Saturday 1:30
[Note: The presenters requested that the session not be blogged. The first paper concerned the mythic “bifurcated” hermaphodite figure and its geographic localization. The second suggested the need for an awareness of the biological sourcing of ivory as a medieval art medium. The third concerned the nature of the identity/body relationship in a specific werewolf romance.
Hermaphrodites and the Boundaries of Sex in the High Middle Ages
Leah DeVun, Rutgers Univ.
Saturday 10:00
Sponsor: AVISTA: The Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art; EXARC
Working with Craftsmen: The “It Depends” Dilemma
Christina Petty, Univ. of Manchester
Saturday 8:30 (Plenary Session)
Bonnie Wheeler, Southern Methodist Univ.
[This is going to be very stream of consciousness.]
Begins with an overview of her experiences with the medieval congress and recognizing how it has changed and continued to work on inclusivity. The need for change and open minds. Kalamazoo as a community and enjoyable experience. Moving on to the paper topic...
[I apologize for not catching some of the key names and texts referenced. Often in specialized sessions, there’s an assumption that the audience shares a fairly elaborate body of background knowledge and I, alas, am often deficient. No blogging of the earlier Friday sessions because I was busy book shopping at all the academic press booths. Will blog about books later.]
Friday 13:30
Sponsor: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence; Societas Magica
Scriptural Dreaming: Revisiting the Exstacy Defense
Thursday 3:30
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
Motivations for French and Mediterranean Royal Sumptuary Laws: Translations of the Lives of the Caesars
Sarah-Grace Heller, Ohio State Univ.
Thursday 1:30
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
No notes on this session as I was presenting.
Swaddled Child or Shrouded Body? Textile Evidence from an Anglo-Saxon Boxwood Carving
Sarah M. Anderson, Princeton Univ.
Material Transformations and Sartorial Ambiguity: Dress in Chrétien de Troyes’s Conte du Graal
Monica L. Wright, Univ. of Louisiana–Lafayette
Thursday 10:00
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
Dress and Textiles for an Unlikely Saint: Edward the Confessor
Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester
Here I am at the end of my first Sirens conference, sitting in the lobby waiting for my shuttle bus. And I figure if I don't blog about the conference now, it will probably slip down my priority list during week. (Note: parts of this were written at the airport later.)
I've posted my schedulde for Worldcon next week! If you're planning to be there, I'd love to see you--whether at my programming or just to hang out. Hear me talk about gender, mythology, and podcasting! Hear me read (possibly something from "The Language of Roses" -- I haven't quite decided yet). Buy my books and bring them to me to sign! Talk to me about all the things you love about SFF!
I promised to put up some bibliographic notes for people who attended the BayCon panel "Costuming through the Ages" (i.e., what people in the past wore when then "dressed in costume"). Some of these are directly related to the topic of the panel, and others came out of a request for historic costume references on specific topics. Here are the titles that I remember being mentioned:
Facsimile of a Renaissance Italian Court Designer's Sketchbook
