IMC 2013: Sessions

This year's special thematic strand on the somewhat surprising theme of medieval pleasure contributed almost half of the sessions of the Congress. This concluding discussion is intended to offer scholars from various disciplines within medieval studies the opportunity to reflect on the central questions related to the issues of pleasure, and to propose new paths that scholars might follow.

Issues to be addressed at the round table discussion include, but are not limited to:

• How have the presentations at the 2013 Congress built on recent scholarly trends, and what new trends have emerged at the Congress?

• What is new in the study of pleasure as reflected by the Congress?

• What gaps have been uncovered over the last four days that still need to be addressed to have a clear picture of the study of pleasure in the Middle Ages?

• What questions are scholars currently asking about religious, cultural, social, political, and economic backgrounds and occasions of pleasure in medieval societies, or the various ways of thinking, representing, and expressing pleasure, and links between the two?

• How has the study of the different research developed in recent years?

• What role did institutions and religion play in the understanding of pleasure in various societies and cultures of the Middle Ages?

• In what ways did forms of cultural production (secular and religious texts, visual representations, or other manifestations of art) serve to shape and reflect attitudes vis-à-vis different types of pleasure?

Participants of the round table discussion include Esther Cohen (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Philippa Maddern (University of Western Australia), William M. Reddy (Duke University), and Barbara H. Rosenwein (Loyola University Chicago).