CALL FOR PAPERS: The Afterlives of Eve

9-11 September 2016 at Newcastle University and Durham University

Keynotes: Sandra M. Gilbert (UC Davis), Wendy Furman-Adams (Whittier), John Bothwell (Durham) 

From Genesis to mitochondrial Eve, the idea of a single common foremother has occupied a crucial space in the Western cultural imaginary. Eve, whether as bringer of sin, as life-giver, as burden, curse or saviour, functions as a commentary on maternity, sexuality, creativity and power. This cross-period and interdisciplinary conference will be an opportunity to explore the impact of her varied representations through the centuries and across different genres and media. 

How has this archetypal figure been revised and revisited by conservative and radical thought? 

What personal, polemical and/or creative uses have been made of the figure of Eve?
What persists and what changes in her depictions across time and geographical space?
How have women and men negotiated their shared and different relationships to Eve?
How has Eve been appropriated, neglected or rejected as a foremother?
How does she speak to fantasies of masculine or feminine self-sufficiency?
What cultural, political, literary and/or theological spaces does she occupy now? 

Topics might include, but need not be limited to: 

• Origins of/Sources for Eve 
• Other Eves 
• The absence of Eve 
• Representations and Transformations of Eve 
• Eve as Over-reacher 

We welcome papers from all disciplines in arts, humanities and sciences and covering any historical period. We also welcome panel proposals including PGR panel proposals. Titles and abstracts of no more than 250 words per speaker should be sent to Ruth Connolly (ruth.connolly@ncl.ac.uk) and Mandy Green (mandy.green@durham.ac.uk) by 12 March 2016. 

Panel proposals should also include a title for the panel's programme. Speakers will be notified by March 21st. We gratefully acknowledge support from MEMS at Newcastle, IMEMS Durham and Newcastle University's Academic Conference Fund. A limited number of PGR bursaries may be available. Please indicate when sending your abstract whether you would like to be considered for a bursary.

CALL FOR PAPERS: MEMS Summer Festival

17th-18th June 2016

MEMS Summer Festival is a two-day celebration of all research in the Medieval and Early Modern periods, including the study of religion, politics, history, art, drama, literature, and everyday culture of different nations from c.400-1800. The festival is designed to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines, academic schools and institutions in order to foster conversations, build a greater sense of community, and develop a research network for all masters and PhD postgraduate students and academic staff within the South-East of England.

We would like as many students and staff as possible to come and talk about their work, and therefore invite the following:

• Abstracts of c.250 words for individual research papers of 20 minutes in length on any subject contained with Medieval and Early Modern studies. Early work is as welcome as more advanced projects, and in each case we’re interested to hear about your methodologies and working practices.
• Abstracts of c.700 words from a group of three who would each like to present a subject specific panel with research papers of 20 minutes in length. Ideas from CHASE students so far include medieval patronage of all kinds, for which separate a call will be sent out, and early modern written cultures.

If you have an idea but no fellow panellists, we are happy to publicise it for you through our channels and under our Festival banner, but with your own contact details. Please contact us at the email below.

This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of your own research, share ways of working, benefit from the ideas of others, and develop networks for future collaboration.  This year’s festival will be held at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Please submit all paper and panel applications to: memsfestival@gmail.com by 15th April 2016.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent, the Consortium for the Humanities of the Arts South-East England, and the Eastern Arc Research Consortium.