The College of Arts and Sciences

2011-12 Ray Smith Symposium: "Sex and Power from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment"

The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University presents the 2011-12 Ray Smith Symposium, "Sex and Power from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment." This year's program calls into question modern conceptions of gender by historicizing sexual roles and practices in Europe from the 5th to 18th centuries. The symposium features keynote addresses and HC Mini-Seminars by eight world-renowned scholars.

Organized and presented by the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Working Group, "Sex and Power" is made possible by a bequest from the estate of Ray W. Smith '21. Additional support comes from the Office of the Chancellor; the departments of Art and Music Histories; English; History; Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics; and Women’s and Gender Studies; the LGBT Studies Program; and The SU Humanities Center, proud sponsor of the HC Mini-Seminars.

“Sex and Power” is co-sponsoring with Syracuse University Library the exhibition “The Power and the Piety: The World of Medieval and Renaissance Europe,” running January 26-June 22 on the sixth-floor gallery of Bird Library. The exhibition showcases beautiful materials from this period, held by the Special Collections Research Center, including illuminated manuscripts, a page from a Gutenberg Bible, and Shakespeare’s third folio. For more information, contact Sean Quimby, librarian and director of the SCRC, at 315-443-9759.




Illustration: A miniature of St. Sebastian inflicted with arrows from the "Book of Hours," published in France, post-1450; MS3, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library.

Home for the Humanities The SU Humanities Center Each guest speaker presents an HC Mini-Seminar, sponsored by The SU Humanities Center. More intensive and conversational than a traditional lecture, the seminar is designed to foster a dialogue about the public possibilities of humanistic inquiry.

Med-Ren Group "Sex and Power" is organized and presented by the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Working Group, which also oversees a related minor degree program. Read more

Ray Smith: Liberal Arts Visionary Ray W. Smith '21 (1899-1987) was a proponent of the liberal arts who taught in Central New York schools and served as an administrator for the city of Buffalo. Enabled by a bequest from his estate, The College established an annual series bearing his name in 1989.