The IARHS is sponsoring/co-sponsoring the following three sessions at the 62nd ICMS, Kalamazoo, May 13-15, 2027.
All sessions will be either virtual or hybrid.
Abstract proposals must be submitted to the ICMS’s Confex system by the deadline of September 15, 2026
For queries relating to the sessions below, please email the session organizer(s).
Objects in the Robin Hood Tradition (Session of Papers, Hybrid)
Sponsor: IARHS
Organizer: Anna Czarnowus, annaczarnowus@op.pl
Material studies allow for a focus on objects in literary tradition and in culture in general, including film adaptations. In the scholarship of the Robin Hood tradition and medieval outlaw tradition more broadly, some of what has been analyzed so far includes the types of weapon represented as being used by outlaws, with particular emphasis on such emblematic objects as Robin Hood’s bow and arrow. Further analysis could investigate the clothes that feature in the many adaptations of the Robin Hood and outlaw legends, or any other objects that are important for the development of the respective plots.
Abstract Proposal Submission Link: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8368
The Death(s) of Robin Hood (1): The Death of Robin Hood (2026) (A Roundtable, Virtual)
Sponsors: IARHS & The International Society for the Study of Medievalism (ISSM)
Organizers: Alexander L. Kaufman, alkaufman@bsu.edu; Angela Weisl Angela.Weisl@shu.edu
This roundtable will explore the representation of Robin Hood’s literal and metaphorical death(s) in the A24 film The Death of Robin Hood (2026). We are particularly interested in papers that focus on Robin’s character arc in this film and his death through the focused analysis of such themes as medievalism, ageism, ableism, religion, life-after-death, community, others and othering, death and dying, the environment and space, and representations of violence. We welcome perspectives that place this film in dialogue with other media works that depict Robin Hood’s death and explore any of the above themes.
Abstract Proposal Link: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8230
The Death(s) of Robin Hood (2): Literary Representations (Session of Papers, Hybrid)
Sponsors: IARHS & ISSM
Organizers: Alexander L. Kaufman, alkaufman@bsu.edu; Angela Weisl Angela.Weisl@shu.edu
This session seeks papers that examine Robin Hood’s death in medieval and post-medieval poems, plays, novels, and other written texts. Some examples are A Lyttle Geste of Robyn Hode, Anthony Munday’s Robin Hood plays, The Death of Robin Hood ballad, and various post-medieval novels, such as Bows Against the Barons. Robin is not the once-and-future king, but in many ways he is the once-and-future king of the (good?) outlaws as his character often dies and is reborn in successive works. Papers that examine narratival concerns, religious themes, historical contexts, cultural frameworks, ethical implications, and theoretical and philosophical constructs of Robin Hood’s death and dying are most welcome.
Abstract Proposal Link: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8229
