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IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1209: How to Be Trans in the Middle Ages

Wednesday 7 July 2021, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Society for the Study of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages
Organiser:Blake Gutt, Department of French, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:Blake Gutt, Department of French, University of Cambridge
Paper 1209-aChaotic Pronouns: Cœur d'Acier in Perceforest as Non-Binary
(Language: English)
Brooke Heidenreich Findley, Department of French, Pennsylvania State University, Altoona
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - French or Occitan
Paper 1209-bMaterialising Gender in Medieval Icelandic Texts
(Language: English)
Lee Colwill, Faculty of Icelandic & Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavík
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Scandinavian
Paper 1209-cNon-Binary Identity in Late Antique Byzantine Theology
(Language: English)
Emma Brown Dewhurst, Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Gender Studies, Theology
Abstract

What precisely did being trans in the Middle Ages entail? How did trans-ness look and sound, how was it lived, felt, and perceived? Modern discussions of 'identifying as', of 'identified gender' and of 'preferred pronouns' seem to separate being from identifying (as). These conceptions, however, are giving way to affirmations of the selfsameness of being trans, and the recognition that trans people are their gender just as cis people are theirs. This panel explores what 'being' was like for medieval trans, genderqueer and gender non-conforming individuals, and how trans-ness was perceived and experienced in relation to notions of nature and instinct, authenticity and identity.