We were privileged to host the 28th Anglo-German Colloquium at Somerville College earlier this month.
Inspiration: a detail from Konrad von Megenberg’s ‘Das Buch der Natur’ (Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Pal. germ. ƒ00, Bl. ƒƑ7v)
The Anglo-German Colloquium is a biennial international conference in German Medieval Studies first established in 1966. This year, the Colloquium was convened by Somerville’s Tutorial Fellow in German, Professor Almut Suerbaum.
Taking its cue from emerging currents in German medieval studies, the theme of this year’s Colloquium was ‘Posthuman perspectives in dialogue with premodern culture: New approaches to German-language literature of the Middle Ages’. This theme was considered in two key ways: first, how can post-human approaches be used to analyse medieval texts? Secondly, how might medieval culture, with its extraordinary and often overlooked freshness, offer new perspectives for understanding our own entangled relations in today’s world?
The Colloquium was bookended by two keynote events. The introductory session was a round table featuring award-winning poet Ulrike Draesner in conversation with librettist Hazel Gould about their work on human and non-human voices, and echoes of the medieval in contemporary culture. The plenary keynote was a round table discussion featuring the celebrated post-human philosopher and Distinguished University Professor Emerita Rosi Braidotti.
In all, 47 participants joined the Colloquium from 8 countries, and 19 presentations were heard across the three days. The Colloquium was supported by the universities of Freiburg, Vienna and King’s College London, with several sessions organised in conjunction with the Association of German Studies and others held at the University of Oxford’s Taylorian Institution Library. As such, this event stands as a proud symbol of the enduring bonds of academic friendship and intellectual understanding between Anglo-German academics and the wider community of European medievalists.
Opening round table discussion, featuring Ulrike Draesner’s video poem ‘exit Erdbeerklee’