The Medieval Reading Group (MRG)
MRG is an interdisciplinary workshop for graduate students and faculty within Medieval Studies. Our members are affiliated with English, History, History of Art, Comparative Literature, Romance Languages, and Near Eastern Studies. The group meets on a regular basis to discuss work in progress, host visiting scholars, and conduct seminars on primary texts of interest to Michigan’s medieval community.
Organized and run by graduate students, MRG began as a reading group but has evolved into a broader intellectual forum with the generous support of Rackham. It has adopted a workshop format devoted to critiquing dissertation chapters, articles intended for publication, conference papers, and any other substantial work in progress a student may wish to submit. Workshops provide a rare opportunity for participants to extend their research into new areas and to address the methodological questions that arise in doing truly interdisciplinary work.
Once a term, MRG organizes a session devoted to examining the work of a distinguished visiting scholar. For the 2006-2007 academic year, our visiting scholars are Richard Firth Green of Ohio State University, James Simpson of Harvard University, and Patrick Geary of the University of California, Los Angeles. So far Michelle Warren of Dartmouth has presented to the group in Fall of 2007.
When not conducting workshops or hosting visiting scholars, Spiritus Aevi carries out guided discussions on seminal texts (often primary sources) of the Middle Ages. Readings are meant to complement other activities, especially workshops, and embrace a wide variety of critical interests. Recent readings have included The Song of Roland, the Old Norse Edda, Thomas Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, Thomas Usk’s Testament of Love, Hugh of Saint Victor’s Didascalicon, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Juan Ruiz’s Libro de Buen Amor, and David Lindsay’s A Satire of the Three Estates.
For further information, please contact David Lavinsky (dlavinsk@umich.edu) or see the Spiritus Aevi website at http://www.umich.edu/~mreadgrp/
Early Modern Colloquium (EMC)
The Early Modern Colloquium is an organization run by the faculty and graduate students in the English department at the University of Michigan. The purpose of the group is to stimulate the early modern scholarly community at the University of Michigan, to facilitate conversations between students, faculty, visiting scholars, and members of various departments within the university. Open meetings are held several times during the semester, and include panels, symposia, papers, and a conference.
For the full schedule of events and resources, please visit http://www.umich.edu/~earlymod/
Eighteenth Century Studies Group (ECSG)
A series of events meant to develop the burgeoning interest in global aspects of eighteenth-century Europe (and beyond). We hope to foster a broad exchange of ideas from scholars in a variety of disciplines. Organized by Professors Vivasvan Soni and Sunil Agnani.
For a full schedule of events and other information, please visit http://www.umich.edu/~ecsg/
