Medieval/Renaissance Studies
The Med/Ren Working Group is coordinated and funded by the Department of English.
The University of Pennsylvania English department's Med/Ren working group fosters lively conversations about the literary, historical, and cultural materials of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, and the theoretical frameworks, critical perspectives, and methodologies we bring to bear upon those materials. Scholars – Penn English graduate students and faculty, as well as visiting academics – share drafts of article-length works-in-progress, offering participants a chance to make significant scholarly contributions in a relaxed environment. Our meetings foster an atmosphere of shared intellectual vigor, with conversations ranging in form and tone from Q&As and brainstorm sessions, to rigorous, constructive critiques of the papers within their broader critical contexts.
Our listserv address is SAS-ENGL-MEDREN [@] LISTS.UPENN.EDU. You may contact one of this year's co-coordinators, Kathleen Tizon (ktizon [@] sas.upenn.edu) or Lily Weeks (lilweeks [@] sas.upenn.edu) to be subscribed to the listserv or to request more information. You may also subscribe to the list directly through the link at the bottom of this page.
How to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the Premodern Studies Listserv:
https://lists.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SAS-ENGL-MEDREN
Upcoming Events
-
Ariel Bates WIP
January 21, 2026 - 5:00pm to 6:00pm -
Manuscript workshop
February 25, 2026 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm -
Professor Ruth Nisse (Wesleyan University) WIP
March 25, 2026 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Past Events
-
Erika Smith Harman (University of Pennsylvania) “Poets, Preachers and Unresolvable Questions.”
March 29, 2017 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
Melissa Sanchez (University of Pennsylvania)
March 14, 2017 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
Adam Zucker (University of Massachusetts-Amherst) ““Sensible in the duller parts:” Pedantry, Nonsense, and the Text of Love’s Labour’s Lost.”
March 1, 2017 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
The Futures of Medieval Historiography
February 24, 2017 (All day) to February 25, 2017 (All day) -
Richard Rambuss (Brown University)
February 22, 2017 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
Patricia Dailey (Columbia University) “Feeling Backward: Deor’s Poetics of Recall.”
February 8, 2017 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
Sarah Wilma Watson (University of Pennsylvania)
December 7, 2016 - 4:30pm to 6:30pm -
Phyllis Rackin Lecture: Rebecca Laroche (University of Colorado Colorado Springs)
November 30, 2016 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm -
WIP w/ Carissa Harris (Temple English), “‘Felawe Masculinity’: Teaching Rape Culture in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.”
November 1, 2016 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm -
Mary Channen Caldwell (University of Pennsylvania)
October 12, 2016 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Department of English
