The AHA’s annual conference was held in Atlanta this year: my first time both to attend the conference and visit the city. I’d thought that attending Kalamazoo had inured me to large conferences, but even the IMC has nothing on the scale of the AHA\u2014about 5000 attendees spread out across three huge hotels. (The header image for this post is of the main lobby in one of the hotels; surely never before have so many historians been moved to quote The Hunger Games <\/i>at one time.) It was a little overwhelming at times, but I really enjoyed getting to meet historians from so many different fields\u2014where else could you have a spirited conversation about comparative transnational gender history over breakfast?<\/p>\n
For me, however, the highlight of the conference was the four-hour-long workshop I attended on Friday afternoon, on assignments for undergraduate introductory history courses. (This is part of the AHA’s Tuning Project<\/a> on undergraduate history teaching.) Participants submitted in advance an assignment which they used in the classroom, and then during the workshop met in small groups to discuss ways to improve the assignment or its implementation within the context of the course as a whole. It was a session at once useful and generous, and I came away with lots of ideas percolating about new ways to reinforce connections between assignments across the course of the semester, and how to start a similar kind of workshop back in Iowa.<\/p>\n Some of the assignments produced by the Tuning Project’s initiatives can now be found on the DQP Assignment Library<\/a>, which is a database of collegiate-level course assignments that are designed to promote specific student competencies. I haven’t yet had a chance to dive into the Assignment Library in depth, but it looks like it will be a great resource. I believe that some of the assignments discussed at the workshop will also end up there eventually.<\/p>\n Over on Storify, I’ve also brought together collections of tweets from two sessions I attended on medieval history: Crusade and Empire: Holy War and Imperial Ideologies in Medieval Europe<\/a> and Women, Holiness, and Faith in Medieval Europe. <\/a>Medievalists might be comparatively few in number at the AHA, but there were still some great medieval-centred panels on the programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The AHA’s annual conference was held in Atlanta this year: my first time both to attend the conference and visit the city. I’d thought that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conferences-lectures"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1707,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/12\/sixth-women-and-gender-historians-of-the-midwest-conference\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":0},"title":"Sixth Women and Gender Historians of the Midwest Conference","author":"admin","date":"June 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was originally hosted on Storify, until that service shut down. The sixth conference of the Women and Gender Historians of the Midwest organisation met in Iowa City on June 11-12, 2015. https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADubisar\/status\/608971069534306305 https:\/\/twitter.com\/yvonneseale\/status\/608994728160301056 https:\/\/twitter.com\/GHSUIowa\/status\/609004013606977536 The first panel which I attended, led by Kristin Anderson-Bricker (Loras College), was \"Female\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/midwestbanner.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/midwestbanner.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/midwestbanner.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/midwestbanner.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/midwestbanner.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1929,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/10\/call-for-papers-finding-the-women-in-the-et-cetera\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":1},"title":"Call for Papers: Finding The Women in the Et Cetera","author":"admin","date":"July 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Call for Papers: International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 2019\u00a0 \"Finding The Women in the Et Cetera: Doing Women's History with Medieval Documents and Modern Archives\" Over the last forty years, historians have established unambiguously that women were active participants in medieval society, that they were capable of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-14.18.19.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-14.18.19.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-14.18.19.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-14.18.19.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-10-at-14.18.19.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":77,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/27\/medieval-academy-of-america-annual-meeting-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":2},"title":"Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, 2012","author":"Yvonne Seale","date":"March 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This was my first time to attend the Medieval Academy of America's Annual Meeting\u2014my first time in Missouri, too!\u2014and while my experience with attending large academic gatherings is not as yet very broad, I was still impressed with the friendliness of both the conference and the city. As someone who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SLUcampus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SLUcampus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SLUcampus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2870,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/02\/talk-brides-of-christ-conference\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":3},"title":"Talk: Brides of Christ Conference","author":"admin","date":"July 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On July 3, I will be speaking at the \"Brides of Christ: Women and Monasticism in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland\" conference. 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Doctoral research has deep roots; those of my own work stretch back not just through my years at the University of Iowa, but back to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research"","block_context":{"text":"Research","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-20.22.46.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-20.22.46.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-20.22.46.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-20.22.46.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-20.22.46.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":83,"url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/25\/ida-beam-lecture-25-march-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":5},"title":"Ida Beam Lecture, 25 March 2011","author":"Yvonne Seale","date":"March 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Teaching responsibilities prevented me from attending much of this week's Ida Beam lectures, given by visiting scholar Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, professor of English at George Washington University and prolific blogger at In the Middle. Stories of monsters and of stones eluded me, but I was fortunate to be able to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Lectures"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Lectures","link":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/category\/conferences-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/6a013486c64e2e970c0147e37796b2970b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/6a013486c64e2e970c0147e37796b2970b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/6a013486c64e2e970c0147e37796b2970b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/DSCN0618-e1452476350641.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yvonneseale.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}