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IMC 2003: Sessions

Session 1209: Negotiating the Political: The Values and Meanings of Cultural Objects in Three Late Medieval English Towns

Wednesday 16 July 2003, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Canterbury Centre for Medieval & Tudor Studies, University of Kent
Organiser:Sheila Sweetinburgh, Canterbury Centre for Medieval & Early Modern, University of Kent
Moderator/Chair:Andrew F. Butcher, Aberystwyth University
Paper 1209-aThe Politics of Value in Late Medieval New Romney
(Language: English)
Lynne Bowdon, University of Wales
Index terms: Anthropology, Local History, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1209-bView from the Fringes: One Man's Reflections on Life and Status in 15th-Century Bury St Edmunds
(Language: English)
Mark L. Merry, History Data Service, University of Essex. Colchester
Index terms: Anthropology, Local History, Mentalities, Social History
Paper 1209-c'Given of the People's Devotion': The Contested Meanings of Dover's Great Candle in 1536
(Language: English)
Sheila Sweetinburgh, Canterbury Centre for Medieval & Early Modern, University of Kent
Index terms: Anthropology, Local History, Mentalities, Social History
Abstract

Individuals and groups seek to construct, negotiate, maintain or disrupt social relations by means of cultural objects. Consequently, value and meaning become areas of contestation where objects, scenes and performances are read by participants and others. Using analysis derived from anthropological theory, the session examines: concepts of value in small town judicial cases; the attempt of a wealthy immigrant to negotiate a position for his family among the town elite through his burial arrangements; and the meanings of a corporate votive offering at a time of social, religious and political change.