This critical essay accompanies and describes my thesis project, Medievalia Miscellany, a magazine for middle-grade readers which explores the world of medieval fantasy through art, comics, stories, and activities. Throughout the essay, I use my own term “archaeological upcycling” to discuss and explore a variety of relationships between ideas of parts and a whole. I then use it to characterize the way stories are created out of many different parts and how these parts help a reader to relate to both the world of the story and the world in which they live. I describe the genre of medieval fantasy and how the cultural concept of medievalism is formed through popular media. Throughout the essay, the imagery of curiosity cabinets is evoked as a way of describing modular formats which provide space for the individual while maintaining a cohesive sense of the whole. I describe and summarize research into the contemporary renaissance faire, using both it and personal experience to critique and examine interactions with imaginary worlds created through stories which have real world outcomes. Finally, I describe examples from my project that relate to the themes of interactive stories, identity and community, and the cross-section of history and fiction present throughout the essay.
","abstract_html":"<p>This critical essay accompanies and describes my thesis project, Medievalia Miscellany, a magazine for middle-grade readers which explores the world of medieval fantasy through art, comics, stories, and activities. Throughout the essay, I use my own term “archaeological upcycling” to discuss and explore a variety of relationships between ideas of parts and a whole. I then use it to characterize the way stories are created out of many different parts and how these parts help a reader to relate to both the world of the story and the world in which they live. I describe the genre of medieval fantasy and how the cultural concept of medievalism is formed through popular media. Throughout the essay, the imagery of curiosity cabinets is evoked as a way of describing modular formats which provide space for the individual while maintaining a cohesive sense of the whole. I describe and summarize research into the contemporary renaissance faire, using both it and personal experience to critique and examine interactions with imaginary worlds created through stories which have real world outcomes. Finally, I describe examples from my project that relate to the themes of interactive stories, identity and community, and the cross-section of history and fiction present throughout the essay.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Greene, Amanda"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Graduate School of Art","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05-19T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-05-19T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z","subjects":["medievalism","interaction design","magazine","illustration","secondary worlds","narrative","upcycling","visual culture","children's literature","curiosity cabinet","Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture","Art and Design","Book and Paper","Children's and Young Adult Literature","European History","Fiction","Literature in English, British Isles","Medieval History","Medieval Studies","Performance Studies","Renaissance Studies"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/daw6-gy74"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.7936/daw6-gy74","href":"https://doi.org/10.7936/daw6-gy74","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/9","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Greene, Amanda"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-05-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate School of Art"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["medievalism","interaction design","magazine","illustration","secondary worlds","narrative","upcycling","visual culture","children's literature","curiosity cabinet","Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture","Art and Design","Book and Paper","Children's and Young Adult Literature","European History","Fiction","Literature in English, British Isles","Medieval History","Medieval Studies","Performance Studies","Renaissance Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/9"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/daw6-gy74"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This critical essay accompanies and describes my thesis project, Medievalia Miscellany, a magazine for middle-grade readers which explores the world of medieval fantasy through art, comics, stories, and activities. Throughout the essay, I use my own term “archaeological upcycling” to discuss and explore a variety of relationships between ideas of parts and a whole. I then use it to characterize the way stories are created out of many different parts and how these parts help a reader to relate to both the world of the story and the world in which they live. I describe the genre of medieval fantasy and how the cultural concept of medievalism is formed through popular media. Throughout the essay, the imagery of curiosity cabinets is evoked as a way of describing modular formats which provide space for the individual while maintaining a cohesive sense of the whole. I describe and summarize research into the contemporary renaissance faire, using both it and personal experience to critique and examine interactions with imaginary worlds created through stories which have real world outcomes. Finally, I describe examples from my project that relate to the themes of interactive stories, identity and community, and the cross-section of history and fiction present throughout the essay.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Meet Me in the Middle Ages: Engaging with fantasy, reality, and collaborative world-building"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Greene, Amanda"],"dc:date.available":["2022-05-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This critical essay accompanies and describes my thesis project, Medievalia Miscellany, a magazine for middle-grade readers which explores the world of medieval fantasy through art, comics, stories, and activities. Throughout the essay, I use my own term “archaeological upcycling” to discuss and explore a variety of relationships between ideas of parts and a whole. I then use it to characterize the way stories are created out of many different parts and how these parts help a reader to relate to both the world of the story and the world in which they live. I describe the genre of medieval fantasy and how the cultural concept of medievalism is formed through popular media. Throughout the essay, the imagery of curiosity cabinets is evoked as a way of describing modular formats which provide space for the individual while maintaining a cohesive sense of the whole. I describe and summarize research into the contemporary renaissance faire, using both it and personal experience to critique and examine interactions with imaginary worlds created through stories which have real world outcomes. Finally, I describe examples from my project that relate to the themes of interactive stories, identity and community, and the cross-section of history and fiction present throughout the essay.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/9"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.7936/daw6-gy74"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["medievalism","interaction design","magazine","illustration","secondary worlds","narrative","upcycling","visual culture","children's literature","curiosity cabinet","Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture","Art and Design","Book and Paper","Children's and Young Adult Literature","European History","Fiction","Literature in English, British Isles","Medieval History","Medieval Studies","Performance Studies","Renaissance Studies"],"dc:title":["Meet Me in the Middle Ages: Engaging with fantasy, reality, and collaborative world-building"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate School of Art"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z"}