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IMC 2003: Sessions

Session 1324: Power in the World Upside Down

Wednesday 16 July 2003, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:Misericordia International
Organiser:Elaine C. Block, Misericordia International, Paris
Moderator/Chair:Frédéric Billiet, UFR Musicologie, Université Paris IV - Sorbonne
Paper 1324-aAnimal Power in the Topsy Turvy World
(Language: English)
Elaine C. Block, Misericordia International, Paris
Paper 1324-bWearing the Trousers (or Not): Gender and Authority on Medieval Choir Stalls
(Language: English)
Paul Hardwick, Department of English, Leeds Trinity University
Paper 1324-cImages of Power on a Set of 15th-Century Beams from Dijon
(Language: English)
Naomi Kline, Department of Art History, Plymouth State College, New Hampshire
Abstract

The misericords on choir stalls are generally considered the proper place to depict the world upside down. One of the factors that changes places with the created world is the role of power. Animals change places with their masters, women with men, children with their parents. Similar motifs are sometimes presented elsewhere, but usually in places difficult to see, such as ceiling beams and facades of cathedrals. This session on power in the world upside down will explore some of the ways power changes hands in these images.