Literary Studies Grad to Speak at Major Gathering of Medievalists

James A. Rodriguez, a 2005 summa cum laude graduate in literary studies from the UT Dallas School of Arts & Humanities, will deliver a lecture May 10 at the 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Western Michigan University.

Rodriguez completed his master’s of art degree in art history at The University of Texas at Austin in 2007. He specializes in the art and culture of the Middle Ages, specifically in regions of the Eastern Mediterranean from the 11th to 14th centuries. In the fall, he will begin work on his doctorate Yale University’s art history department.

The lecture, “From Virgin Martyr to Warrior Saint: Shifting Conceptions of St. Marina of Antioch during the Middle Ages,” traces the development of a Byzantine saint, Saint Marina of Antioch, from her modest beginnings in the 9th century, to her widespread and often overlooked emergence as a warrior saint at the time of the Crusades in the 13th century.

The Congress on Medieval Studies is an annual gathering of more than 3,000 scholars interested in Medieval Studies. It features more than 600 sessions of papers, panel discussions, roundtables, workshops and performances.