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IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 801: Anglo-Saxon Medical Studies: A Feminist Perspective

Tuesday 4 July 2017, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Rebecca Stephenson, School of English, Drama & Film, University College Dublin
Moderator/Chair:Megan Cavell, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford
Paper 801-aMy Other, My Self: Pregnancy and Maternity in the Anglo-Saxon Leechbooks
(Language: English)
Dana Oswald, Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Medicine
Paper 801-bWomen and 'Women's Medicine' in Anglo-Saxon England: From Text to Practice
(Language: English)
Christine Voth, Seminar für Englische Philologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Medicine
Paper 801-c'An man ϸe sy mægðhades man, cnapa oϸϸe mægden': Configuring Virginity in Old English Medicine
(Language: English)
Rebecca Stephenson, School of English, Drama & Film, University College Dublin
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Medicine
Abstract

Allegations of misogyny and sexual harassment against prominent members of our field in January 2016 caused a firestorm on social media and came as a shock to many Anglo-Saxonists. Under the leadership of ISAS and the Old English Division of the MLA, as well as grassroots efforts, such as a new mentoring program for Anglo-Saxonists, by Kalamazoo 2016 what had been a demoralizing time has been transformed into a watershed moment. Our positive, productive contribution to this ongoing conversation has been to propose a new volume of essays that takes feminist approaches to Anglo-Saxon culture, with both of those terms as broadly defined as possible. Our panel at Leeds will focus on the more limited topic of Anglo-Saxon medicine seeking to find the places where approaches sensitive to gender can open up new avenues of inquiry.