We are pleased to announce the first session of the semester of the Medieval Studies Interdisciplinary Working Group. It will be Jan. 24 at 5:00 pm in 715 Hesburgh Library. The theme for this session is "Art, Italy, and the East." The speakers are:
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Remie Constable (ND, History / Medieval Institute): "Gentile Bellini, Venice, and a Late Medieval European Vision of Egypt"
- Brandon Cook (ND, Medieval Institute): "Mosaics of Holy Women in the Cappella Palatina"
Readings are posted on the Medieval Institute Website.
The Working Group has several aims: to question the meaning of the term “interdisciplinarity,” and to explore the possibilities it can–or cannot–afford to medievalists; to promote the community of medievalists across disciplines both within and outside Notre Dame; to provide graduate students wide-ranging exposure to important methods and trends in scholarship, as well as models for how interdisciplinary can be pursued (or not) within the demands of the single-discipline department; to allow graduate students an opportunity to explore ideas and methods with esteemed scholars in an informal setting, along with the possibility to receive feedback on their own work.
The format of the Working Group is designed to meet the above goals. Meeting monthly, each session will feature (at least) two speakers from different disciplines: one professor and one advanced graduate student. Each will present for twenty to thirty minutes on the same broad topic or problem, highlighting the insights and approaches that the different disciplines can bring to the question at hand. The presentations will be followed by a discussion among the speakers and the audience. Speakers are asked to circulate either a copy of their talk and/or a text or image before the meeting in order to facilitate discussion. Above all, the Group is meant to be informal, convivial, and heavy on audience participation.
Sponsored and supported by ISLA; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Medieval Institute; the PhD in Literature; the Departments of English; History; Romance Languages and Literatures; Art, Art History, and Design; Classics; the Religion and Literature program; the Devers Program in Dante Studies; and Italian Studies at Notre Dame.