The CSM at Accute, 2026
The CSM is sponsoring two sessions at the 2026 annual conference of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, 2026. Kathryn Walton and Megan Arnott have organized proposals for two sessions – on Medieval Magic and on Medieval Masculinities – for which they welcome submissions.
CSM Joint Session Organizers
- Kathryn Walton, Lakehead University, kwalton@lakeheadu.ca
- Megan Arnott, Lakehead University, University of Toronto Mississauga, mmarnott@lakeheadu.ca
Proposals (250 words) should be submitted through the ACCUTE Online Submission form.
You do not need to be an ACCUTE member to propose a paper, but if your paper is accepted, you will need to be a member to register for and attend the conference. Graduate Students and Contract Faculty who are members of ACCUTE will be eligible for a partial travel reimbursement as funds allow.
Medieval Magic
Magic and the supernatural were staples of many of the most popular genres of medieval literature; they are also staples of many modern texts set in the medieval world or in a pseudo-medieval world. This session will explore medieval magic in its many and various iterations across literary history, and we invite papers that discuss any manifestations of medieval magic or the supernatural in medieval or modern texts.
Participants are welcome to interpret “magic” in any way they wish and to propose papers on anything from magicians, to giants, to charms, to supernatural transformations. Participants are also welcome to read medieval magic within medieval literature in the genre in which it most commonly appears (romance), or to explore instances of magic and the supernatural outside of that genre: in history, hagiography, or allegory, for example.
Papers on contemporary texts that employ or relate to medieval magic are also welcome. Participants might consider examining how modern texts use, reuse, and remake staples of medieval magic and the supernatural such as fairies, demons, or sorcerers. They might also consider how modern texts adapt medieval magical forms to suit contemporary texts and audiences through new interpretations of magicians and magic.
Medieval Masculinities
What is “medieval masculinity”? On the one hand, the term may be understood by looking at how men defined themselves within the Global Middle Ages. How did they define what it was to be masculine in different religious traditions, including cloisters, or church hierarchies, in Saints Lives and monastic rules? How is masculinity defined in martial cultures (knights, Vikings, soldiers etc.), particularly in literary texts like romances or sagas?
On the other hand, “medieval masculinity” may also mean looking at the way that medieval is coded masculine in modern texts or societies. How is masculinity codified in a text like Netflix’s Marco Polo, or Vikings: Valhalla? Do we consider masculinity in Game of Thrones an example of “medieval masculinity”?
Participants are welcome to submit proposals on any aspect of medieval masculinities, including the way masculinity is presented in a pre-modern text, or how medieval masculinities is interpreted through a modern lens. A few different lenses for proposals for papers on medieval masculinity include providing a definition, examining gender assumptions in medieval or medievalist texts, investigating places where the borders of gender are being tested in medieval or medievalist texts, or considering Jacqueline Murray’s assertion, that “While the ideologies of masculinity might be contested and fraught, depending on variables of time and space, social position and individual experience, they also reinforce social order, could provide a sense of security and a knowledge of one’s place in the world.” Other approaches to the concept of medieval masculinity are also welcome.