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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Please take a look at the IMC session I’m co-organising with Mahima Khan on medieval Islamic and Jewish learning! The deadline to submit is the 14th of September.

How was knowledge made, shared, and sustained within medieval Islamic and Jewish societies? And how did practices of teaching and learning shape the communities in which they took place?
This panel explores education as a social practice through which relationships, identities, authorities, and communities were formed. We invite papers examining the people, places, practices, and material cultures involved in making knowledge across medieval Islamic and Jewish contexts.
Possible topics might include formal and informal learning; teachers, students, families, and scholarly networks; institutions and spaces of education; oral, textual, and manuscript practices; language and translation; religious and professional formation; gender and access to learning; mobility and the circulation of knowledge; and the ways educational practices created or contested boundaries of belonging.
We particularly welcome papers that foreground lived practices of learning and consider how knowledge both emerged from and helped constitute medieval communities.

*Papers may focus on medieval Islamic history or Jewish history individually; comparative and interdisciplinary approaches are also welcome.

If you are interested in proposing a paper, please submit a title & 250-word abstract with a short biography to mahima.khan@qmul.ac.uk or n.a.reiter@qmul.ac.uk by 14" September 2026. We welcome submissions from scholars at all career stages.

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Please take a look at the IMC session I’m co-organising with Mahima Khan on medieval Islamic and Jewish learning! The deadline to submit is the 14th of September.

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Some of the papers I went to on a whim which had no clear link to my research ended up being the most thought-provoking ones I attended. Is this normal for a history conference?

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

It was great to present at the Leeds IMC last week and to hear so many great presentations on topics from dragons to sheriffs, and to see at least one powerpoint communicate research findings through memes! The social events were fun too. I enjoyed meeting everyone, hopefully I’ll come again!

Me presenting my paper at the conference

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

I’ve spent the past year co-organising the Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers conference, which finally took place this week. I enjoyed delivering the walking tour which opened the conference with Natasha Jenman, and delivering the closing remarks of the conference with @arodsan95.bsky.social

Image of Ana and I delivering the closing remarks

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Thanks to everyone who joined the Borders, Boundaries, Barriers conference in Oxford this week. It was great to meet you all and hear about your research! For my first time co-organising a conference, I’m happy to see that it has been an enjoyable experience across the board.

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UCL Early Modern Exchanges @uclearlymodxcha.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Call for Chapters: Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies Deadline to submit: 12th April 2026 We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume examining how encounters through language and the senses shaped the production of evidence in the early modern period (c.1492–1700). www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...

ucl.ac.uk

Call for Chapters: Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies

Language, Sense, and Proof in the Early Modern World. Deadline for submissions: 12th April 2026.

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

I’ve written about the funniest mistake I’ve made in my PhD so far. I hope you enjoy! 🔗 in comment

Cover image for blog post entitled: catastrophically misreading Medieval Latin in the first year of my PhD. Cover image includes a picture of a Latin roll.

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

I’ve written a new blog post about privacy and historical sources. I’d love constructive feedback on this. As a whole, I’d rather learn any major faults in my writing and research now than during my final viva! 🔗 in bio + comment

Image of an early modern letter, overlaid with the title of a blog post.

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Ana Roda Sánchez @arodsan95.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

*Reposted CFP with alt text* III Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities: Moving and Being Moved London, 11-12 June 2026 Deadline abstract submissions: 31 January 2026 Looking forward to meeting everyone! 🤗🤗 #medievalsky #skystorians #medieval #earlymodern #callforpapers #history

Ill Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities in Europe: Moving and Being Moved

Call for Papers London, 11-12 June 2026

We are delighted to launch the Call for Papers for the III Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities in Europe, which will take place in London on 11-12 June 2026. After two successful editions, this year's Colloquium will focus on movements) within and accross late medieval and early modern cities (ca. 1300-1800). Topics to be addressed may include but are not limited to:

• Mobile people in urban centres, e.g. migrants, merchants, vagrants, enslaved people, minstrels, mendicants, and pilgrims.
• The exchange of goods and knowledge.
• Transitory urban events and performances that moved bodies and minds, including social uprisings, civic performances, dances and urban processions.
• Lack of 'movement: considerations of what it means to stay put and belong in a city or to be forced to remain in a city.

This is an interdisciplinary and international Colloquium which offers an opportunity for PhD students and early career scholars to share their research through 20-minute long presentations, and to receive feedback through constructive discussion. Established scholars will also be invited to present their research and methods and to contribute to discussion. There will also be opportunities for all participants to continue the conversation over coffee and lunch.

Interested applicants are encouraged to send an abstract of 200 words along with a short bio to Ana Roda Sánchez (Queen Mary University of London), Eliot Benbow (Institute of Historical Research) and Emma Olson (University of Cambridge) in colloquiumcities@gmail.com by 31 January 2026.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us. We look forward to receiving your proposals and learning about your research!

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Hypothetically, does anyone have any tips for shortlisting 30 abstracts from 156 submissions?

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Just over 2 weeks left to apply to the Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers conference! It will take place in Oxford on April 20-21, 2026. We hope to provide bursaries to help with attendance. Email your abstracts to bordersboundariesbarriers[at]gmail[dot]com #medievalsky #skystorians

Full plain text available at: https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/2025/06/24/cfp-borders-boundaries-and-barriers-real-and-imagined-in-the-middle-ages/

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

I’m co-organising a medieval conference next year in Oxford! Please take a look at the CfP and consider submitting an abstract, by the 15th of September, to bordersboundariesbarriers@gmail.com. We hope to be able to provide funding to help cover expenses of attendance. #medievalsky #skystorians

Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers have become increasingly prominent themes in historical scholarship. There is, therefore, a pressing need to examine how these
constructs have shaped the lived experiences of historically marginalised groups, as well as how they were
perceived, defined, and engaged with by those groups.
This conference seeks to reorient discussions around borders, boundaries, and barriers by foregrounding the
experiences and perspectives of marginalised groups and considering how these divisions were perceived from
the peripheries of societies. Rather than treating these concepts as abstract or solely geopolitical, we will explore
the ways in which they have operated — both historically and historiographically — as tools of exclusion and
differentiation.
Organised by Natasha Jenman (University of Oxford), Naomi Reiter (QMUL), and Dean A. Irwin (University
of Lincoln/OCHJS), the conference will focus on individuals, religious groups, social groups, societal
constructions, and natural phenomena. Participants are invited to explore the role played by evolving borders,
boundaries, and barriers in the medieval world as part of group identities; and how groups used them to their
advantage. Likewise, it will consider the extent to which borders, boundaries and barriers have been imposed
upon the medieval world by modern scholars. Possible topics for consideration include:
• Legal jurisdictions
• The natural and the supernatural worlds
• Socio-economic strata
• Ritual and religion
• Space, time, and the environment
• Gender and sexuality
• Disability
• Transgression, delinquency,
and the grey middle space
This conference adopts a broad chronological and geographical approach with submissions from all
historically-related disciplines being welcome. The conference will take place on 20 and 21 April 2026 in
Oxford. To submit, please send a title, abstract (c. 250 words), and a bio (c. 100 words) to:
bordersboundariesbarriers@gmail.com.

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Reposted by Naomi

Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Just over a month left to submit an abstract to the Borders, Boundaries and Barriers conference happening in Oxford next year! We hope to provide funding to help cover the cost of attending. #medievalsky #skystorians

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Some personal news, my grandma passed away in July. I’ve written a piece to remember her. It explores my family’s relationship to education and Judaism across generations through the lens of my grandma, her grandmother, and I. I hope it can resonate with others going through loss. 🔗 in bio/comments

Quote from my piece reading,
‘I asked her, knowing that she would be dead soon, if she had any grand life advice to offer. This was a clumsy thing to do yet I was conscious that this was now-or-never. She was my last living grandparent; I would never have another opportunity to receive wisdom as situations arose.
Her advice was, ‘never give birth at Kaplan hospital.’’

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

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Ana Roda Sánchez @arodsan95.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

New Call for Papers for more sessions on premodern race & racialisation at #IMC2026!! @medievalgeorgie.bsky.social and I are looking forward to receiving your proposals 🙂 If you have any questions, please do reach out! @imc-leeds.bsky.social #premoderncriticalracestudies #medievalsky #skystorians

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Nick Munn @medievalmunn.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

CfP for Leeds IMC 2026 on Premodern Masculinities. Do join 😊 #skystorians #medieval #masculinities #genderstudies #imc2026 @imc-leeds.bsky.social

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

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Borders, Boundaries, Barriers Conference @bordersboundaries.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Now just under two months to get your abstracts in for Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers: Real and Imagined in the Middle Ages. Do get your thinking caps on because we've already received some great abstracts and are look forward to reading everybody's proposals in September!

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

I’m organising a history conference. People who’ve been to academic conferences or want to go to one, is there anything you’ve noticed is good to include or you wish conferences would include? Please lmk

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

I’ve written a new piece on frum identity and privilege within academia! Let me know what you think. Linked in the comment & bio

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Looking back at my camera roll to see all the archival material I spent time looking at but never cited. Still a pleasure to be able to view these pieces of history!

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

#Skystorians from all my archive visits so far, this is my favourite handwriting. It’s not overly complicated but a joy to read. I’d love to see other people’s favourite archive handwriting

Ms Gg.04.13 at Cambridge university library. A 17th century English monograph

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

#Skystorians from all my archive visits so far, this is my favourite handwriting. It’s not overly complicated but a joy to read. I’d love to see other people’s favourite archive handwriting

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I’ve recently set up a substack where I discuss history, Judaism, and more at greater length. Feel free to have a look if you’re interested! open.substack.com/pub/earlymus...

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I was locked out of this account for a while but now I’m back!

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Great examples of the history of tensions between the universities and the cities they were located in at the current BL exhibition

Book in British Library exhibition on medieval women

Description of book in British library exhibition on medieval women. During the 1381 peasants revolt, the people of Cambridge were motivated to unrest by the privileges of the University. As part of the protest against the university, Margaret Starre scattered the ashes of documents while yelling ‘away with the learning of clerks!’

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 09/08/2024

How should I spend my 1 month break between MA thesis submission and PhD starting?

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Naomi @naominar.bsky.social · 16/11/2023

I’m trying to find secondary reading sources on the shulchan aruch/שלחן ערוך to write about it in the wider context of early modern intellectual and printing press progress. Can anyone recommend anything?

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