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Call for Papers: Coordinated volume for eHumanista

Places of Encounter: Language, Culture, and Religious Identity in Medieval Iberia

Coordinators:

Jason Busic, PhD Yasmine Beale-Rivaya, PhD

Assistant Professor of Spanish Associate Professor of Spanish

Denison University Texas State University San Marcos

In their introduction to Medieval Textual Cultures: Agents of Transmission, Translation and Transformation (2016), Wallis and Wisnovsky argue that medieval textual cultures “can best be understood as products of dynamic processes of transmission, translation and transformation,” specifically of “the legacy of the civilizations that emerged around the Mediterranean in the last two millennia BCE, particularly in Greece, Rome and the Near East” (1). The appropriation of the ancient and not-so ancient legacies of the Mediterranean preserved these legacies while creating new ones as societies dynamically responded to change. The heterogeneous communities of the medieval Mediterranean influenced and informed each other as they competed against one another and defined themselves in opposition. Though these communities have largely been understood in terms of religion, they transcended monolithic divisions such as Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. As Catlos has observed, linguistic, cultural, and political legacies integrated with confession to create and define self and other (“Ethno-Religious Minorities”).

Following the work of scholars including Brian Catlos, Michelle Hamilton, Ryan Szpiech, and Robert Wisnovsky, the present volume explores the cultural-religions identities of medieval and early modern Iberia through places of encounter, textual or otherwise, that reflected, negotiated, and/or transcended such identities. The researchers in this volume approach the material from the wider lens of Mediterranean Studies rather than limiting their approach to Iberia as an “enigma” of coexistencia in medieval Europe. It asks how the communities of medieval and early modern Iberia preserved, transformed, negotiated, and crossed boundaries in light of the heterogeneous societies to which they were heir and in which they lived. The coordinators invite proposals investigating these issues from a broad range of disciplines and approaches and through diverse cultural artifacts. The volume seeks contributions covering the period from Islamic conquest and its consolidation under the Umayyad in the eighth century to the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early seventeenth century, centuries of particularly intense contact with Mediterranean legacies.

Those interested in contributing to the volume are asked to send proposals of not more than 500 words to Dr. Busic (busicj@denison.edu) and Dr. Beale-Rivaya (yb10@txstate.edu) by January 30, 2018. Contributions may be in English or Spanish. Prospective contributors will be notified of the status of their proposal by February 13, 2018. Authors of accepted proposals will receive guidelines and a style sheet according to the norms of eHumanista. Articles will be due October 16, 2018. Coordinators expect contributors to receive feedback from reviewers by early January 2019, and revisions will be due in 30 days for projected publication in spring 2019.