-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        CRFC: 2008 Seminars Call for Papers
Date:   Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:48:03 -0500
From:   Molly Schultz <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]



   Center For Research In Festive Culture**

*CALL FOR PAPERS: Seminars** 2008*

(Newberry Library, Chicago, Friday afternoons, September-November)


     DEADLINE TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS:  NOV. 11, 2007


Dear colleagues and friends,

The response to this year’s theme, the association of festivity with (or
sometimes against) religious impulses, was especially gratifying.  Not
only did we receive an increased number of proposals, but applications
came from a much wider area, including Europe.  *So the varied relations
between religious and festive forms of belief and performance will again
be our theme in 2008.*  For those contacting the Center for the first
time, it may be useful to read last year’s Call for Papers on our
website, which explains the thinking behind the choice of this theme
(festival-studies.org).

     The Center meets in a small room around a large table.  Ten to
twenty interested parties (professors, graduate students, independent
scholars) attend.  Because it is a seminar and not a conference, its aim
is to contribute through discussion to ongoing work (see the explanation
of the plan and purposes of the CRFC in our website).  Accordingly,
papers are distributed to and read by those planning to participate
about one month in advance of each seminar date.  Seminar papers thus
appropriately include interrogations and hypotheses rather more than
exhaustive descriptions and definitive conclusions.  Since papers are
not read at the seminar, we ask paper-givers to present in about
ten-minutes’ time a synopsis of their main ideas—and/or research
difficulties—at the beginning of their session.  This format has turned
out to be quite useful not only to those attending but especially to
those presenting their work.

     Last year I asked that applications for the seminar reach me by the
time of All Saints/All Souls.  *This year the date is November 11,
*which for Americans of a certain age has meant the armistice
celebration of World War I.  Marechal Foch thought he knew what that
date really meant, as he dedicated a votive plaque to Saint Martin at
the basilica of Tours, sacralizing the victory.  But how shallow!
Martinalia (i.e. St. Martin’s Feast Day, still celebrated in many parts
of Europe) commemorates Roman Vinalia, and that, my friends, means “Le
Nouveau Beaujolais est arrivé!”–Well, o.k., French law says that the new
year’s Beaujolais wine must “arrive” (casks opened) on the third
Thursday, not around the second Thursday (politics, always impinging on
the festive…).

     Send your wine-inspired lucubrations to me, therefore, by November
11.  As usual, each seminar session combines one senior-scholar paper
with a study by a junior scholar who has recently finished or is about
to finish doctoral work.  As mentioned last year, I hope particularly to
receive proposals carrying forward our inquiries into Middle-Eastern
festive-religious practices, initiated in 2006 by the papers of Janet
Afary and Hakki Gurkas.  To apply, please send a one-page c.v. and a
one-page synopsis of the proposed paper, including a statement about the
relation of the paper to your other work.  Send these materials by
e-mail either to me, Sam Kinser, Director, CRFC ([log in to unmask]) or to
Molly Schultz, secretary for the CRFC at the Newberry Library, Chicago
([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>).

     Although nothing definite can be promised at this point, it is
probable that persons whose papers are selected and who live far beyond
the Midwest can be reimbursed for a considerable part of their travel
expenses.  Lodging is also provided through the hospitality of
Chicago-area seminar members.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.



Sincerely, Samuel Kinser, Center for Research in Festive Culture


--
Abigail Ann Young (Dr), Associate Editor/ Records of Early English Drama/
Victoria College/ 150 Charles Street W/ Toronto Ontario Canada
Phone (416) 585-4504/ FAX (416) 813-4093/ [log in to unmask]
List-owner of REED-L <http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/reed-l.html>
http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/ => REED's home page
http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/stage.html => our Web guide
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~young => my home page