• Announcements and Statements

    Call for Cease-fire in Israel and Palestine

    As a feminist organization committed to intersectional and global justice throughout history reaching to the present, the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship joins other academic organizations in calling for an immediate and permanent bilateral ceasefire in the region. In doing so, we recommit ourselves to principles of academic freedom, supporting the voices of those who mourn Palestinian and Israeli lives and call for justice for the Palestinian people. Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked and massacred 1,200 Israelis, Israel has killed over 20,000 Palestinians, at least 8,000 of whom are children and 6,000 of whom are women, and displaced more than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza. People in…

  • Announcements and Statements

    Call for Submissions: Best First Book of Feminist Scholarship Prize

    We are happy to announce that the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship Book Committee is accepting submissions for the 2024 Best First Book of Feminist Scholarship on the Middle Ages. We are soliciting submissions of first monographs in any area of medieval studies. Nominated books should represent the best first monographs of feminist medieval scholarship published AND with a copyright date in 2022 or 2023. The prize (an award of $500), will be announced in the spring. Self-nominations are acceptable; presses may nominate more than one title. Please arrange for TWO copies (preferably hard copies) of each nominated book to be sent to SMFS President, Dr. Nicole Lopez-Jantzen, at the…

  • Announcements and Statements

    Janabai and her Disciples: Modes of Translation

    A Research Blog from the 2022 Recipient of the Rising Star Award Nitya Pawar (Ashoka University, India) My research focuses on a medieval Marathi saint-poet Janabai (1258-1350 CE) through her poetry and reception. Janabai is one of the Marathi saint-poets who was active in the 13th – 14th century. Outside of Maharashtra, she has little to no presence despite her teacher/master, Saint Namdev (1270-1350 CE), having a huge pan-Indian public. Even in the context of Maharashtra, her story is primarily tied with that of Namdev, except in the grind-mill or stone-mill songs which are folksongs sung by primarily rural women of Maharashtra as they work on the grind-mill or perform…

  • Announcements and Statements

    2023 SMFS Best Article of Medieval Feminist Scholarship Prize: call for nominations and submissions

    The members of the SMFS Advisory Board are pleased to announce the call for nominations and submissions for the 2023 SMFS Best Article of Medieval Feminist Scholarship Prize. Journal articles and chapters in edited collections published in calendar years 2021 and 2022 will be considered for this prize. Articles submitted for this prize will be assessed on both scholarly merit and relevance to the remit of SMFS. Topics are open, including issues regarding women, gender, trans studies, feminist approaches and theory, and intersectionality. Range of study must, however, focus on the medieval period (ca. 500 to 1500). The prize is US $300.00. Deadline for submissions is 30th January 2023. Announcement of the prize winner will occur on 15th March…

  • Announcements and Statements

    Joint Statement from the U.K. Gender and Medieval Studies Group (GMS) and the International U.S.-based Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS) on the Threatened Job Losses at Birkbeck

    6th December 2022 Dear Professor David Latchman, Professor Matt Innes, and Sir Andrew Cahn, We write on joint behalf of the Gender and Medieval Studies Group (GMS) and the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS), organisations which represent the study of medieval English Literature, and medieval studies more broadly, in the UK, the US, and globally. We wish to strongly express our concern at the news of the devastating cuts proposed for The Department of English, Theatre & Creative Writing at Birkbeck. Given the department’s recent success in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, a success which has been much lauded in the global arena, your proposal to render 50% of…

  • Announcements and Statements

    SMFS 2023 Elections

    It is time to begin the process of our annual elections to the Advisory Board of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship. Here is a summary of elections-related activity occurring this year: Advisory Board members concluding terms of service in 2022: Michelle Armstrong-Partida  Jill Hamilton Clements Dana Oswald Alexandra Verini Graduate Student Representative concluding term of service in 2022: Kersti Francis The executive team, on behalf of the Advisory Board and society membership, wishes to express our gratitude to these departing members for your efforts in support of our organization’s many initiatives over the past several years. Thank you to all of you! 2023 Elections The SMFS Advisory Board is…

  • Announcements and Statements

    CFP for ICMS 2023, “Mutual Aid and the Middle Ages”

    Please consider submitting a proposal to this SMFS-sponsored virtual paper session at ICMS 2023! And circulate widely! Proposals due Sept. 15 via the Confex portal. Please reach out to Abby Ang with any questions (aang@populardemocracy.org). The COVID-19 pandemic instigated a burst of mutual aid activity across the globe, inspired partly by Peter Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902). Kropotkin draws from a variety of sources, including biological sciences, sociology, and history, to argue that horizontal cooperation, rather than competition, is what has allowed various species to survive and even thrive. He describes the guilds and unions of the later Middle Ages as sites where mutual aid thrived. 120…

  • Announcements and Statements

    SMFS Statement on Roe v Wade

    Previous version circulated May 9, 2022; updated June 28, 2022 The Advisory Board of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship condemns in the strongest terms the United States Supreme Court decision of June 24, 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). This landmark case enshrined the right to an abortion, and as an intersectional feminist organization committed to global gender and racial justice, we are appalled by this politically biased gutting of fundamental human rights. The decision as it stands unilaterally harms all pregnant people, especially those from marginalized groups, such as people of color, trans men and nonbinary people, and low-income individuals who face many barriers…

  • Announcements and Statements

    Statement of Support for Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm

    Originally circulated May 9, 2022 We, the Advisory Board of SMFS, in every respect condemn the recent online harassment of Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm (@ISASaxonists).There is no room for race-policing or misogynoir–as these attacks are clearly misogyny in action and undermine the intersectional field of medieval studies we aim to cultivate. As an intersectional feminist community, we deeply respect and value Dr. Rambaran-Olm’s expertise, experience, and activism. She is dedicated to anti-racist work and the mentoring of graduate students and early career scholars of all backgrounds. She has strongly advocated for survivors of sexual harrassment, and has done much to transform the profession at large. We reaffirm our support for Dr.…