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Florida Southern College hosts
4th annual medieval symposium

LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 17, 2003) - Florida Southern College hosts its 4th annual Medieval Symposium Oct. 31 in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room of the Thad Buckner Building on campus. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with registration beginning at 9:30 a.m. 

Dr. Alexander M. Bruce, creator and director of the symposium, describes the theme of this year's program, "The Making of the Middle Ages:"

Something about the Middle Ages captures our fancy. Our imaginations populate the era with knights and damsels, with wandering monks and good-hearted rogues in Lincoln green. Popular culture only fuels such images, with movies like "First Knight" "teaching" us about the nature of knightly combat and the role of women, as well as the nature of Geoffrey Chaucer!

But when did "The Middle Ages" become "The Middle Ages"? And when did we first decide that it was a time of knights and damsels? So much of our understanding of the Middle Ages arose after the fact, the product of imaginations that decided what must have happened, what the land looked like, how people must have felt and acted. This year's medieval symposium considers the fact that by and large our notion of the Middle Ages is a construct of later years and our own imaginative desires: we made it all up. (Or did we?)

The symposium brings together students and faculty from central Florida schools, colleges, and universities (as well as members of the community at large) and, through focusing on a specific topic, introduces the audience to some particular aspects of medieval life and to the greater scholarly interest in medieval studies. The speakers, aware that their audience is comprised of non-specialists, will make their presentations introductory in nature, offering overviews of the following areas of study: 

"Anno Domine Mille: A Medievalist Searches for the Middle Ages," presented by Dr. A. Rand Sutherland, Florida Southern College.

"Fabliau, Filth, and Film: Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales," presented by Dr. Tison Pugh, The University of Central Florida. (Note: The film clips shown as part of this presentation include scenes of full frontal nudity, both male and female.)

"Victorian Medievalism," presented by Dr. Keith Huneycutt, Florida Southern College.

"Oooh, Those Modern Orcs: The Preindustrial Past for a Postindustrial World," presented by Dr. James Campbell, The University of Central Florida.

The symposium is free and open to students and faculty from central Florida schools, colleges, and universities as well as the community at large. Lunch will be available for $6 or $3 if pre-registered. For further information, please contact Dr. Alexander Bruce at (863) 680-4440 or abruce@flsouthern.edu.

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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