Category: events

Session 174: Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Medieval Literature

This panel is proposed with acknowledgement of and sensitivity to the historic and ongoing mistreatment of indigenous peoples and their lands. We hope to foster meaningful discussion about representations of indigenous peoples in medieval literature, which has previously and erroneously been presented from a solely white, Christian, Euro-centric perspective. Important work on the Global Middle Ages is seeking to rectify this narrow view of the medieval world, and engagement with the history of indigenous peoples in history and literature is an essential component of such scholarly reclamation.

We invite papers on literary engagements with Sámi, First Nations, and Indigenous Peoples across the globe in medieval texts (c.500–c.1500 CE). Topics may include, but are not limited to:

* Representations of indigenous peoples in literary texts

* Engagement with texts and artworks of indigenous origin

* Ecocritical analysis, particularly in relation to stolen lands and seas

* Movement of peoples across land and sea

* Intersectional identities, such as race, religion, gender, and sexuality

Our aim for this panel is to create meaningful dialogue based on dignity and understanding. Literary and historical sources provide essential windows into past lives, individual and collective, that broaden and deepen our engagement with each other. This panel aims to learn from the past to create a better future.

This session is organised by the UArctic Thematic Network in the Environmental Humanities.

Session 134: The Ocean as a Connector Between People, Places, and Cultures in Literature and History

For as long as people have been travelling, the ocean has served as a powerful connector, facilitating movement, trade, cultural exchange, and conflict, whilst also shaping identities and inspiring artistic expression. It acts as both a physical pathway and a metaphorical space, impacting human societies in profound ways. Literature and historical sources record and explore this impact, showing us the multi-faceted relationships that humanity has with the world’s waters.

In this session, we invite papers that will speak to each other about how different cultures, nations, peoples, and individuals explore these relationships through literature and historical record. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

* Representations of sea travel

* Personifications of the ocean

* Connections and exchanges between characters/historical figures facilitated by the sea

* Identity and nationhood as defined by watery borders

* Metaphorical explorations of personhood through the ocean

We welcome papers from a wide temporal and geographical scope, though we anticipate a focus on the northern seas. With water as a natural conduit, we hope that these papers on humanity’s relationships with and through the ocean will create connections across times and spaces, highlighting the fluid natures of seas and human identities.

This session is organised by the UArctic Thematic Network in the Environmental Humanities.

Session 162: When the waters came: Building resilience to flooding in Arctic communities through flood myths and stories

The Arctic is often described as the canary in the coal mine of global climate change, but melting ice and glaciers are also causing flood risks that are unique to the Arctic and its people. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report highlights multiple flood hazards, fluvial and pluvial, from permafrost thaw, snow melt, and increased precipitation, while also pointing to growing risks of coastal flooding in Arctic regions caused by retreating sea ice.

Flooding can be undeniably destructive, but research at the University of Hull’s Centre for Water Cultures has highlighted the importance of creativity in our work with flood-risk communities. Using a place-based, participatory approach, we use literature, art, and history to make grand narratives about global flooding locally meaningful. Flooding has always been central to the stories of circumpolar communities, from the myths of the Inuit, Sámi, and Chukchi to the deluge of Ragnarök. Yet in these stories, flooding also marks a new beginning, bringing hope for the future. How can we harness the power of these stories for Arctic communities today?

In this roundtable, we invite researchers, artists, and community practitioners to reflect on the creative potential of flood stories to engage Arctic communities in conversations about flooding. Topics might include:

– The role of traditional flood myths in today’s Arctic communities

– Flooding as a source of inspiration for new stories by Arctic writers and poets

– Case studies of projects that explore creative responses to flooding in community settings

– Multi-media responses to flooding, in music, art, theatre, and film.

This session is organised by the University of Hull Centre for Water Cultures and the UArctic Thematic Network in the Environmental Humanities.

To submit an abstract for any of these sessions, please go directly to the Congress’s portal: https://www.uarcticcongress.fo/programme/call-for-abstract-proposals

Please contact Kirsty Bolton (kirsty.bolton@ell.ox.ac.uk) or Stewart Mottram (s.mottram@hull.ac.uk, session 162 only) with any questions.