IONA is a professional organization of early medieval scholars whose work extends from the islands of the North Atlantic; however, we do not perceive our field to be limited by periodization or by place. IONA seeks to develop knowledge, networks, and skills that will not only reinvigorate and rethink early medieval studies but also denationalize and decolonize the field.
The next IONA conference is scheduled for November 2021 and will be held in London. It will be co-organised and co-hosted by Josh Davies and Clare Lees. More information about the conference will be circulated via this list and on the website IONAassociation.org nearer the time.
Currently IONA is run by an interim standing committee and a local organising committee: Donna Beth Ellard, Georgia Henley, Matt Hussey and Mary Rambaran-Olm, along with Clare and Josh as the hosts of the next conference. We are all committed to IONA as an open, inclusive, non-hierarchical, anti-racist and cooperative organisation.
The current committees recognise that there needs to be an open and ongoing conversation about IONA’s future. Many ideas have already been suggested to us informally and have shaped our thinking. We want to be clear that we understand this to be a process of collective building. We want this to be as transparent and collaborative as possible.
As we see it the key issues are as follows:
define the number and membership of a steering committee;
come up with policies and procedures that instructs how steering committee nominations/elections will take place;
draft inclusivity policy and harassment policy;
establish an open and clear means of communication (maybe through the website or just old fashioned email) for IONA folks to contribute, suggest, critique, question;
decide whether IONA will continue as just a conference or if it has different ambitions.
Several of these are being taken up, however in order to facilitate open discussions regarding IONA’s future, we will be hosting informal meetings at Kalamazoo 2020 and ACLA 2021. Details of the meetings will be circulated via this email list and posted at IONAassociation.org. All who are interested in IONA’s future are welcome to attend and share their thoughts. We are also organising a roundtable discussion at the Middle Ages in the Modern World conference that will be held in London in July 2020. We have included a CFP below. If you are not able to attend any of the meetings, there are contact details available on the IONA website to allow you to contribute to the discussion.
CFP: The Middle Ages in the Modern World, London, 2-4 July 2020
Early medieval studies in the modern world: Looking forward to IONA 2021
IONA: Seafaring is a three-day international conference on the islands of the North Atlantic that brings together scholars, artists and others to imagine cooperative, interdisciplinary futures for the study of North Atlantic archipelagos during the early medieval period. It is driven by a capacious understanding of both time and place and a commitment to experiment, inclusion and exchange. Following meetings in Denver in 2016 and Vancouver in 2019, the third meeting of the IONA Association will take place in London in November 2021.
This roundtable discussion will be an opportunity for members of the interim steering committee and others to look forward to the London meeting and beyond, and discuss what the disciplines potentially represented by IONA need and want from the conference and association.
If you would like to join the roundtable please email Josh Davies (joshua.davies@kcl.ac.uk) to reserve a place by Friday 20 December 2019