CFP: Constructing Memory in Medieval Spain Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 15-16 July 2011

This two-day international conference brings together scholars of medieval Spain to discuss how memories of the sacred and secular past could be articulated, constructed and revised in words, objects and performances. Spain is here understood in its broadest sense to include all confessional communities from the Iberian peninsula and dependent islands, and the theme of memory encompasses both attitudes to the past and also the arts of memory. In drawing on scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds the conference aims to investigate common strategies or alternative practices in the construction of memory in different forms and media, and the extent to which these may depend on contemporary theories of memory. Twenty-five minute papers (in English) may address any topic relevant to the period 1085-1492, though those focusing on the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are especially encouraged.

Papers may consider but are not limited to the following issues:

• the use of spolia, or the reuse and adaptation of texts
• biography and historiography
• commemoration of people and events; nostalgia and narratives of the past
• the arts of memory
• performed memory in processions, plays and pageants
• false memory, fakes and forgeries
• archaicism in objects, buildings or texts

Abstracts (max. 250 words) should be sent to Tom Nickson by 1 September 2010. Send to tn530@york.ac.uk or Dr Tom Nickson, Department of History of Art, Vanbrugh College, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. The conference will be held at the Centre of Medieval Studies in the King's Manor, in the heart of the medieval city of York. For the benefit of international scholars the conference is timed to follow the International Medieval Congress in nearby Leeds (11-14 July 2011).