There have been a couple changes to my BayCon programming schedule. A couple of queer-interest items were added and one that I wanted to support conflicted with a panel I'd been scheduled for but didn't feel as strongly about. Remember: you can make an author (or simply a fellow human being) happy by coming up and talking to me.
Conventions
Blog entry
The Matter of Alchemy: Deciphering Medieval Practices
Organizer: Jennifer M. Rampling, Princeton Univ.
Presider: Peter M. Jones, King’s College, Univ. of Cambridge
Reading the Books of the Sages: Byzantine Hermeneutics of Ancient Alchemical Recipes Matteo Martelli, Univ. di Bologna
This year's book haul isn't as extensive as the usual. Just like for papers, the topics coming out of publishers run in cycles, and I guess we're just at a low cycle for the topics I'm currently interested in. Due to the weird interface issues I'm having with the website, I'm not going to try to post cover images this time. So here's what I bought:
Ferguson, Gary. 2016. Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome: Sexuality, Identity, and Community in Early Modern Europe. Cornell University Press, Ithaca. ISBN 9778-1-5017-0237-2
Last year there were a number of fascinating sessions on magic and occultism in the Islamicate medieval world. I’m still gathering up deep background on this topic for future fiction projects, and this one really caught my eye.
Occult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World II: Arabic and Persian
Sponsor: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence; Societas Magica
Organizer: Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Univ. of South Carolina
Presider: Liana Saif, Univ. of Oxford
Towards a Medieval Transgender Studies
Sponsor: Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS)
Organizer: M. W. Bychowski, Case Western Reserve Univ.
Presider: Micah Goodrich, Univ. of Connecticut
That Detestable, Unmentionable, and Ignominious Vice: Trans Women and Sex Work in Cross-Cultural and Cross-Temporal Perspectives Alina Boyden, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
Dress and Textiles III: New Analyses of Old Evidence
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
Organizer: Robin Netherton, DISTAFF
Presider: Robin Netherton
Scarlet Blue: Elite versus Peasantish Clothing in Nordic Ballads Sandra B. Straubhaar, Univ. of Texas–Austin
Dress and Textiles II: Metaphor and Materiality
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion); Pearl-Poet Society<?p>
Organizer: Robin Netherton, DISTAFF<?p>
Presider: Monica L. Wright, Univ. of Louisiana–Lafayette
Seeing Beyond the Color: The Green Knight’s Attire Kimberly Jack, Athens State Univ.
Dress and Textiles I: Representing Textiles and Dress
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion) Organizer: Robin Netherton, DISTAFF
Presider: Robin Netherton
The Banners in Beowulf M. Wendy Hennequin, Tennessee State Univ.
Had dinner at the usual favorite Indian place with a delightfully cozy group of just four. Dithered about whether to take in an evening session after that, but this roundtable about onomastics was impossible to resist.
What’s in a Name? A Roundtable on Names, Nicknames and Identity in the Middle Ages
Organizer: Elizabeth Archibald, Durham Univ.
Presider: Elizabeth Archibald
There weren’t any sessions that called strongly to me in the after lunch session, so I went to the book-room and browsed through a bit over half the publishers’ displays. I have another un-planned period Saturday morning when I can finish the shopping. I chose this session in part because I’ve been poking at my 10th century Viking/Welsh romance idea, and in part because of the textiles/clothing-themed paper.
Living and Dying in Viking-Age Ireland
Sponsor: American Society of Irish Medieval Studies (ASIMS)
Organizer: Rachel E. Scott, DePaul Univ.
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