International Medieval Congress Leeds
Thanks to the Viking Society and the International Medieval Congress (IMC) Bursary Fund, I presented a paper and participated in a roundtable at the 2023 IMC, which took place at the University of Leeds, from 3-6 July.
IMC 2023’s special thematic strand of ‘Networks and Entanglements’ was particularly aligned with my PhD research which constructs, visualises, and quantifies the narrative networks of the Sturlubók redaction of Landnámabók. Here, I attended multiple panels dedicated to applying Social Network Analysis to medieval texts and had the unique opportunity to discuss the quantitative side of my project with historical network scholars who use similar approaches.
My paper entitled, ‘I’ll Make a Landnámsmaðr Out of You: A Social Network Analysis of primary, secondary, and dependent settlers in Iceland as portrayed in Landnámabók’ discussed how social hierarchies form and operate in the narrative networks of Sturlubók (i.e. networks constructed of the approximately 3,100 individuals in the text and roughly 8,100 relationships). This talk was well received by both Old Norse scholars and Digital Humanities scholars.
I also participated as an invited panellist in the session ‘Networked Middle Ages: Celebrating Social Network Scholarship in Medieval Studies – A Round Table Discussion’ sponsored by the Social Network Analysis Researchers of the Middle Ages (SNARMA). This roundtable introduced a forthcoming medieval Social Network Analysis volume to be published by Arc Humanities Press. Here, I discussed the chapter I will be contributing, which will be based on my IMC Leeds paper and PhD research.
Attending 2023 IMC Leeds has further strengthened my international academic network and provided valuable insights into how to apply a variety of digital approaches to medieval sources. I am grateful for VSNR for providing funding to make this opportunity possible and supporting my research throughout the course of my studies.