The American Society for Irish Medieval Studies (ASIMS) seeks to engage a diverse group of medievalists in broad scholarly conversations about Ireland and its relationship to Britain and the continent. To that end, we have sponsored sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies since our foundation. Below are the current accepted sessions.

ICMS (Kalamazoo) Sessions for May 2023

Session Title: Who’s in Charge Here? Female Authority and the Medieval Irish Church

Session ID: 3735

Abstract: With women’s/women-identifying bodily autonomy challenged in courts; Amber Heard’s testimony drawing scrutiny of her likability and honesty; and Church officials charged with sexual improprieties, women’s authority—legal, social, religious—continues to vex. Meanwhile, we witness continued devaluing of women in Irish medieval studies, as evidenced by the debate over the merits of Elizabeth Boyle’s excellent book Fierce Appetites and the fact there are far fewer women scholars, far less cited than male counterparts, in this field. This session focuses on the authority of the female in/and the medieval Church as one avenue through which to examine historical contexts for these modern concerns. We invite 15-20 minute papers dealing with any aspect of female authority in the Irish medieval Church, broadly construed. We encourage in particular papers that {challenge traditional} disciplinary and methodological boundaries, including interdisciplinary/comparative approaches and the use of {hagiographical, archaeological, historical sources, employing} gender, material, philological, and digital humanities lenses and theories.

We invite paper proposals for these sessions from any scholars who work in the relevant fields. Please submit proposals through the IMC’s Confex system under the Sponsored Sessions category. The paper proposal deadline is September 15, 2022 and we will determine paper acceptance status by October 15, 2022.

Session Title: Farrell Lecture: Ethics in Medieval Ireland and the Ethics of Medieval Irish Studies

Session ID: 3747

The Farrell Lecture is sponsored annually by ASIMS and features an invited lecturer and respondent. No further space is available in this year’s Farrell Lecture session, though ASIMS members are always welcome to recommend future speakers to the ASIMS board.

Session Title: Digital Pedagogies for a Medieval World: Getting Started with Digital Humanities in the Classroom (A Workshop)

Session ID: 3741

Interested parties should please contact Vicky McAlister or Meg Smith to discuss the goals of this workshop.