Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Binghamton University
RECOVERY
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON PRE-MODERN RESPONSES
TO CATASTROPHE AND CONVULSION
The recent catastrophic events in New York have challenged the government
and people of the city, the state, and the nation to respond. The need to
mourn the victims does not preclude thoughts of reconstruction and, in a
more general sense, recovery. The experience of convulsion and, often
enough, of cataclysmic destruction was frequent in pre-modern societies,
as in those of the modern age, while the fear of convulsion and
destruction - whether from military action or just a hard winter -- was
constant. Yet pre-modern people were often remarkably resilient, and the
most terrible catastrophes were often followed by periods of impressive
recovery, e.g., in the wake of the fourteenth-century Black Death.
European medieval civilization itself can be seen as a long-term,
multi-faceted process of recovery - especially of urban centers -- from
the convulsions and destruction of the migration period. Many other
societies experienced ruptures as serious as that of the fall of the Roman
Empire in Europe. Certain centers rebounded, for example, as sites of
flourishing, often remarkably hybrid cultures following the incursions of
nomadic forces - notably those of Central Asia - into the settled
civilizations of East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
The organizers solicit papers or sessions on recovery and reconstruction
in Eurasia from the fall of the great empires of antiquity (the Roman and
the Han) to 1700. We also welcome submissions on the pre-colonial and
colonial Americas and on Africa, as well as comparative discussions. There
will inevitably be some emphasis on architectural and urban history, i.e.,
on physical rebuilding, but also on the reconstitution of social and
cultural worlds and the (re-)activation of memory through literary and
artistic production. Like the fall of Troy, some convulsions existed
especially in the imaginary. We also hope to receive submissions on the
social, cultural, and even psychological conditions - sometimes
gender-specific -- that made recovery possible, even in the most adverse
circumstances. Finally, we hope to consider the role of our own studies in
contemporary processes of cultural reconstitution. A volume of proceedings
is projected.
Possible session topics include:
The recovery of Levantine societies following the Crusades
European urban centers after the Black Death
The remaking of Constantinople as Istanbul
Diversity and hybridity in cultural reconstitution (early medieval Europe,
post-Encounter Americas, etc)
Catastrophe and renewal in China
The recovery of Jewish communities from pogroms and expulsion
Memorials and monuments in the reconstitution of cultures
Recovery and gender
Send abstracts by June 30, 2002, to Recovery Conference Committee, Center
for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton NY
13902-6000 (cburrou@binghamton.edu). The conference will take place
November 1 and 2, 2002.
Recovery Conference Committee
Allan Arkush, Judaic Studies and History
Charles Burroughs, Director of CEMERS, Art History
John Chaffee, History and Asian Studies
Michael Sharp, English and Medieval Studies
Mary Sokolowski, Medieval Studies, Research Office
Nancy Um, Art History, Islamic Studies, Asian Studies
===============================================
From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
===============================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 08 2002 - 11:24:48 EST