History, Community and Identity in the Medieval World (c.800-1300)
Online conference, 23-25 June 2021
Find out how to apply and the Call for Papers for the 2021 Conference here.
Identity is a complex, elusive and compelling topic, crucial to understanding any society at any time. Identity can be extremely difficult to define; it can be both private and communal; influenced by peoples’ sense of themselves and by outside perceptions of what they should be. A community’s beliefs about its past, and the stories it tells about its origins, help to shape its sense of itself in the present. The fourth Aberystwyth Medieval Conference for postgraduates will explore the relationship between history, community and identity, how those writing about the past helped to construct the identity of their communities, and how far their vision of communal identity and its relationship with the outside world reflects the experience of real medieval societies.
Confirmed Keynotes:
Elizabeth Boyle (Early Irish, NUI Maynooth)
Darius von Güttner-Sporzynski (History, Melbourne)
Justin Lake (International Studies, Texas A & M)
The workshop will take place at Aberystwyth University on 23-25 June 2021. It warmly welcomes postgraduates and early career scholars working on the high medieval past (c.800-1300) from a variety of disciplinary perspectives – including but not limited to history, literary studies, art history, philosophy, archaeology and palaeography – to offer a comparative and transregional approach.
The workshop takes place under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of Historiography and Historical Culture (Aberystwyth) and the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Aberystwyth & Bangor), and is funded by the Graduate School and the Department of History and Welsh History, Aberystwyth University.
2021 Conference main organiser: David Lees