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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 118: New Directions in the Study of Women Religious, I: Old Nuns, New Narratives

Monday 6 July 2015, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies (JMMS) / History of Women Religious of Britain & Ireland Network (H-WBRI)
Organisers:Kimm Curran, History Lab+, Institute of Historical Research, University of London
Kirsty Day, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair:Kimm Curran, History Lab+, Institute of Historical Research, University of London
Paper 118-aGoing Back to the Start: Creating Inclusive Histories of the Early Franciscan Order
(Language: English)
Kirsty Day, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 118-bModern and Contemporary Historiography within the Orders: Friars and Nuns on Medieval Iberian Clarissan Convents
(Language: English)
Araceli Rosillo-Luque, Departament d'Història Medieval, Paleografia i Diplomàtica, Universitat de Barcelona
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Paper 118-c'Hearing is Believing' Revisited: Female Monastic Church Space and Sound
(Language: English)
Michaela Zöschg, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
Index terms: Art History - General, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies
Abstract

Many of the received narratives in scholarship on the female components of the medieval religious orders are incredibly problematic. Some evaluate the evidence produced by and on nuns in relation to androcentric scholarly norms instead of on their own terms, others are naïve to what is emphasised and concealed in the scholarly narratives on which they build, others still portray very narrow views of the lived experiences of medieval nuns. This interdisciplinary session brings together scholars from the UK and Spain to propose new historical and art historical narratives that illuminate, rather than limit, our understanding of medieval nuns.