International Conference: “V Medieval Europe in Motion: Materialities and Devotion (5th-15th centuries)” – Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória (Batalha, Portugal), 7-9 November 2019
Org. Instituto de Estudos Medievais (NOVA FCSH) – Mosteiro da Batalha / Direção Geral do Património Cultural – Centro de Estudos de História Religiosa (UCP).
Call for papers
Deadline: 15th May 2019
The last decades have witnessed the development of studies on material culture, favouring an inter- and multidisciplinary approach. This has enabled a more cohesive reading of the way in which the medieval Man related to his material environment, manipulating, adapting and transforming it, of the uses given to the objects he produced, the meanings attributed, how he interacted with them in cognitive and affective terms.
Summoning this dimension in the relationship with religion, devotional practices, sensibilities and representations, carries a new set of questions and necessarily calls for different knowledge in order to deepen understanding and the interpretation of the relationship between medieval religiosity and their material translations. From the images carved and painted to the buildings edified, from liturgical objects to reliquaries and tombs, from books to personal objects of piety, from temples to the inscription of the various forms of religious life, there are many domains where the relation between materiality and devotion can be a prospect and a problem. It intersects the material, functional, performative and aesthetic dimensions with the different readings it calls for, the cognitive and emotional apprehensions, the representations (erudite and popular) it associates with, the practices that it sustains, the memories that polarize and legitimize, the powers that were affirmed through it. It discloses the diversity of variants such as wealth and social position, more or less literate training, and gender differences.
The colloquium thus aims to be a broad space for debate, both in the plurality of knowledge and in the diversity of sources, historical, geographical and religious contexts (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and other), and in analytical perspectives.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PAPER PROPOSALS:
(scholars of all disciplines are welcome to apply with proposals for sessions or individual papers):
Official languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 15th May 2019
- Proposals for sessions of 3 speakers:
Each session will have three papers of 20 minutes. The organizer should submit the session proposal with all the relevant elements: name and affiliation of the organizer, title of the session, names and affiliation of speakers and moderator, title of the individual papers and abstracts.
- Proposals for individual papers:
Individual proposals should be offered considering papers of up to 20 minutes and include: speaker’s name and affiliation, title and abstract of the paper.
All applications must be sent along with a title and abstract of no more than 250 words as well as a short CV of the applicants to: materialities@fcsh.unl.pt
Successful applicants will be notified by 15th June 2019.
A peer-reviewed volume of selected proceedings will be published in 2020.
Conference registration fees (per person):
Registration fee includes:
Documentation, Coffee-breaks – € 30
Documentation, Coffee-breaks and Gala dinner – € 50
Documentation, Coffee-breaks, Gala dinner and three lunches at the Conference – € 100
Accommodation should be booked and payed for by the participants; information about hotels and other accommodations will be given, as required, by the organizing committee.
Organizing committee: Institute for Medieval Studies of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of NOVA University of Lisbon (IEM-FCSH/NOVA) / Centre of Studies on Religious History (Catholic University – CEHR-UCP): Carla Varela Fernandes, Catarina Fernandes Barreira, Diana Martins, João Luís Inglês Fontes, Maria Filomena Andrade, Maria João Branco, Mário Farelo and Miguel Metelo Seixas.
Batalha Monastery / Direção-Geral do Património Cultural: Joaquim Ruivo and Pedro Redol
Municipality of Batalha: Rui Cunha
