CONFERENCE: 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo
15 September 2022

This panel invites contributors to present projects integrating the digital humanities with medieval environmental history research.

Inspired by the upcoming publication Routledge Handbook of the Digital Environmental Humanities, we are eager to hear from our colleagues about the digital methods and tools they use to “observe, interpret, and manage nature” in the pre-modern space.

Medieval Studies is interdisciplinary by nature. Nevertheless, the infrastructure for interdisciplinary research with peers outside of the humanities is rudimentary. We believe that medievalists whose research deals with the history of the environment and/or the history of science should be a part of building this infrastructure.

We hope that the papers in this session address one or more of the following questions: How are digital tools such as GIS, paleo-climate datasets or models, databases, virtual re-creation, and AI expanding our understanding of human-nature relationships in the Middle Ages? How are medievalists using these tools to explore (large) datasets from this period? What is or what should be the role of pre-modern researchers using digital tools within ongoing conversations around the climate crisis and environmental justice?