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Join us at this spring 2026 LAMEM Colloquia. All students and faculty are welcome. Email Lauren Mancia with questions.
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“Every People Under Heaven”: The Franciscans in Zayton in 14th-Century China
Monday, September 15, 4:15 p.m., Featuring: Dr. Nancy Wu, Educator Emerita, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Drury Lane: Papists, Players, and Prostitutes
Featuring: Prof. Ana Acosta, English
Embodied Epistemology as Rigorous Historical Method
Part of Wolfe Institute New Faculty Books series
Featuring: Prof. Lauren Mancia, History
Meet Christine: An unconventional biography of medieval writer Christine de Pizan
Featuring: Dr. Regan Penaluna, Ph.D. Philosophy, author of How to Think Like a Woman
“Polished” Feasts and Funerals: Roman Bone Couches and Embodied Experience
Featuring: Prof. Rachel Kousser, Art History
LAMEM Spring 2025 Colloquia Student Presentations
Presentations on:
Amulets and Tombstones: Folklore of Life and Death in the Jewish Communities of the Early Modern Caribbean
Laureencia Morice, CUNY Graduate Center, Ph.D. student, History Department
Dwelling in Gardens: The Late Antique Transformation of Vegetal Space
Matthew Westmayer, Brooklyn College Classics Department
Romancing Power: Extolling Eros through Logos in Byzantine Fiction
Christina Christoforatu Konstantinis, Baruch College, English Department
LAMEM Spring 2025 Colloquia Presentations
Performing the Premodern on the Brooklyn College Quad!
Come to the quad to get lost in the premodern world!
Watch Fordham University, University of Calgary, and Brooklyn College students perform 16 short, fourteenth-century medieval plays from the York Mystery Cycle.
And the Other Stars: On Seriality
A presentation by Professor of English Nicola Masciandaro.
The Destructive Blindness of the Seeing Eye: On Hysterical Iconoclasm in the Intimacy of a Book
A presentation by Gilead Ben David (CUNY Graduate Center).
Every Grain of Sand: Tracing Historical Influences on Maimonides’ Theory of Divine Providence
A presentation by Jacob Eisenberg, Department of Judaic Studies.
What Is a “Byzantine” Textile? Rethinking “Byzantium” Through Textiles
A presentation by Professor of Art Jennifer Ball.
Experiencing Medieval Monasticism
How can we uncover the lived religious experiences of distant historical subjects, like medieval monks from 1,000 years ago? This conversation-performance-experience will investigate this problem. Together at The Met Cloisters, we will explore potential answers to this question, first through traditional scholarly theoretical and historical engagement with primary sources and art works in the museum. Then we will shift methodologies to experiment with performance and participatory experience (for both presenter and audience alike).
Snejanka Mihaylova, “On Repentance.”
Snejanka is a writer and artist. Among her books Theatre of Thought (2011), published with Critique and Humanism; Practical Training in Thinking (2012), edited and designed by Phil Baber and published with The Last Books; Acoustic Thought (2015), commissioned and published by If I Can’t Dance I Don’t Want to Be Part of Your Revolution and The Last Books. Invested in the field of experimental pedagogy, she curated programs for Documenta 14, the Sandberg Institute (Master of Voice) and just concluded a commissioned educational curriculum titled On Tradition Future Ancestors (2020-2023) created together with Rory Pilgrim for IICD and Dutch Art Institute, where she is still involved as a tutor. Her works have been performed in several locations in Europe and the US. Currently, she teaches history of logic at the University of Sofia, her hometown, where she lives with her dog. Together with long term collaborator and friend Phil Baber, she is co-founder of the imprint The Last Books.
Franco Masciandaro, “My Journey as a Student with Dante.”
Franco Masciandaro is Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut and a specialist in medieval and renaissance Italian literature. He is the author of La problematica del tempo nella Commedia (Longo Editore, 1976), Dante as Dramatist: The Myth of the Earthly Paradise and Tragic Vision in the Divine Comedy (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), La conoscenza viva: Letture fenomenologiche da Dante a Machiavelli (Longo, 1998), The Stranger as Friend: The Poetics of Friendship in Homer, Dante, and Boccaccio (Firenze University Press, 2013), and co-author of Dante | Hafiz: Readings on the Sigh, the Gaze, and Beauty (Pinsapo Press, 2017). He is also a graduate of Brooklyn College.
Tuomas Palonen, “Reimagining Medieval Music in a Retrofuturistic Digital Environment.”
Tuomas Palonen makes medieval music with 1980s synthesizers under the name Thomas Ignatius. The result is a retrofuturistic take on medieval music, which Palonen sees as a great source of inspiration. You can listen to his music on bandcamp.
Will, Subjectivity, and Contemplative Practice in the Cloud author and Walter Hilton
Joseph Romano, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University
SOULS STINK
Boris Ondreička, artistic director of viennacontemporary and curator at COI, Prague
Domestic Disobedience, Political Disorder: Women and Animals in the Livre du chevalier de la Tour Landry (France, 14th c.)
Clémentine Girault, Ph.D. candidate, Université Paris Cité—EHESS
Blackness as Chaos and Old Night: The Provenance of Paradise Lost and Black Revolt
Dorell Thomas, Brooklyn College
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the fall 2023 colloquia.
With Alle the Faith of Haly Kyrke: Vernacular Teaching and the Crisis of Authority in Late Fourteenth-Century England
Laurence Bond ’17, History, John Hopkins University
The Uluburun Shipwreck: The Key to Understanding Large-Scale Tin Trade in Late Bronze Age Eurasia
Wayne Powell, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College
Looking for the Classical in the Renaissance: Roman Antiquities Outside Italy
William Stenhouse, History, Yeshiva University
Sidney’s Penetrations: Poetry and Vulnerability
Matthew Harrison, English, West Texas A&M
Thalassophilia: A Hermeneutics of Depth by Ship/wreck in Dante’s Divine Comedy
Alexa Climaldi ’22, English, Brooklyn College
On Medieval Jewish Women’s Work
Sarah Ifft Decker, History, Rhodes College
Magisterial Feminae: How Women Who Studied the Ancient World Innovated Brooklyn College, the Latin/Greek Institute, and Beyond
Faculty Day 2023: Medieval/Modern: Confronting the Audience in Monasticism and Performance Art
Lauren Mancia, Brooklyn College
Faculty Day 2023: Why Study the Premodern World?
Lunchtime roundtable with David Brodsky, Lauren Mancia, Nicola Masciandaro, Tanya Pollard, David Schur, and Karl Steel.
Fragments of Experience: Approaching “Lived Religion” From Late Antiquity to the Central Middle Ages
From Richard de Fournival, “Bestiare d’Amours,” BnF fr. 12148, 14th century manuscript (connected to Prof. Steel’s talk)
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the fall 2022 colloquia.
Free Choice and Reason: On Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy
Karl Steel, Brooklyn College (English)
Despotics: Elite Slavery, Domination, and Classical Literature as Archive of Slavery
Joe Howley, Columbia (Classics)
Poetry, Piety, and the Islamic Self in the Medieval Persian World
Ali Noori, Ph.D. candidate, University of Pennsylvania (Religion) *Brooklyn College Religion adjunct*/City College alumnus
On the Nature of Grace and the Grace of Nature: Mystical and Philosophical Theology in the German Dominican School
Sam Baudinette, Ph.D. candidate, University of Chicago (Philosophy)
So Tender and Round: Race and Sensation in Medieval Religious Allegory
Shona Adler, Ph.D. candidate, University of Pennsylvania (English) Brooklyn College alumna
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the spring 2022 colloquia.
LAMEM community kick-off!
Come share what you’re working on and float ideas in informal community. The LAMEM community, students, and faculty welcome.
Word Beyond Speech: The Transformation of Logos in the Christos Paschon
Julia Paré, Ph.D. student, Department of Classics, Princeton and Brooklyn College alumna!
Retelling the History of Medieval Philosophy
Andrew Arlig, Department of Philosophy Christina Van Dyke, Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Barnard College
Selective Kinship at Saint-Louis de Poissy: The Sculptural Group of Ling Louis IX & His Family
Sarah Celentano, Ph.D. in Art History, Brooklyn College Foundation
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the fall 2021 colloquia.
What is LAMEM? What is “ancient”? What is “medieval”? What is “premodern”? A Roundtable
Professor Lauren Mancia (History) Professor Andrew Meyer (History) Professor Jenn Ball (Art) Professor Andrew Arlig (Philosophy) Professor Brian Sowers (Classics) Professor Karl Steel (English)
Black Dionysius
Professor Philip Thibodeau (Classics)
Before 1492: Comparative Premodern Colonialisms (part of the Hess Scholar in Residence series)
Professor Lisa Lowe (Yale, American Studies) Professor Lynda Day (Africana Studies) Professor Jason Frydman (English) Professor Liv Yarrow (Classics) Professor Hyunhee Park (History, John Jay)
South Atlantic Rivalries: Dutch and Portuguese Involvement in the African Slave Trade in the Seventeenth Century
Professor Chris Ebert (History) Professor Thiago Krause (History, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
The Story of Silence: An LGBTQ Chivalric Tale
Alex Myers (historical fiction writer and transgender advocate)
Imperfect God, Perfect Torah: Putting Rabbinic Theology Back in Dialogue with Plato
Professor David Brodsky (Judaic Studies)
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the spring 2021 colloquia.
Medieval Scholarship, Cultural Identity and Jewish Disaffiliation: Erich Auerbach Reading Dante in National Socialist Germany
Professor Marty Elsky (English)
On Waiting in The Decameron and Medieval Literature
Prof. David Brodsky (Judaic Studies) and Friends Prof. Nicola Masciandaro (English)
On Gender in the Middle Ages
Sara McDougall (John Jay/GC/History) Janine Peterson (Marist/History) Andrew Romig (NYU/History)
On Ecology, Animals, and Eschatology
Professor Andrew Arlig (Philosophy) Professor Karl Steel (English)
You Can’t Hurry Love: Medieval Christian Devotion
Professor Christina Van Dyke (Philosophy/Calvin College) Professor Lauren Mancia (History)
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the fall 2020 colloquia.
Thinking Within the Lines: Some Medieval Islamic Views on Permissible and Heretical Interpretations of Scripture
Andrew Arlig, Department of Philosophy, Brooklyn College
Shimmering Contraries: Medieval Grammar and the Rise of Race and Racism
Cord Whitaker, Department of English, Wellesley College
Research Perspectives in Late Latin Poetry
Brian Sowers, Department of Classics, Brooklyn College
Bodies Besieged: Early Modern Plague Literature and the Destruction of Jerusalem
Vanita Neelakanta, Department of English, Rider University
Monks Learning to be Priests: Bodies, Texts, and Educational Boundaries in the 12th Century
Jay Diehl, Department of History, Long Island University
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the spring 2020 colloquia.
Heresy & Inquisition in the Writings of Julian of Norwich
Laurence Bond, ’17, Ph.D. student, Johns Hopkins University
Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
The Queen of Sheba’s Hairy Legs in Early Medieval Jewish Texts
Jillian Stinchcomb, Ph.D. candidate, University of Pennsylvania
Unholy Ghosts: Catholic Specters in English Protestant Retellings of Jerusalem’s Destruction
Monks Learning to Be Priests: Bodies, Texts, and Educational Boundaries in the 12th Century
God Has Made Us His Caliphs: Our Obligations to Created Things According to Some Medieval Islamic Thinkers
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents the fall 2019 colloquia.
The Faces of Cao Gui: Fact and Meaning in the Historiography of the Warring States and Former Han
Andrew Meyer, Department of History, Brooklyn College
Christianizing Euripides or Euripidizing Christianity: The Christus Patiens
Katherine Hsu and Brian Sowers, Department of Classics, Brooklyn College
Utter Joy: The Politics of Religious Affect from Reformation to Revolutionary England
Stephen Spencer, Department of English, CUNY Graduate Center
World War I, the New World Order, and the Invention of Renaissance Literature
Martin Elsky, Department of English, Brooklyn College
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2019 colloquia.
A Typical Patron of Extraordinary Means: Isabella Feltria della Rovere and the Society of Jesus
Maria Conelli, Department of Art and Dean of the School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts at Brooklyn College
Zipporah’s Pout: Temporality and the Emotional Life of (Jewish) Image
Marc Epstein, Vassar College
The Medieval/Early Modern Divide Along the Franco-Spanish Border: On Religious Conversion and the Paper Economy
Francesca Trivellato, Institute for Advanced Study
Mothers of Bastards in Medieval France: Problems With Paternity
Sara McDougall, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their fall 2018 colloquia.
Enlightenment Now?
A psychologist and an historian discuss Steven Pinker on human nature and emotion.
5–6:30 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
Translating Tragic Emotion in Early Modern England: Greek to English, Female to Male
12:30–2 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
The Weeping Wound: Asceticism and Transformation in the Age of Tears
The Materiality of Emotion in Inscribed Jewish Prayers
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2018 colloquia.
All are welcome.
Encyclopedism in Late Antiquity
5 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
Roundtable on Law in Late Antique and Medieval Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Traditions
12:30 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
Intellectual and Religious Life in 14th-century Norwich
5:30 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Mystical Union (But Were Too Confused to Ask)
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their fall 2017 colloquia.
Abraham van Dyck and His Black Accusers, From the Night Broadway Burned
The Convent in the City: The Case Study of St. Catherine of Avignon
Biblical Exegesis and Med-Ren Literature: Typological Criticism, Cultural Appropriation, and the Second World War
Medieval Pets
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2017 colloquia.
Judaism in the Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern World Mini-Series III: Judaism, Confucianism, and Modernity in Ming China: The Kaifeng Synagogue Inscription of 1489
Judaism in the Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern World Mini-Series IV: Tropical Jews: Early Modern Jewry in the Atlantic World
The Making of a Black Panther: Plato’s Influence on Huey P. Newton
Judaism in the Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern World Mini-Series V: “In Three Places the Halakhah Overrides the Bible”: What Must Give When Bible, Received Tradition, and System of Interpretation Conflict
Petrarch’s Manuscripts in the Digital Era
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their fall 2016 colloquia.
Mystical Chaucer
Judaism in the Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern World Mini-Series I: Making the Middle Ages Real Through Fiction
5:30 p.m. Woody Tanger Auditorium (Library)
Feral and Isolated Children—From Herodotus to Hesse: Heroes, Thinkers, and Friends of Wolves
Making It Personal: Writing, Drawing, and Claiming Space in Ancient Synagoges and Cemeteries
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2016 colloquia.
Fix’d Almost Among Strangers: Charleston’s Quaker Merchants and the Pursuits of Cosmopolitanism
The London Six: Stationers and Censorship During the Interregnum
12:30 p.m. Woody Tanger Auditorium, Library
Mystic Sciences of the Exact
Locke on the Diachronic Identity of Persons and Substances
6 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their fall 2015 colloquia.
Medieval Oysters!
Theorizing “Race” in Early Modern Spain
Dante in the Interwar Period
Zoroastrians!
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2015 colloquia.
Monastics on Monasticism, East and West
Early Modern Mysticism
5:15 p.m. Costas Library (2405 Boylan Hall)
Early Modern Geography
Late Antique Historiography
Getting Medieval at Brooklyn College
Come help LAMEM-affiliated faculty discuss why a historical consciousness of the culture, ideas, and events of the period before modernity is urgent for our understanding of the now at this lunchtime roundtable discussion during the Annual Faculty Day Conference.
12:45–2:15 p.m.
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their fall 2014 colloquia.
Transitioning Antiquities
Classifying the Middle Ages
Early Modern Visionaries
The Late Antique-Medieval-Early Modern Faculty Working Group at Brooklyn College presents their spring 2014 colloquia.
