IARHS Sponsored-Session Proposal: 'Time and the Outlaw'
Leeds International Medieval Congress 2026
6th-9th July 2026, University of
Leeds, UK
Call for Papers
The theme of Leeds International Medieval Congress will
be ‘Temporalities’
On the official ‘Call for Papers’ webpage, this is described
as follows:
‘Diverse notions of the passage of time affected medieval
people’s political decisions, economic exchanges, and production of objects and
artefacts. Medieval people manipulated time to reflect their gender roles,
narrative strategies, views on human ageing, shifts in ethnic or social groups,
or changes in public and private spaces.
Modern concepts of medieval time are bound up with our own
understanding and (ab)use of medieval temporalities. Whether we construct
images of a ‘Dark Age’, or imagine a romantic time of chivalry and knighthood,
these projections into the past reflect our own temporal outlooks and how today
we organise ‘medieval time’ in a variety of ways that address modern diverse
political or cultural agendas, which lie at the heart of our debate on
medievalism.’
IARHS session proposal is ‘Time and the Outlaw’
Outlaw stories are like time travelers: they exist in their
own time and seemingly outside time.
Some of their elements remain fixed and unchanging whilst others are a
product of negotiation between the tellers and their audiences, according to
the needs of their present situations and ideological perspectives. They exist in a variety of media and in many
different genres.
This session, therefore, examines outlaws and their stories
through time: what they have been, what they are now, and what they may
become. How have they been presented
and how has that presentation changed, how might they be presented in the
future – and why? Are outlaw stories
simply ephemeral wish fulfillment, or do they really matter? What was their function in the past, what is
it now, and what might it be in the future?
Outlaw heroes are not necessarily ‘different’ from other
people – they frequently begin their stories living unremarkable lives in an
everyday world – but their qualities are super-charged by their natural empathy
and ability reacting to adverse circumstances created by (‘evil’) others. Their subsequent actions become the subject
of myth, legend and popular culture.
They speak truth to and about power in every age.
Medieval commentators regarded stories (such as those of
Robin Hood) as either mindless diversions that did neither harm nor good, or as
carriers of important socio-cultural messages that could be either supportive
or subversive of hegemonic practices and beliefs. The outlaw’s relevance in and through time,
to whom and why, is still a major subject of academic study and of interest to
wider audiences.
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers on this topic. Some suitable Congress suggestions are: Medieval
perceptions of time, temporality, and their modern interpretations; People in
time; Time as an agent of change; Temporality in political, economic, and
socio-cultural relations; Time, memory, and commemoration; Time, nature, and
the environment; Medieval temporalities in film, media, digital technology, and
Artificial Intelligence; Artistic representations of time and temporality; Medieval
temporalities in literature, music, performing arts, and folklore; Medievalism
and medieval temporalities; The future of the Middle Ages.
This is a limited list, but proposals on any aspect of
time and outlaws/outlaw stories, in any or many media, medieval, post-medieval,
modern or future are welcomed.
The session/s will be hybrid, so distance need not be a
limitation.
To submit before the Congress deadline, proposals need to
be made by midnight on Friday 26th September. There will be a waiting list in operation
after that weekend.
Please send your proposal to the session organiser, Dr
Lesley Coote, at coote081@gmail.com
Proposals need to be accompanied by a working title, speaker
name and designation, and a contact address.
