IMC 2014: Sessions
Session 937: Neuroscience and the Middle Ages: A Round Table Discussion
Tuesday 8 July 2014, 19.00-20.00
| Sponsor: | Cognitive Medievalisms Network |
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| Organiser: | Victoria Blud, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York |
| Moderator/Chair: | Clare Wright, School of English, University of Kent |
| Abstract | Over the past fifteen years or so, there has been a steadily growing rapprochement between the fields of neuroscience and literature (as well as the humanities more generally). In as much as both fields concern themselves with their subjects' interpretation of the world around them - and what it is that makes someone 'human' - they tap into a common endeavour whose points of intersection are eminently attractive to the interdisciplinary scholar. This session brings together scholars working on medieval studies and cognitive topics including emotion, devotion, and kinaesthesia in performance. It will consider recent work (from scholars such as Jill Stevenson and Antonina Harbus) and the kinds of symbiotic links being made between the two disciplines, and ask how such a task might be set about productively for medieval studies. Participants include Victoria Blud (University of York), Sarah James (University of Kent), Deborah Thorpe (University of York), and Jane-Héloïse Nancarrow (University of York). |