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CFP: Journal of Medieval Worlds

Type: Calls For Papers [View all]
Posted by: Journal of Medieval Worlds
Deadline: Sat, August 15th, 2026

Journal of Medieval Worlds

Call for Submissions 

We are relaunching the Journal of Medieval Worlds in Spring 2027 with two special debut issues: “Fragments I: Putting the Worlds Back Together” and “Fragments II: Worlds Reunited.” These two double issues, appearing in Spring and Fall 2027, will entail a first issue of shorter contributions and a second issue of longer, full-length contributions, that showcase the important and necessary interventions occurring in Medieval Studies around issues of race, sexuality, gender identity, decolonization, and other emerging critical discourses. These issues will highlight what makes the Journal of Medieval Worlds distinctly unique. The theme itself will reflect not only on the journal’s relaunch, but also on the state of our discipline in the context of current socio-political upheaval around the globe.

 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL WORLDS, Spring 2027 (3.1-2) - Fragments I: Putting the Worlds Back Together 

“We need only … turn to those historians of the ancient, classical, and medieval worlds, who in some cases are working with the fragments of documents and partial objects of material culture. The ability to build outward from these fragments is not an obstruction to the creation of an historical literature—it is how the historical literature is created.” (Leslie M. Harris. “Imperfect Archives and the Historical Imagination.” The Public Historian, vol. 36, no. 1, 2014, pp. 77–80; 79)

What power can be found in the fragment? How do we reflect the fragmented world in our work? If fragments are residue of the past, what do fragments say about the future?

 

Fragments I:

 1,000-3,000 word critically engaged responses to the state of medieval studies, with a particular emphasis on race, gender, sexuality, decolonization, and other emerging critical discourses. These pieces might include a look towards what the future of medieval studies might bring, or contain a reflection on what medieval studies is rejecting or growing away from.

Some ideas for contributions:

How do neglected fragments or the idea of fragments themselves allow us to make things whole or to accept the pieces?

For example, we welcome explorations of the types of marginalization we experience as medieval scholars–not just inside the whole academy, but also as people under various work conditions (e.g., the “Lone Medievalist,” two-year colleges, outside academia, etc.).

How do fragments from the archives read differently for different scholars? How and why?

For example, we welcome examinations of fragments we have from existing scholars themselves as well as from texts or contexts.

How has the reality of the Global Middle Ages changed our approaches to the field both as scholars and teachers?

For example, did something wonderful (or awful) happen in your classroom that speaks to this change? Or has this shifted perspective affected how, why, and where you work on scholarship?

How has the expansion of the medieval worldview changed the canonical and the non-canonical approach to texts and languages?

For instance, we welcome brief translations and analyses, or discussions of “go-to” texts (or “don’t-go” texts).

How has the critical concept of intersectionality become visible in the field of medieval studies?

For example, we welcome brief readings of texts demonstrating an active critical intersectionality approach.

We also welcome other interpretations of fragments and/or the fragmentary nature of medieval studies. 

Send submissions by August 15 to JMW_editorial@ucpress.edu

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About the Journal

The relaunched Journal of Medieval Worlds serves as a venue for intersectional scholarship on the global medieval world, encompassing any geographic region from the year zero to around 1500 CE.  The journal’s purpose is to foster an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to the Middle Ages, which foregrounds issues of race, sexuality, gender identity, disability, socio-economic status, immigration, and decolonization in a global expanse to encourage meaningful comparisons across cultures and periods.

The journal also encompasses the study of the Middle Ages’ afterlives with a particular attention to the ways in which the medieval past has been deployed in the modern world around issues relevant to our global, intersectional concerns. 

In addition to full-length academic articles, the JMW also publishes reviews of books, textbooks, and relevant exhibitions, as well as essays on pedagogy, state of the field bibliographies, translations of primary and secondary sources, and other shorter interventions.

  https://online.ucpress.edu/jmw

 

Posted on Thu, January 22nd, 2026
Expires on Sat, August 15th, 2026

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