Abstracts in Presentation Order
Jaclyn Carter, "Reading and Teaching Early England: Opportunities for Renewal"
In The Devil’s Historians, Amy S. Kaufman and Paul B. Sturtevant argue that “[a]ristocratic hierarchy, geographical determinism, and religious beliefs all combined in the Middle Ages to create a way of thinking about cultures and bodies that was certainly a preview, if not an absolute equivalent, of modern racism” (100). Similarly, Geraldine Heng, in The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages, suggests that religion “could function both socioculturally and biopolitically,” and that groups could be subjected to “a political theology that could biologize, define, and essentialize an entire community as fundamentally and absolutely different in an interknotted cluster of ways” (3). My doctoral work, in part, explores how racism and related concepts connected to the Global Middle Ages appears in early English literature. Using Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People as a case study, this presentation will weave three conversations from my dissertation together as it seeks to underscore the critical importance of ongoing study of the medieval past: 1) recent crises in the field of Medieval Studies, 2) how these crises have re-shaped my doctoral research, and 3) pedagogical opportunities that result from reading this period anew.
Arwen Thysse 陳藹文, "The Otherness of Being: A Discussion of Scholarly Approaches to Mixed-Race Individuals in Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss"
Half-trolls, half-giants, and other mixed-race characters can be found scattered throughout the saga corpus and occasionally appear in discussions of otherness and alterity in the scholarship of medieval Scandinavia. This is not least because such mixed beings represent the output of a living breathing encounter—real or imagined—between Norse “selves” and those they deemed “other.” As such, stories about mixed-race individuals have served as case studies for understanding Norse perceptions of their own compatibility with otherness and the limitations of the relationship between the two.
This paper explores how scholars of medieval Scandinavia have approached mixed-race individuals through an examination of Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss and its scholarship. I suggest that an underlying assumption that mixed-race identities and experiences are fraught and under constant tension may have coloured the way in which the sagas have been read, resulting in an overemphasis on such characters as individuals bearing fragmented identities and a precarious, or even incompatible, relationship with their ancestral communities. This paper argues that we must be wary of applying such interpretations too generally, as the sagas present a more complicated picture of the possibilities for mixed-race existences than narratives of fragmentation and immutable otherness allow.
Dr. Alaric Hall, "The Medievalism of Anne McCaffrey's Fantasy Fiction, and Old Irish at Harvard"
From 1968, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern novels were at the forefront of a new wave of American Fantasy writing which came prominence in the wake of the commercial success of the 1965 paperback publication of The Lord of the Rings. Past work has not appreciated the degree to which McCaffrey’s Fantasy medievalism was rooted in the Old Irish literature she studied while at Radcliffe College (effectively Harvard University) in 1944–47. Studying with the great Celticist Kenneth Jackson gave McCaffrey a perspective on the Middle Ages quite different from J. R. R. Tolkien’s infamous perception that “Celtic things [...] have bright colour, but are like a broken stained glass window reassembled without design,” and helped her find a path to writing (proto-eco-) feminist medievalist Fantasy that has gone on to influence the genre, and consequently popular medievalism, to the present day.
Dr. Alexander Marcus, "Dangers in Pairs: Binary Vulnerability and the Babylonian Rabbinic Response"
This presentation explores the ‘rabbinization’ of Sasanian-era medical and ritual lore within rabbinic Jewish communities of Mesopotamia between the third and seventh centuries CE. I analyze how the Babylonian Talmud addresses the widespread regional fear that actions performed in even numbers invite demonic attack. Utilizing the four-cup ritual of the Passover Seder as a rhetorical pivot, the Babylonian rabbis interrogate the risks of specific activities done in pairs. By subjecting these invisible dangers to the rigours of legal debate and status-based exemptions—most notably the principle that ‘an important man’ is uniquely sensitive to such harm—the rabbis of Sasanian Mesopotamia transformed a pervasive anxiety into a discursive tool. In doing so, they asserted rabbinic mastery over their natural, supernatural, and social landscape.
Tulika Singh, "Dwarf Body: The Significant 'Other' in Premodern Indic Cultures"
In the twenty-first century, adult human height below roughly 4 ft 10" (147 cm) is considered a pathological condition and a social disability, commonly termed as “short stature” and “dwarfism.” The premodern Hindu traditions likewise construe short stature as both a medical condition and a social disability. However, textual and visual records also suggest that a person with short stature may have had an exceptional status among non-normative and socially disabled bodies. In other words, dwarf bodies may both fit within and outside the set of physical features that characterize non-normative embodiments and their undesirable social connotations.
This paper will demonstrate how even though premodern Hindu traditions view dwarfism as an undesired condition, dwarf bodies are also desired for socio-religiously significant roles. For example, as a king’s attendant and secret agent in ordinary settings and as beneficial and harmful spirit being protectors in religious settings. Such diversity in dwarf depictions shows how early Indian authors and artists conveyed the different ways in which short stature can be both advantageous and disadvantageous for a dwarf body’s social status. And importantly, how authors and artists viewed depictions of bodies with short stature as a useful means to express and complicate the theoretical duality of normative and non-normative embodiments and their perceived desirability and undesirability in society.
Grace Nicoll, "Just Add Another Crown: The Deceptive Augmentation of the Medieval Papal Tiara"
Popes were active participants in the medieval debates concerning the temporal authority of the Church, and an essential component to their language of power was the wearing of imperial insignia. The papal tiara was one of the most iconic examples, with visual evidence for this headpiece increasing dramatically during the thirteenth century. In this object-driven study of papal power, this paper will use the evolving appearance of the tiara as a lens through which to understand the ambitions and impact of papal power with a focus on Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303).
Based on artistic evidence, the headpiece underwent significant design changes over the course of his pontificate. Initially containing one crown, the tiara was made taller with an added second diadem. This design change was a reflection of Boniface’s exalted view of the papacy, however his beliefs regarding papal supremacy were ill-suited in a world increasingly hostile to ecclesiastical interference in political matters. The pope’s temporal authority was declining despite his calculated use of spectacle, for even this double-crowned headpiece could not transform the pope into a figure respected by his political enemies. Thus notwithstanding the Bonifacian tiara’s grandiose design, the papacy had lost much of its temporal glory.
Dr. Brandon Alakas, "Redefining Sanctity in The Lyfe of Seynt Birgette"
In his explanation for adding The Lyfe of Seynt Birgette to the 1516 Kalendre of the Newe Legende of Englande, Richard Pynson draws his English readers’ attention to one exemplary aspect of the Swedish saint’s life—her pious widowhood. He describes Birgitta as
"a holy and blessyd wydowe, which lyfe is right expedient for euery maner of persone to loke vpon, moost in especiall for them that lyue in matrimony or in the estate of wydowhod, þat they may… be encouraged to desire to haue lyke grace and vertue." (The Kalendre of the Newe Legende of Englande (STC 4602), ff. 4r-v.)
The emphasis both Pynson and the anonymous Lyfe place on Birgitta’s role as wife, mother, and especially widow seems incongruous with the more common image of her as a prophetic visionary whose revelations express a profound zeal for religious and ecclesial reform.
In this paper, I will explore the emphasis placed on Birgitta’s status as a widow in Pynson’s anonymous Lyfe and argue that the saint’s widowhood is used both to define her and to mark a spiritual transition in her life. I will highlight how her widowhood is presented as the source of her rigorous devotion, visionary encounter, and spiritual authority. I will also explore the way it reflects implicit assumptions about a female saint’s moral qualities and sanctity. My discussion will thus examine how Birgitta’s widowhood, rather than her status as a visionary, is used in the text to promote her spiritual authority and legitimize her programme of religious reform.
Dr. James White, "Christina the Astonishing as Myroblyte: Preliminary Thoughts"
The Belgian beguine Christina the Astonishing (d. 1224) led a life that was, well, astonishing. Although never officially canonized, she was venerated locally for centuries. Her vita states that she was resurrected twice and took on the sufferings of Purgatory while still alive in order to bring her community closer to Christ; these actions included throwing herself into fires and icy rivers and launching herself off rooftops. At other times, however, Christina lived alone in the forest and fed herself via oily milk that dripped from her own virginal breasts. As a myroblyte, a figure whose body produced healing fluid, often in the form of breast milk or oils, she also fed others and healed them. In this preliminary analysis, I wish to combine modern medicine and medieval “on the ground” understandings of the body to understand this phenomenon of healing, oily, virginal breast milk.
Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson, "Threading the Needle: Teaching History in the Age of AI"
What if instead of veering between allowing students to outsource thought to AI or heavily policing its use, we empower them to ask the kinds of questions AI can't answer and to write intelligently and deeply in a way AI can't do?
In this talk, Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson, a sessional history instructor at MacEwan University, shares her experience crafting a new pedagogy that puts students in the driver’s seat while also holding them to high intellectual standards. By reverse engineering a course and allowing students to pursue their interests, Autumn argues that we can effectively circumvent the perceived need for quick and “correct” answers while simultaneously producing effective writers and readers.