Statement Opposing US Proposal to Tax Tution Waivers

on December 5, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

ASIMS has joined the list of academic societies opposing the US proposal to tax tution waivers. The official statement is available here and below.

Statement Opposing US Proposal to Tax Tuition Waivers

November 28, 2017

We, the undersigned organizations, stand together in opposition to the proposal to tax graduate school tuition waivers as income, a provision included in the tax reform bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives.

As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education,

Nationwide, about 55 percent of all graduate students had adjusted gross incomes of $20,000 or less… and nearly 87 percent reported incomes of $50,000 or less. At the same time, master’s degree students received tuition waivers averaging nearly $11,000, and doctoral students got waivers averaging more than $13,600.

Subjecting tuition waivers to income tax would dramatically increase the tax burden of hundreds of thousands of students. This would put graduate education out of reach for many, and would have the greatest impact on those groups already underrepresented in higher education.

The provision would also likely force graduate schools to reduce the number of students they admit, so that they can compensate for increased tax liability with increased financial assistance to students in their programs. Reducing the number of students in graduate schools would have devastating effects across higher education and beyond—there would be fewer instructors to teach undergraduates and fewer researchers to pursue new breakthroughs that transform every aspect of American society.

We call on Members of Congress to reject this proposal and stand up for the future of American higher education. We further urge the members of our organizations to contact their Members of Congress and encourage them to act to ensure tuition waivers remain tax-free.

African Studies Association
American Academy of Religion
American Anthropological Association
American Association of Geographers
American Comparative Literature Association
American Folklore Society
American Historical Association
American Musicological Society
American Philosophical Association
American Political Science Association
American Society for Environmental History
American Society of Irish Medieval Studies
American Sociological Association
American Studies Association
Association for Asian Studies
Association for Jewish Studies
Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies
Association for the Study of Literature & Environment
Association of College & Research Libraries
College Art Association
International Center of Medieval Art
Latin American Studies Association
Material Collective
Medieval Academy of America
MEARCSTAPA
Modern Language Association
National Communication Association
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council on Public History
North American Conference of British Studies
Oral History Association
Organization of American Historians
Rhetoric Society of America
Shakespeare Association of America
Society for American Music
Society for Cinema & Media Studies
Society for Classical Studies
Society for Ethnomusicology
Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship
Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Biblical Literature
Tales after Tolkien Society
World History Association

Statement on Charlottesville

on August 24, 2017August 24, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

The Medieval Academy of America has composed a letter speaking out against the recent racist violence in Charlottesville and white supremacists’ misappropriation of what they take to be medieval symbols and terminology in support of their hateful rhetoric.

By vote of the Executive Board on 24-Aug-2017, ASIMS is proud to add our signature to this letter:

Medievalists Respond to Charlottesville

In light of the recent events in the United States, most recently the racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the undersigned community of medievalists condemns the appropriation of any item or idea or material in the service of white supremacy. In addition, we condemn the abuse of colleagues, particularly colleagues of color, who have spoken publicly against this misuse of history.

As scholars of the medieval world we are disturbed by the use of a nostalgic but inaccurate myth of the Middle Ages by racist movements in the United States. By using imagined medieval symbols, or names drawn from medieval terminology, they create a fantasy of a pure, white Europe that bears no relationship to reality. This fantasy not only hurts people in the present, it also distorts the past. Medieval Europe was diverse religiously, culturally, and ethnically, and medieval Europe was not the entire medieval world. Scholars disagree about the motivations of the Crusades—or, indeed, whether the idea of “crusade” is a medieval one or came later—but it is clear that racial purity was not primary among them.

Contemporary white nationalists are not the first Americans to have turned nostalgic views of the medieval period to racist purposes. It is, in fact, deeply ironic that the Klan’s ideas of medieval knighthood were used to harass immigrants who practiced the forms of Christianity most directly connected with the medieval church. Institutions of scholarship must acknowledge their own participation in the creation of interpretations of the Middle Ages (and other periods) that served these narratives. Where we do find bigotry, intolerance, hate, and fear of “the other” in the past—and the Middle Ages certainly had their share—we must recognize it for what it is and read it in its context, rather than replicating it.

The medieval Christian culture of Europe is indeed a worthy object of study, in fact a necessary one. Medieval Studies must be broader than just Europe and just Christianity, however, because to limit our object of study in such a way gives an arbitrary and false picture of the past. We see a medieval world that was as varied as the modern one. It included horrific violence, some of it committed in the name of religion; it included feats of bravery, justice, harmony, and love, some of them also in the name of religion. It included movement of people, goods, and ideas over long distances and across geographical, linguistic, and religious boundaries. There is much to be learned from studying the period, whether we choose to focus on one community and text or on wider interactions. What we will not find is the origin of a pure and supreme white race.

Every generation of scholars creates its own interpretations of the past. Such interpretations must be judged by how well they explain the writings, art, and artifacts that have come down to us. As a field we are dedicated to scholarly inquiry. As the new semester approaches at many institutions, we invite those of you who have the opportunity to join us. Take a class or attend a public lecture on medieval history, literature, art, music. Learn about this vibrant and varied world, instead of simply being appalled by some racist caricature of it. See for yourself what lessons it holds for the modern world.

The Medieval Academy of America
The Gender and Medieval Studies Group
The International Arthurian Society-North American Branch
The International Piers Plowman Society
The International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
The International Society for the Study of Medievalism
The New Chaucer Society
The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship
American Society for Irish Medieval Studies

CFP for Kalamazoo 2018

on August 10, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

ASIMS requests proposals for two of our sessions at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (colloquially known as “Kalamazoo”):

Early Ireland in a Roman Context

This session of papers will be co-hosted with The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe. Even though Ireland was not a Roman colony and always on the outskirts of the Empire, nevertheless there was Roman influence. With Christianization came Roman language, culture, and texts. This session wishes to explore Ireland and it’s relationship to Rome in the Late Antique and Early Medieval periods addressing issues of influence, perception, identity, transmission, syncretism, and related issues. This session will be chaired by Dr Deanna Forsman (North Hennepin Community College).

Living and Dying in Viking-Age Ireland

New research from archaeology, bioarchaeology, historical and literary writing and more, reveal much about the inhabitants of the Viking towns in Ireland. Scholarship can now focus on close-up views of the people who lived and died at these sites. This session seeks to include topics ranging from everyday economies, lives of women, the violent deaths of men, and more, to provide us with insights about living and dying in Viking-Age Ireland. This will be chaired by Dr James Lyttleton (Maynooth University).

Please submit abstracts to Dr James Lyttleton

Conference of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies

on July 26, 2017July 26, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

Glenstal Abbey, September 22nd–September 24th, 2017

Comhdháil Éireann An Cumann Meiriceánach um Léann na Meánaoise Éireannaí

Mainistir Ghleann Stáil, 22ú Mheán Fomhair–24ú Deireadh Fomhair

Thursday 21st September (Dublin events)

17.30: Evensong at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
18.30: ASIMS Reception in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Deanery (generously hosted by William Morton, the dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral).

Friday 22nd September

Conference attendees make their own way to Glenstal (Glenstal is c. 3hrs from Dublin).
18.00 Registration and Welcome
19.15 Supper with Monastic Community

20.00: Keynote Address: Colmán Ó Clabaigh (Glenstal Abbey), ‘When Brothers Live in Unity’: the Eucharist and Social Cohesion in Late Medieval Ireland.

21.30: Reception

Saturday 23rd September

Breakfast 07.30

8.30-10.00 Session 1

Speaker 1: Brian Ó Broin (William Paterson U, NJ), How did the Early Irish Saints Acquire Land for their Establishments?
Speaker 2: Westley Follett (U of Southern Mississippi), Holy Men From the Sea: Origins of Monastic Life in Ireland.
Speaker 3: Laura McCloskey Wolfe (George Mason U, VA), Exploring Meditatio and Memoria in Ireland through the Book of Durrow: Theological and Artistic Traditions Intersect in Manuscript Illumination.

10.00-10.30 Coffee/Tea in the Library

10.30-12.00 noon Session 2

Speaker 4: Fiona Beglane (with James Bonsall) (IT Sligo), Dísert: a Place Apart.
Speaker 5: Jimmy Schryver (U of Minnesota), Inhabiting the Landscape: The O’Conors and their Integration with the Land in Late-Medieval Ireland.
Speaker 6: Miriam Clyne (U of Dublin), The Landscape and Settlement of Kilmacduagh: Change and Continuity.

12.10 Conventual Mass in the Abbey Church
12.45 Lunch in the school’s boardroom

14.00 – 15.30 Session 3

Speaker 7: Thomas Finan (Saint Louis U, MO), Medieval Lough Key Archaeological Project, 2014-17: A Study of a Gaelic Lordship in the Thirteenth Century.
Speaker 8: James Lyttleton (Independent Scholar), Scottish settlement in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Ulster, an Archaeological Perspective.
Speaker 9: D Blair Gibson (El Camino College, CA) and Susan Saul (California State U, Los Angeles), Viewing Maya Political Systems through Irish Eyes.

15.30 – 16.00 Coffee/Tea, in the library

16.30 – 17.30 Session 4

Speaker 10: Katja Ritari (U of Helsinki), Remembering the Saints in Félire Oengusso.
Speaker 11: Nora White (U of Limerick), Layout, Carving and Epigraphy of Ogham in Ireland.
Speaker 12: Niamh Wycherley (NUI, Galway), The Enduring Power of the Cult of Relics — an Early Irish Perspective.

18.00 Monastic Vespers
19.15 Supper with the Monastic Community

Sunday 24th September

Sunday 10.00: Conventual Mass

11.15 – 12.15 Session 5

Speaker 13: Margaret Murphy (Carlow College), Objects and Identity: a Consideration of ‘Things’ in Late-Medieval Ireland.
Speaker 14: Emerson Storm Richards (Indiana U), Apocalypse, Then: A Comparative Analysis of Ninth through Thirteenth Century Irish, Carolingian, and Anglo-Norman Representations of Apocalypse in the Visual Cultures.

Sunday 12.30: Outing/Field Trip to Cashel, Holy Cross, and Athassel, led by Br. Colmán Ó Clabaigh.

Conference Organizing Committee

Brian Ó Broin
Shannon Ambrose
James Lyttleton

Conference Fees

Residential Accommodation is now full.
Registration (includes attendance at lectures and presentations, teas, coffees, and snacks): €100/$110 (Unwaged: €80/$90).
If you plan to register, please notify Brian Ó Broin (obroinb@wpunj.edu) by the 15th September.

Nearby accommodation can be found by contacting the Abbey. The Abbey recommends the following venues for non-residential delegates wishing to stay over. Please contact the venues directly and make your own arrangements.

B&B: Rinnaknock (beside the Abbey): 061 386 189
B&B: Millbank (some 5 miles distance): 061 386 115
Hotel: Kilmurry Lodge (nr University of Limerick): 061 331 133
Hotel: Castle Oaks (Castleconnell): 061 377 666

Getting to Glenstal Abbey:

http://www.glenstal.org/contact/directions/
We plan to run a minibus from Dublin on Friday morning, returning on Monday morning. Please let Brian Ó Broin know if you plan to take the minibus (obroinb@wpunj.edu).

Conference Flyer

Please feel free to download and distribute our conference flyer and schedule.

About ASIMS

ASIMS is a multi-disciplinary society promoting trans-Atlantic collaboration in research on medieval Ireland. The Society sponsors regular panels for current Irish research at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo, MI, and is represented at regional conferences in the USA, such as the South-Eastern Medievalists Association (SEMA). The Society publishes Eolas as its peer-reviewed annual journal, volume 10 appearing in May 2017.

The Ireland Conference 2017 is the third meeting of the Society in Ireland, and will present leading scholarship on the period between 500AD and 1650 AD from medievalists working in Europe and North America.

For more information, see www.asims.org or email: AmericanSocietyIrishMedieval@gmail.com

Four Courts at Kalamazoo

on April 20, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

Martin Fanning from Four Courts Press will be at the International Congress for Medieval Studies this year. He’ll have a huge selection of discounted titles, so be sure to stop by and purchase those valuable additions to your personal library!

CFP ASIMS Conference

on January 29, 2017 by Deanna Forsman

Call for Papers: The American Society of Irish Medieval Studies Irish Conference

Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick,
September 22nd-24th, 2017

The Ireland Conference of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies is the second meeting of the Society in Ireland, and it hopes to advance leading scholarship on the period between c. 500-1650 AD from medievalists working in Ireland and the United States. The organizers welcome proposals for the 2017 congress on papers addressing any aspect of medieval Irish studies. Possible topics of exploration might include settlement and landscape studies, monastic practice and foundation, hagiography, gender theory, ecocritical approaches, material culture, law, Hiberno-Latin textual culture, or medieval Anglo-Irish texts.

Interested participants should submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to Dr. Brian Ó Broin, President of ASIMS, at ObroinB@wpunj.edu by March 1st, 2017. Those who submit proposals will be notified of their acceptance by March 31st, 2017.

ASIMS is a multi-disciplinary society promoting trans-Atlantic collaboration in research on medieval Ireland. The Society sponsors regular panels for current Irish research at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo, MI, and is represented at regional conferences in the USA, such as the South-Eastern Medievalists Association (SEMA). In addition, ASIMS publishes Eolas, a peer reviewed journal advancing the interdisciplinary and international study of Irish medieval studies. Eolas is cataloged by EBSCO and available in digital format at JSTOR.

Please feel free to download and distribute the conference poster.

CFP for Kalamazoo 2017

on September 8, 2016 by Deanna Forsman

We are looking for more contributors to two of our sessions sponsored by ASIMS for the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo 2017. Prospective presenters can contact Dr James Lyttleton at jilyttleton@hotmail.com

‘The Life Course in Medieval Ireland’

Life is marked by various stages: birth, childhood, the coming of age, marriage, the raising of a family, old age and death. Although correlated with the biological processes of aging, each stage is also characterised by different kinds of knowledge, social roles, and symbolic meanings. The ways in which medieval society marked transitions between stages such as childhood with social rituals has recently become a topic of great interest to scholars, and this session shows how this cultural narrative of aging helped shape the everyday experience in medieval Ireland. Scholars in this session draw upon literary sources and material remains to provide insights and commentary on aspects of the life course in early and late medieval Ireland. This session will include contributions from the fields of history, literary studies, art history and archaeology, and will be chaired by Dr James Schryver (University of Miinesota, Morris).

Roundtable session ‘Pedagogical Approaches to Medieval Irish Studies’

As medieval studies and Irish studies become more popular at the university level, scholars teaching these courses draw on increasingly varied perspectives. We bring ideas into our classes inspired by archaeology, architecture, art history, literary studies and history, among many others. Courses can involve workshops, field trips, project based learning, and various ‘hands-on’ activities and assignments. These types of work build the students’ knowledge base, increase their understanding of the Middle Ages, and deliver a more enhanced learning experience. Digital humanities, building on the strengths of traditional scholarship, has also contributed to new ways of delivering course content. This roundtable session seeks to share various perspectives on teaching these subjects, including the incorporation of new pedagogical approaches in the classroom. This will be chaired by Dr James Lyttleton.

ASIMS is also co-sponsoring a session with The Heroic Age:

Echoes of Columbanus

Contact: Deanna Forsman North Hennepin Community College 7411 85th Ave. North Brooklyn Park, MN 55445 Phone: 763-488-0405 dforsman@nhcc.edu

The Irish ascetic Columbanus is the most famous example of the classic peregrinus: an individual who chooses a life of exile among foreigners as a form of religious devotion. Columbanus is also famous for his monastic establishments and Rule, as well as his interactions with royalty and the bishop of Rome. This session seeks to further explore the long-term influence of Columbanus in multiple venues. Papers will examine the influence of the Columbanian Rule on ascetic practice, the relationship between monastery and royalty, sources of spiritual authority, the practice of peregrinatio, etc.

Indefinable Boundaries

on March 4, 2016March 4, 2016 by Deanna Forsman

Call for Papers

MLA in Philadelphia, January 2017

Indefinable Boundaries: Session Co-Sponsored by Old English and Celtic Studies

The conference theme for 2017 encourages us to define boundaries. We should like to explore those phenomena within which, or between which, boundaries are indefinable. For instance, dialects are clearest at their geographical and cultural centers, but dissipate as they meld into neighboring dialects. Genres become indistinct as they approach each other, as do fictional and non-fictional narratives. Transitional periods, genders, genres, influences, literacies, and more—all exhibit boundary-defying characteristics. In that spirit, we invite papers that explore the permeability of boundaries and the ways in which borders resist definition.

Submit 300-word abstracts to etreharne@mac.com by March 15th, please.