The Sciences and Medieval Studies: New Approaches, New Questions
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Dept. of History, Univ. of Southern California
Organizer Name
Justin Haar
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Southern California
Presider Name
Patrick Wyman
Presider Affiliation
Univ. of Southern California
Paper Title 1
Hypothesis Testing in the Humanities? A Digital Contribution to the Debate on Early “Germanic” Identity
Presenter 1 Name
Christopher M. Roberts, Sean M. Bergin (ACMRS Graduate Student Prize Winners)
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Arizona State Univ., Arizona State Univ.
Paper Title 2
The Medieval Billingsgate Trumpet: a Celebration of 30 Years Since Its Recovery and the Possibilities for New Investigations Beyond 2013
Presenter 2 Name
Andrew Evans, Jennifer Curl
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Univ. of Sydney, Independent Scholar
Paper Title 3
Objectivity and Its Discontents: Scientism, Critical Theory, and the Epistemological Quandary of Medieval Studies
Presenter 3 Name
J. Michael Colvin
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Univ. of Southern California
Start Date
10-5-2013 1:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1265
Description
“The Sciences and Medieval Studies: New Approaches, New Questions”: Medieval scholars have always been, to a large extent, interdisciplinary: art history, history, literary studies, archaeology, anthropology, and other disciplines have informed medieval historiography for decades. There have been times, however, when the breadth of our questions have outstripped the possibilities of our skills. In recent years, pathbreaking work has begun to overcome these limitations by uniting traditional historical methods with tools from the natural sciences--dendrochronology, isotope identification, DNA and chemical analyses, among others--which have allowed scholars to make unprecedented breakthroughs and ask entirely new sets of questions. This panel invites scholars working across these disciplinary boundaries to share their work, either in calls for new directions in medieval scholarship or in demonstrations of the possibilities or pitfalls of incorporating natural sciences into the study of the medieval past.
Justin D. Haar
The Sciences and Medieval Studies: New Approaches, New Questions
Schneider 1265
“The Sciences and Medieval Studies: New Approaches, New Questions”: Medieval scholars have always been, to a large extent, interdisciplinary: art history, history, literary studies, archaeology, anthropology, and other disciplines have informed medieval historiography for decades. There have been times, however, when the breadth of our questions have outstripped the possibilities of our skills. In recent years, pathbreaking work has begun to overcome these limitations by uniting traditional historical methods with tools from the natural sciences--dendrochronology, isotope identification, DNA and chemical analyses, among others--which have allowed scholars to make unprecedented breakthroughs and ask entirely new sets of questions. This panel invites scholars working across these disciplinary boundaries to share their work, either in calls for new directions in medieval scholarship or in demonstrations of the possibilities or pitfalls of incorporating natural sciences into the study of the medieval past.
Justin D. Haar