HYBRID POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE
11-12 April 2024
Bodies and Boundaries
Following the success of the 2023 'Identities, Communities and ‘Imagined Communities’' Conference, we are delighted to invite you to the next installment of the longest-standing postgraduate conference in medieval studies: the 2024 ‘Bodies and Boundaries’ PGR Conference.
This conference marks a significant milestone as we celebrate the 650th anniversary of Bristol’s royal charter which makes the subject of embodiment in medieval contexts a highly topical theme. Imagining how past people moved within Bristol, analysing the spatial and sensory dimensions of medieval Bristol and considering how those people may have understood their bodies and environments provides a fascinating lens through which we can comprehend the medieval experience.
We welcome papers that consider bodies and boundaries across the Middle Ages, exploring theories and ideologies that underpin medieval embodiment. How did medieval individuals and communities comprehend the intricacies of their individual and collective bodies, and how did they draw the boundaries between them? How did people in the past view the complex boundary between the corporeal and the spiritual, material and immaterial? These are just some of the questions participants may consider for this conference.
DEADLINE: 22 January 2024
We encourage abstracts from postgraduates and early-career researchers, exploring aspects and approaches to bodies and boundaries in all relevant disciplines pertaining to the medieval period, broadly construed c.500- c.1500. Abstracts are 300 words for 20-minute papers. This year’s conference will be a hybrid event, taking place both online and on the campus of the University of Bristol. Please indicate in your abstract whether you intend to participate in-person or online.