IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 1707: Queer Community in the Middle Ages, III: Queer Textual Communities

Organiser:	Tim Wingard, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Moderator/Chair:	Tim Wingard, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 1707-a	I, Monster: Reading the Liber Monstrorum in the Carolingian Empire (Language: English) Michael Eber, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin Index terms: Gender Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Sexuality
Paper 1707-b	Homosocial Networks and the Discourses of Mystical Castration (Language: English) Jacqueline Murray, Department of History, University of Guelph, Ontario Robyn Jennings, College of Arts, University of Guelph, Ontario Index terms: Mentalities, Monasticism, Religious Life, Sexuality
Paper 1707-c	Power, Emotions, and Relationships: Beyond the Boundaries of Gender in Late Medieval Polish Hagiography (Language: English) Kalina Słaboszowska, Wydział Historii, Uniwersytet Warszawski Index terms: Gender Studies, Hagiography, Religious Life, Sexuality
Abstract	This session explores the creation of trans-historical 'virtual' communities of queer readers, focusing on the genres of hagiography and ethnography. It examines how these texts create a conceptual space in which normative ideas around gender and sexuality can be tested and transgressed, and which makes possible queer identifications between author, scribe, reader and literary subject. It ultimately argues for a model of medieval queer identity grounded in imagined connections through shared communities of readers.