Le trauma dans la société médiévale

Trauma in Medieval Society

Call for Submissions

Articles for an edited volume.

Editor: Wendy J. Turner, Professor of History at Georgia Regents University

Trauma is the emotional or physical reaction to an often life-threatening event, which in the Middle Ages could include a broken leg or the theft of cattle, leading to war, changes in law, cultural upheaval, different architecture (building a wall), or interruption of family and community relations. This project proposes to explore the theme of trauma for individuals, families, and communities—large and small. Traumatic events, such as the Black Death, altered society. Papers might include topics such as illness, famine, battle, or the breakup of a marriage. These investigations of stress on the social fabric will help shed light on what medieval society valued, what they found acceptable, and what they found unacceptable.

The hope is that this volume could be used not only as an informational foray into the subject, but also as a possible guide for or supplement to topics courses for advanced undergraduates and early graduate students of medieval medicine, law, society, culture, and disabilities.

Please send abstract for papers on any aspect of literal trauma in premodern Europe and a one-page CV by new date of 30 September 2014 to Wendy J. Turner at wturner1@gru.edu. Abstracts should not be more than 300 words and should include a tentative title, your name and affiliation. Please include the word trauma and your last name in a .doc or .docx file.

First draft of papers will be due June 2015 with revisions due by September 2015.