Maria Cervone, Villanova University; Law and Legal Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (Andrew Rabin, University of Louisville, chair): Kathryn A. Lowe, University of Glasgow; and Patrick W. Conner, West Virginia University; and Matters of Exchange: Byzantine Art and the Mediterranean (Cecily Hilsdale, Northwestern University, chair): Charles A. Stewart, Indiana University; Paroma Chatterjee, University of Pennsylvania; and Sarah K. Kozlowski, Yale University.

Special events

The opening reception on Thursday evening was held at the Newberry Library. Receptions were also held on Friday and Saturday evenings, with the banquet on Friday evening. A mini-conference, "Objects of Medieval Art in Chicago," was held at the Loyola University Museum of Art on Friday afternoon to celebrate the reinstallation of the medieval collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Martin D'Arcy Collection at the Loyola University Museum of Art.