IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 1210: Bodily Dimensions: Sensual and Supernatural Borders, III
Wednesday 8 July 2020, 14.15-15.45
| Organiser: | Jack Ford, Department of History, University College London |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Calum Cockburn, Department of English Language & Literature University College London |
| Paper 1210-a | Planet Man and the Cursed Imagination: Medical and Magical Diagrams of Humans and the Cosmos (Language: English) Index terms: Medicine, Science |
| Paper 1210-b | A Combat of Supernatural Powers: The Sacred, the Diabolical - Demoniac's Body in Their Making (Language: English) Index terms: Religious Life, Theology |
| Paper 1210-c | Sleight of Hand and Dangerous Stunts: Approaches to the History of Illusionist Magic (Language: English) Index terms: Performance Arts - General, Technology |
| Abstract | The medieval body was not only characterised by its borders but by its permeability to magical and supernatural forces. Through reference to diagrams, canonisation inquests, and recipe collections, the papers here problematise the nature of the natural, supernatural, and magical boundaries of human experience. Whether in the case of 'Microcosmic Man' and 'Planet Man' diagrams, demonic possession, or sleight of hand magic tricks, the intersection between the body, the natural, and supernatural world(s) possessed a socio-cultural function: these sources asked wider questions about man's role in the cosmos, the criteria for sainthood, and the role of 'magic' in medieval entertainment. |