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Perceptions of the World in the Middle Ages, March 9 to 11, 2007

International Colloquium for Postgraduate Students

Program (PDF)

Call for papers for a colloquium organised by "Junge Marburger Mediävisten" (Young Marburg Medievalists, Members of the "Promotionskolleg für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften" (forum of Ph. D. Students in arts and social sciences) at Philipps-Universität Marburg), March 9 to 11, 2007

Questions pertaining to the geographical and astronomical-cosmological perceptions of the world in the Middle Ages are a fundamental area of research in Medieval Studies. Recently, the research emphasis has shifted due to a new focus on pictorial sources on the one hand and on the structuring of space in the Middle Ages on the other hand. Thus, visualisations of different perceptions of the world in the Middle Ages, for example maps, were put into the focus of research.

The symposium presented here intends to include all kinds of research on the perceptions of the world in the Middle Ages and their visualisations. These may include:

  • Studies of geographical knowledge.
  • Studies of astronomical-cosmological knowledge.
  • Studies of the visualisation of knowledge.
  • Studies of expeditions, missions, trade and pilgrim routes, etc.
  • Studies of utopias.

Examples for relevant sources are:

  • Pilgrim and travel narratives.
  • Cartographical sources.
  • Narrative texts.
  • Contemporary scientific texts.
  • Astronomical calendars.
  • Mosaics.
  • Chronicles.

Intended as an interdisciplinary forum, this colloquium is open to all postgraduate students who want to present and discuss their research on one of the points above. Proposals for presentations (500 words maximum) should be sent by e-mail to the organizors, "Junge Marburger Mediävisten", until 15 October 2006. The length of presentations should not exceed 30 minutes. There will be different sections in order to provide thematic units. Presentations can be delivered in German or English. If your abstract is in German, please attach a short summary in English.