Futures of the Past @ GW: Subvention for Travel for Grad Students (and Others) Available

by J J Cohen

On Friday October 30 the GW Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute (GW MEMSI) will hold an all day symposium called Futures of the Past that will welcome the following scholars to present and converse on recent and forthcoming book projects that promise a major intervention in the field:

• Kim Hall, Barnard College, author ofSweet Taste of Empire (forthcoming)
• Patricia Clare Ingham, Indiana University, author of The Medieval New: Ambivalence in an Age of Innovation
• J. Allan Mitchell, University of Victoria, author of Becoming Human: The Matter of the Medieval Child
• Julie Orlemanski, University of Chicago, author of Symptomatic Subjects: Bodies, Signs, and Narratives in Late Medieval England (in progress)
• Coll Thrush, University of British Columbia, author of Indigenous London: Native Travellers at the Heart of Empire (forthcoming)
• Henry S. Turner, Rutgers University, author of The Corporate Commonwealth: Pluralism and Political Fictions in England, 1516-1651 (forthcoming)

Like all GW MEMSI events, this symposium is free and welcomes all who wish to attend. We have also set aside funding to enable some graduate students, recent PhDs, and NTT or un[der]employed faculty who do not possess adequate research resources to travel to DC to join us and participate. The funding we possess should cover travel (plane, train or bus) and two nights at a local hotel (which we will arrange on the awardee's behalf). Lunch and a reception are included in the symposium and those receiving the subvention will also be invited to dinner afterwards.

I realize that this is funding is in no way adequate: we can likely sponsor only two or three scholars, and we do not have enough money available to provide a per diem or anything really beyond transportation, a nice place to stay for two nights, some food and drink, and a hearty welcome into our community. But we do hope that this opportunity will be a valuable one, and we wish we could do more.

If you are interested in the subvention, please send a short email that speaks about the importance of the event and its speakers to work with which you are engaged. Deadline for receipt is August 1, 2015.

Jeffrey Cohen
Director, GW MEMSI 
jjcohen[at]gwu.edu