IMC Leeds 2011 report, III (finally!): how to chair a rebellion and other tales

Yes, yes, the conference was in July and now it’s October, and yes, I’ve been to several conferences since Leeds and no, I haven’t written those up either. A combination of circumstances has meant that my feet have barely touched the floor since Leeds and so not only am I dreadfully behind on blogging, but on just about everything else in life too. Anyway, here is the much promised third installment of this year’s Leeds conference.*

Plans and plotting

For a while now I’ve been wanting to write a detailed piece on the cuts currently faced by most areas of education in this country, regressive policies on what constitutes education and why Gove was wrong to call for ‘a cultural revolution just like the one they’ve had in China’. I’ve started the post several times over and every time it has degenerated to a rant bigger than those I am usually given to. I’ve decided it’s time to go back to blogging about Normans for a little while, so herewith, plots and plans in the life of Gesta.

IMC Leeds 2010 report

After a couple of nights in Whitley Bay with my sister’s family, it was on to Leeds for the annual International Medieval Congress. This was, in fact, the ninth congress I’d attended, which makes me feel rather old. This year can be summed up simply as ‘good papers, good beer and good company’.

Taking-stock: thinking space and random thoughts

I read about space, I think about space and I write about space, but lately it feels like I have no space to read, write or think! It’s been very quiet on the blog front lately. May/early June is perhaps the busiest time of year for anyone working in British HE. Reivers and I are beginning to emerge from under piles of scripts, spreadsheets and administrivia, in the process discovering we are human again. It’s a time to reflect on what has happened over the past year, see what we’ve achieved and decide where to go next. This process of assessing and questioning is essential to the way we develop as academics and, crucially, teachers. What follows is an end of year stock-take.

Social History conference 2010

This year, for the first time, I attended the Social History Society’s conference in a snowy and wet Glasgow (winter returned at the end of March). It was a novel experience for a number of reasons, not least because my paper was the earliest there by 400 years.  Why then, you may well ask, did I go?

Normans on the edge and an edgy Normanist.

Earlier this year, I wrote about a new project at Lancaster called ‘The Norman Edge‘ and briefly commented on its first symposium. Unfortunately, I missed the second one in the summer due to a combination of circumstances, but did make it to the third one on ‘Colonial mentalities’ last week. Not only was this a very interesting collection of high quality papers, but it left me feeling reinvigorated after a long term. There are very few occasions as an historian when you feel part of something much bigger than your own research, but the Norman Edge is really fostering an idea of scholarly community, and what is more, inclusive of people at all stages of their careers from MA students right the way through to distinguished professorial types.

IMC 2010: Medieval Routes

I am involved in organising some sessions for next year’s Leeds based on different medieval routes. We have a couple of gaps in various sessions, so if anyone has anything to say about the following please get in touch:

• German roads, routes and itineraries, particularly if these relate to palaces or the military orders
• Pilgrimage routes around the Mediterranean
• The Silk Road

We are particularly interested in papers that explore experience of routes from a narrative, archaeological or cartographic perspective. Please send proposals to Marianne O’Doherty as soon as possible. Thanks. Call for Papers

IMC Leeds 2009 report

I’ve survived another Leeds (my 8th I believe) and thankfully, it was better than last year’s, both in terms of quality and weather. I still have some concerns about the over-use of case studies, but more of those later. I failed miserably to make it to either bloggers’ meeting due to double-booking myself and a successful round table: I’m sure Magistra et Mater and Jonathan Jarrett will update everyone on that score (the bloggers, not the roundtable).

IMS Paris 2009 symposium report

I have been in writing purdah in preparation for Battle at the end of the month, so this post is rather late in they day. For what it is worth, here are my thoughts on the International Medieval Society’s, Paris annual symposium.

Looking forward to … IMC 2009

The middle of July, as ever, will see many medievalists descending on University of Leeds for the International Medieval Congress. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Heresy and Orthodoxy’ so what can we expect?