IARHS Sponsored Sessions for the 59th ICMS, Kalamazoo, MI, May 9-11. 2024

The International Association for Robin Hood Studies is sponsoring the following two sessions at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies, at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, from May 9-11, 2024.

Session 45 (Virtual), Thursday, May 10, 10:00 AM CST
"Ecomedieval Robin Hood"
Sponsor: International Association for Robin Hood Studies (IARHS)
Presider: Anna Czarnowus, Uniw. Śląski w Katowicach
Organizer: Anna Czarnowus

“Under the grene wode tree”: Eco-Anxiety, Outlaws, and Ecotonal Landscapes in the Lytell Gest of Robyn Hode
Catherine Brassell, Univ. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign

“An imperishable masterpiece”: Outlawry, Self-Reliance, Scientific Knowledge, and Reverential Awe in B. B.’s (Denys Watkins-Pitchford’s) Brendon Chase (1944)
Alexander L. Kaufman, Ball State Univ.

Paradise Gained: Nature and Religious Affirmation in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Julie Loveland Swanstrom, Augustana Univ.

“The outlaw’s friend”: Domesticating the Greenwood in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood
Christian Sheridan, Bridgewater College

Session 379 (Virtual), Saturday, May 11, 10:00 AM CST
"Outlaw Environments"
Sponsor: International Association for Robin Hood Studies (IARHS)
Presider: Alexander L. Kaufman, Ball State Univ.
Organizer: Anna Czarnowus, Uniw. Śląski w Katowicach
 

Constructing Outlaw Environments: Space, Time, and Belonging in the Outlaw Imaginary
William J. F. Hoff, Univ. of Melbourne 

The Natural and the Courtly in A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode
Anna Czarnowus 

Robin Hood in Greenwood... Camped
Sherron Lux, International Association for Robin Hood Studies

Resistance Narratives: Comparative Study on Social Banditry, Robin Hood, and Brazilian Literature
Vitor Nunes da Silva, Univ. Federal de Sergipe

IARHS Sponsored Sessions at the ICMS, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, May 9-11, 2024

 

1. ECOMEDIEVAL ROBIN HOOD (VIRTUAL)

Even though the Robin Hood tradition is identified as medieval, most of the texts are post-medieval, hence medievalist. These are often situated against the background of natural environment, and thus Valerie Johnson coined the term “ecomedievalism” for “the application of ecocriticism to neomedieval texts.” Therefore, discussion of neomedievalist texts of popular culture, such as films and TV series about Robin Hood that relate more to the times when they were made than to the Middle Ages, is particularly welcome. The Robin Hood tradition contains different interpretations of the environment, such as the myth of unspoiled nature, but also nature as dangerous, with apocalypse as something imminent. This session invites such ecocritical readings of various neomedievalist outlaw texts that represent nature or the relationship of nature to culture. You can focus, for example, on:

• RH and greenwood in various cultural periods
• the culture/nature divide
•  apocalyptic versions of RH narrative

 

2. OUTLAW ENVIRONMENTS (VIRTUAL)

A popular saying has it that “Robin Hood in greenwood stood” and a similar phenomenon can be found in other outlaw texts and traditions. Such outlaws as Fouke le Fitz Waryn, Twm Shon Catty, or the Slovak Janosik all functioned in a specific natural environment. It needs to be examined how important this background was for their respective legends. The landscape was presented as a romanticized version of nature or as wilderness that went well with what was believed to be the outlaws’ “natural” brutality and violence. This tradition is important to examine as it is present in various countries, not only English-speaking. We can suggest, among others, the following topics:

• outlaws against romanticized landscape
•  violence of outlaws/wildness of nature
•  the specificity of the landscape against which an outlaw is presented
•  nature (e.g. its beauty) and nationalism in outlaw legends

 

Please send your abstract to: annaczarnowus@tlen.pl, but an official proposal can only be made and accepted through (https://icms.confex.com/icms/2024/cfp.cgi). The deadline for proposals is Sept. 15, 2023.