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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 910: (Un)Bound Bodies: New Approaches - A Round Table Discussion

Tuesday 7 July 2020, 19.00-20.00

Organiser:Lauren Rozenberg, Department of History of Art, University College London
Moderator/Chair:Jack Ford, Department of History, University College London
Abstract

For decades, bodies have been a central framework for historical inquiries. No matter how much we try to distance ourselves from them, bodies remain at the centre and borders of scholarship. Medieval bodies were fluid and contradictory loci: bound and unbound, contained yet susceptible to a host of external physical and invisible forces. Bodily boundaries were paradoxically sharp, debated, and real, yet also fluid, permeable, and imaginary. This round table discussion seeks to investigate these 'real' and 'imaginary' borders of the body and to complicate and critique existing narratives of 'bound bodies'. It aims to embrace innovative and interdisciplinary approaches that push back, and go beyond, established methodologies.

Participants include Elma Brenner (University College London), Joanne Edge (University of Manchester), Jacqueline Jung (Yale University), and Lauren Rozenberg (University College London).