Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of our faculty sponsors, Ryan Giles and Niall Atkinson, it is my pleasure to announce the schedule of speakers for the winter quarter 2012.  Please note that meetings will take place in Wieboldt 207 at noon unless otherwise indicated on the schedule.  Any changes to the schedule will be announced in advance to the Workshop list-serv at western-mediterranean-culture-workshop@lists.uchicago.edu and posted here on this blog.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Felipe Rojas (Ph.D Candidate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The University of Chicago) will present and discuss a paper entitled: “Las mujeres sin hombre (1613-1618): A Metaphor of Habsburg Dynastic Marriages.” Co-sponsored with the Renaissance Workshop.  A copy of the paper can be found here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Marco Ruffini (Associate Professor of Italian Studies and Adjunct Professor in Art History, Northwestern University) will present and discuss a paper entitled: “Leon Battista Alberti on the Surface.” A link to the paper can be found here:  http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pd1g732

Friday, February 3, 2012

Daisy Delogu (Associate Professor of French Literature, The University of Chicago) will present and discuss a paper entitled: “From douce France to the dame renommée, Metaphors and Allegories of the French Body Politic.”  Co-sponsored with the Medieval Workshop.  A copy of Professor Delogu’s paper can be found here.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Jorge Abril-Sánchez (Ph.D Candidate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The University of Chicago and Visiting Instructor of Spanish at Wake Forest University) will present and discuss a paper entitled “Spain’s First Renaissance Demonologist, Rodrigo Fernández de Santaella and his Tratado de la inmortalidad del anima (1503).”

People having any questions or concerns about the Workshop should contact the Graduate Student Coordinators, James Nemiroff (jnemiroff@uchicago.edu) and Diana Aramburu (diana1@uchicago.edu).  We look forward to seeing you at our meetings.

Best Regards,

James Nemiroff

Graduate Student Coordinator

Western Mediterranean Culture Workshop

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of our faculty sponsors, Ryan Giles and Niall Atkinson, I would like to present the new Western Mediterranean Culture Workshop schedule for Fall Quarter 2011.  Please note that meetings will take place in Wieboldt 207 at noon unless otherwise indicated on the schedule.  Any changes to the schedule will be announced  in advance to the Workshop list-serv at western-mediterranean-culture-workshop@lists.uchicago.edu and posted here on this blog.

Friday, October 7, 2011

James Nemiroff, (Ph.D Student, The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The University of Chicago) will present a paper entitled “Esther as Crypto-Jew: Hermeneutics “in reverse” in Lope de Vega’s La hermosa Ester (1610).

Respondent: Victoria Grefer (Ph.D Student, The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the University of Chicago)

Friday, October 14, 2011

Andrew Cashner (Ph.D Student, History and Theory of Music, The University of Chicago) will present a paper entitled “Playing Cards at the Eucharistic Table: The Surprising Theology of a Mexican Villancico for Corpus Christi 1628 and its Social Implications.”

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Professor Celso Martins Azar Filho  (Department of Philosophy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) will present a paper entitled “The Idea of Reform in Montaigne’s Essays”

*** Please note the unusual day of the week***

Friday, October 28, 2011

Professor Emilio Ros Fabregas (2011-2012 Joan Corromines Visiting Chair of Catalan Studies; Permanent Researcher in Musicology at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Barcelona)  Title of Paper TBD.

Thursday November 10 and Friday November 11, 2011 (Locations TBD)

Leonard Barkan (Class of 1943 Professor and Chair of the Department of Comparative Literature, Princeton University) Co-sponsored with the Renaissance Workshop.  

November 10:  Lecture on Michelangelo and Poetry.

November 11 : Workshop: Selections from Unswept Floor: Food Culture and High Culture, Antiquity and Renaissance

***Please note the unusual day of the week***

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Ingrid Greenfield (Ph.D Student, Department of Art History, The University of Chicago) Title of Paper TBD

***Please note the unusual day of the week***

People having any questions or concerns about the Workshop or needing any assistance in attending this event should contact the Graduate Student Coordinator James Nemiroff (jnemiroff@uchicago.edu). We look forward to seeing you at our meetings.

Sincerely Yours,

James Nemiroff

Graduate Student Coordinator

Western Mediterranean Culture Workshop

2011-2012 Academic Year

PLEASE NOTE: All sessions meet in Wieboldt 207 on alternate Wednesdays at 4:30 pm unless otherwise indicated.

Wednesday, April 13.

Eduardo Ruiz (2010 Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Chicago); on “’How does the Moon Die?’ The Negotiation between Western Science and Native Voice in Sixteenth-Century Mexico.”

Wednesday, April 20.

Michelle Hamilton (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, University of Minnesota);on “Dying in the Mediterranean: An Arabized Vernacular Dance of Death in Hebrew Romance.”

Wednesday, May 4.

Katie Chenoweth (Harper-Schmidt Fellow in the Humanities, University of Chicago); on “From Letters to Law: Instituting the Language of François.”

Event co-sponsored with the Renaissance Workshop.

Wednesday, May 18.

Diana Aramburu (PhD Student, Department of Romance Languages, University of Chicago); on “Unpacking the Chest of Memory in Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache.”

Wednesday, May 25.

Gregory Baum (PhD Student, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Chicago); on “Transvestite Translations: Disrobing Don Quixote in 17th-century England.”

Wednesday, June 1.

Felipe Rojas (PhD Candidate, Department of Romance Languages, University of Chicago); on “Representing An-‘Other’ Ganymede: The Multi-Religious Character of Ismael in Tirso de Molina’s La prudencia en la mujer.”

PLEASE NOTE: All sessions meet in Wieboldt 207 on alternate Wednesdays at 4:30 pm unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, January 24, 5:00, Rosenwald 405.

Kathryn Swanton (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Chicago); on “The place of witness in King Lear and Los comendadores de Córdoba.”

Co-sponsored with the Renaissance Workshop.

Monday, February 14, 5:00.

Roundtable conversation organized jointly with the Renaissance and the Early Modern Workshops.

Julius Kirshner (Professor Emeritus of Medieval and Renaissance History, University of Chicago); on “Jews as Citizens in Renaissance Italy.”

David Nirenberg (Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor, Committee on Social Thought, Department of History); on “Massacre or Miracle? Sovereign Indecision and the Forced Conversion of the Jews in 1391.”

Respondent: Richard Strier (Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor, Department of English, Divinity School, University of Chicago).

Wednesday, February 16, 4:30, Classics 110.

Rita Copeland (Professor of Classical Studies and English, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania); on “Insinuating Authors.”

Organized in conjunction with the Nicholson Center for British Studies, the Department of English, and the Program in Medieval Studies.

Thursday, February 17, 4:30, Rosenwald 405.

David Wallace (Judith Rotin Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania); on “Where Europe Begins and Ends: Conceptualizing Literary History, 1348-1418.”

Organized in conjunction with the Nicholson Center for British Studies, the Department of English, and the Program in Medieval Studies.

Friday, February 18, 12:30, Rosenwald 405.

Rita Copeland (Professor of Classical Studies and English, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania); on “Naming, Knowing, and the Object of Language in Alexander Neckam’s Grammar Curriculum;” and

David Wallace (Judith Rotin Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania); on Introduction to “Strong Women: Life, Text, and Territory 1347-1645.”

Co-sponsored with the Nicholson Center for British Studies, and the Early Modern, Medieval Studies, and Renaissance Workshops.

Monday, February 21, 4:30, Wieboldt 207.

Giacomo Todeschini (Professor of Medieval History, University of Trieste); on “Judas and the Christian common people: infidelity and economic inaptitude in the Middle Ages.”

Co-sponsored with the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Chicago Center for Jewish Studies, the Committee on Social Thought, and the Medieval Studies Workshop.

Wednesday, February 23.

Karla Mallette (Associate Professor of Italian and Near Eastern Studies, Associate Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies; University of Michigan); on “Lingua franca in the Mediterranean.”

Wednesday, March 2.

Mohamad Ballan (Graduate Student, Social Sciences, University of Chicago); on “Between Castilian Reconquista and Ottoman Jihad: A Reconsideration of the 1501 Hispano-Muslim Qasida to Sultan Bayezid II.”

Co-sponsored with the Middle East History and Theory Workshop.

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce that the Western Mediterranean Workshop is ready to kick off a new academic year with a great group of University of Chicago faculty and graduate student speakers, as well as distinguished invited presenters.

We will be posting further information on our schedule, presenters and papers to be read for our meetings on the workshop’s blog at http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/westmedcult/. Please check our webpage regularly for updates and materials.

A few changes: 1) Our meeting time has changed! This year our workshop will meet on alternate Wednesdays at 12:00 in Wieboldt Hall, Room 207.  We hope that this new day will be easier for most of your schedules.  2) The WMW now has a yearly topic. We have invited speakers to address an overall theme this year. The idea behind this change is to foster continuity and develop discussions across the various presentations.  Our topic this year, broadly conceived, is “Frontiers.”  3). Due to budgetary restrictions, we will unfortunately no longer be able to provide lunch, only light refreshments.  We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

We look forward to seeing you in the first meeting of our workshop on October 13^th featuring Jesús Botello, PhD candidate at the Romance Languages Department, who will talk on “Cervantes, Phillip II, and the Dialectics of Power.”

Best wishes,

Ryan Giles, Faculty Co-Sponsor

Justin Steinberg, Faculty Co-Sponsor

Erika Tanács, Graduate Coordinator

We’ll be rounding out the academic year with another great quarter of student and faculty presentations – plus a spring guest speaker and a conference!  Please join us.

Friday, April 9, 2010 – Heather Allen, PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures, Spanish; on “Cannibalizing the Text: Transcription as Commentary in New Spain”

Friday, April 23, 2010 – Michael Subialka, PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures, Italian, and the Committee on Social Thought; on “Transforming Plato: Tommaso Campanella’s La città del sole, the Republic, and the New Science”

Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 4:30pm – Professor Élisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Professor of Medieval History and Assistant Director of theUnités de Formation et de Recherche de Histoire, l’Université Paris-Sorbonne; on “Le crime et son châtiment: scénarios spatiaux dans l’Italie de la Renaissance”

Friday, May 7 – Saturday, May 8, 2010 – Conference on “Intellectual Exchange and Networks in Europe” in collaboration with Renaissance and Early Modern Workshops

Friday, May 21, 2010 – Carmela Mattza, PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures, Spanish; on “(Re)Thinking the Pastoral, (Re) Shaping the Myth: The Myth and Mythmaking of Phyton in Calderon’s El laurel de Apolo”

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 – Diego Pirillo, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; on “Italians Outside of Italy: Giordano Bruno and the Italian Religious Exiles in Renaissance England”

Friday, June 4, 2010 – Professor Robert Kendrick, Chair of the Department of Music, The University of Chicago; on “What’s in the Letters? Early Modern Exegesis and Music in Lamentations”

We’re back and ready for another exciting quarter of Western Mediterranean Culture!  Please take a moment to look over the presentations by students, faculty, and our winter guest speaker:

Friday, January 15, 2010

Rebecca Zorach, Associate Professor of Art History, The University of Chicago; on “Turning the Triangle Upside Down in Quattrocento Florence”

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 3:00pm in Wieboldt 102

Beth Anderson, PhD Candidate, Romance Languages and Literatures, Italian, The University of Chicago; on “Can We Just Be Friends?  The Relationship Between Petrarch and Laura in the Triumphs and the Canzoniere” – note unusual room, WB 102.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Nancy Canepa, Associate Professor of French and Italian, Dartmouth College; on “Once Upon a Time, in Naples: Crisis of Exemplarity and Enchantment of the Everyday in Basile’s cunti”

Friday, February 26, 2010

Richard Strier, Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor of English, The University of Chicago; on “Earthly Petrarch”

Friday, March 5, 2010

Anita Damjanovic, PhD Candidate, Romance Languages and Literatures, The University of Chicago; on “The Prodigious Magician and His Servants: the Role of Clarin and Moscon”

All workshop meetings will be held in Wieboldt 207.  Light lunch is also provided.  If you have questions or believe that you are in need of assistance, please contact Michael Subialka.

The new quarter is here, and the Western Mediterranean Culture Workshop is gearing up for an exciting roster of presentations and workshop events.  Below is the schedule for this fall, 2009.

Friday, October 9 (WB 207, 12:00-1:20pm)

Katie Chenoweth, Harper and Schmidt Fellow in the Humanities at The University of Chicago, will be presenting her work on “The Definition of Montaigne’s Language.”

Friday, October 16 (CWAC 156, 12:00-1:20pm)

Lina Bolzoni, Global Distinguished Professor of Italian Studies at New York University and Professor of Italian Literature at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, will be presenting on “A Window into the Heart: Double-sided Portraits and Literary Models.”  This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Art History.

Monday, October 19 (WB 207, 4:30-6:00pm)

María José Álvarez Faedo, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Universidad de Oviedo, will speak on “Don Quixote’s Voyage to Perfidious Albion: The Translation of Humour and Satire in 18th-Century English Versions of Cervantes’s Masterpiece.”

Friday, November 6 (WB 207, 12:00-1:20pm)

David Arbesú, Assistant Professor of Spanish at Augustana College, will present on his work in a talk titled “Towards a Reconstruction of Spain’s Lost Epic Poems,” on the identification and reconstruction of the lost poems in the Estoria de Espanna.

Friday, November 20 (WB 207, 12:00-1:20pm)

Maggie Fritz-Morkin, PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures at The University of Chicago, will workshop a chapter from her dissertaion, “Andreuccio at the Well,” on Boccaccio’s Decameron, excrement, and early-modern water politics.

Friday, December 4 (WB 207, 12:00-1:20pm)

Larry Norman, Associate Professor of French Literature at The University of Chicago, will present a chapter from his book-in-progress, “Being Modern in Early-Modern France: Antiquity after Humanism.”

April 2. Cristelle Baskins (Art History, University of Chicago)

April 7. Lia Markey (Art History, University of Chicago)

April 11. Josiah Blackmore (Portuguese, University of Toronto), “Reading the World in Renaissance Portugal.” Co-sponsored by the Lusophone World Project, the Renaissance Workshop, Comparative Literature.

April 25. Felipe Rojas (Romance Languages & Literatures, University of Chicago), “The Devil Made Me Do It: Devilish Humor in Sendebar.”

May 9. Nukhet Varlik (NELC, University of Chicago), “Extending the boundaries of the Imperial Project: Ottoman experimentation for ‘public health.’”

May 23. Erik Thomson (Harper Fellow, University of Chicago)

June 6. George Hoffman (French, University of Michigan), “Who Were Christians?”