IMC 2011: Sessions

This year's special thematic strand on issues related to the theme 'Poor…Rich' contributed almost half of the sessions of the Congress. This concluding discussion is intended to offer scholars from various disciplines within the field of medieval studies the opportunity to reflect on the central questions that they are already addressing relative to these issues, and to propose new paths that scholars might follow.

Issues to be addressed at the round table include, but are not limited to:

• What questions are scholars currently asking about the social, political, and economic forces behind the uneven distribution of wealth in medieval society, and the various social, political, cultural and religious responses to poverty, wealth, and points in between? How has the study of these areas developed in recent years?

• What is new in the history of charity, and what still needs to be done?

• In what ways did forms of cultural production - secular and religious texts, visual representations, architecture - serve to shape both attitudes and actions vis-à-vis individuals and groups who occupied various economic positions?

• What role did religious institutions play in the history of ‘Poor…Rich' in the Middle Ages?

• How have the presentations at the 2011 congress built on recent scholarly trends, and what new trends have emerged at the congress?

• What gaps have we seen in the papers at the Congress that still need to be addressed?

Participants of this discussion include Sabrina Corbellini (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), Sharon Farmer (University of California, Santa Barbara), Robin Fleming (Boston College, Massachusetts), and Mati Meyer (Open University of Israel, Raanana).