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IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 1124: Ecocritical Outlaws in Middle English Literature

Wednesday 6 July 2016, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:International Association for Robin Hood Studies (IARHS)
Organiser:Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Northern Colorado
Moderator/Chair:Lesley Coote, Andrew Marvell Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Hull
Paper 1124-aEcomedieval Justice in Robin and Gandelyn and The Tale of Gamelyn
(Language: English)
Valerie B. Johnson, Department of English, University of Maryland, College Park
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Middle English, Law, Science
Paper 1124-bRobin Hood as Wolf: Feast or Famine in A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode?
(Language: English)
Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, Department of English Language & Literature, University of Northern Colorado
Index terms: Daily Life, Economics - Rural, Language and Literature - Middle English, Science
Paper 1124-cConspicuous Consumption, Masculinity, and Nihilism in the Outlaw Feasts of the Late Medieval Greenwood
(Language: English)
Sarah Harlan-Haughey, Department of English, University of Maine
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English, Philosophy
Abstract

This panel seeks to initiate conversations about ecocritical issues connected to issues of food (production, consumption, etc.) in Middle English outlaw tales. Given the liminal spaces which these tales occupy, as well as their frequent movements from greenwood into urban spaces, these tales are rich for ecological study. What do these stories reveal about medieval forest practices or perspectives towards animals (particularly in regard to forests and animals as food sources)? To what extent do these tales critique medieval ecological beliefs or offer alternative perspectives (that is, do they reveal a plurality of attitudes towards nature co-existing during the medieval period)?