IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 713: Lesbian Epistemologies and Their Conceptual Borders, I

Organiser:	Diane Watt, School of Literature & Languages, University of Surrey
Moderator/Chair:	Roberta Magnani, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Research (MEMO), Swansea University
Paper 713-a	Women Who Love Women: Kitty Lips and Convents (Language: English) Bonnie Grahame-Betts, School of Literature & Languages University of Surrey Index terms: Gender Studies, Sexuality
Paper 713-b	Lesbian Orientations: Saints, Desires, Users (Language: English) David Carrillo-Rangel, Institut de Recerca de Cultures Medievals (IRCVM), Universitat de Barcelona Index terms: Gender Studies, Sexuality
Paper 713-c	Hildegard's Homoerotic Vision of the Female Body (Language: English) Hannah Victoria Johnson, UFR Littérature Française et Comparée Sorbonne Université Paris Index terms: Gender Studies, Sexuality
Abstract	This panel wishes to establish the urgency of 'lesbian historiographies', as they offer generative ways of extricating medieval studies from binary paradigms which define the canon as a genealogy between white cis men. As a non-binary epistemology, its conceptual tenets are broadly shared with queer, trans* theories, critical race studies, and crip theory. The panellists are invited to reflect on the epistemological borders between these discrete yet cognate frameworks and embodied experiences. How do we account for the complex identities represented in medieval sources when these identities refuse to be confined to an essentialist binary? How can lesbian historiography assist?