Canadian Society of Medievalists (CSM) Annual Meeting
Congress 2020, University of Western Ontario, June1-3, 2020

 Knowledge Mobilization? Medieval Studies Research and Outreach

Both SSHRC* requirements and increasingly problematic uses of the medieval in the world outside the academy demand that medievalists find new ways to communicate their knowledge of the period’s complexities and entanglements to the broader public. Some of this we do in our classrooms and some of this we do in various forms of public outreach. This session seeks to compare notes on how medievalists work to communicate and connect their research and knowledge to the wider world. What forms of outreach might we practise both inside and outside the university classroom? What has worked well for you, or where would you like to start with such outreach? How do you reach out to the broader public of a multicultural, diverse country like Canada? What have been successful or failed attempts to do this in your geographical area? This session seeks proposals for short presentations (5-7 minutes) in which speakers will outline tools, strategies, experiences, and/or resources for communicating and connecting their research and knowledge of the medieval period’s complexities to multicultural Canada. Presentations may include but are not limited to: descriptions of outreach educational activities inside and outside the university, descriptions of projects (such as online teaching tools either for university or for K-12 teachers or for learning in retirement), discussions of effective lesson plans or public lecture topics, and/or the proposal of new methodologies or pedagogies. By keeping presentations to 5-7 minutes, this session hopes to hear from a wide range of medievalists in Canada and to allow time for a lively discussion with the audience.

We are seeking paper proposals from individuals in order to propose our session to the CSM conference organizers by their deadline of January 15, 2020. To that end, please send individual proposals (a one-page abstract and a one-page cv) to Siobhain Bly Calkin (Siobhain.calkin@carleton.ca) by January 10, 2020. Presenters must be members of the CSM by the time of the Congress.

*Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada