IMC 2024: Sessions
Session 1021: Crisis as Catalyst, I: Queenship in Crisis, I - Collaborative Responses
Wednesday 3 July 2024, 09:00-10:30
| Sponsor: | Royal Studies Network |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Zita Rohr, Department of History & Archaeology, Macquarie University, Sydney |
| Moderator/Chair: | Elena Woodacre, School of History, Archaeology & Philosophy, University of Winchester |
| Paper 1021-a | In the Face of Adversity: English Queens' Responses to Crisis in the Late 13th Century (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - General, Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy and Women's Studies |
| Paper 1021-b | A Crisis of Friendship and Power: Queen Margareta, Abbess Ingegerd, and a Conflict in Vadstena Abbey, 1399-1403 (Language: English) Index terms: Economics - General, Gender Studies, Religious Life and Women's Studies |
| Paper 1021-c | Crusading Crisis and Female Succession to Rulership in France during the 12th and 13th Centuries (Language: English) Index terms: Crusades, Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy and Women's Studies |
| Abstract | In the popular culture of the West, the Chinese word for 'crisis' has misconstrued the two Chinese characters 危机 (wēijī or wéijī) to mean danger and opportunity. This misperception has been popularized since the late 1930s but gained increased currency with J. F. Kennedy's repetition of the trope during his election campaign stump speeches of 1959-60. While the first character wēi does indeed mean danger or precariousness, the second Chinese character jī is polysemous and therefore far more enigmatic than mere 'opportunity' - it is something more like 'change point'. The five interlocking sessions sponsored by the Royal Studies Network will explore 'dangers' afforded by crises as well as the decisive 'change points', catalysts and stimulants they embodied. This first paper session in our series of 'Crisis as Catalyst' explores the collaborative responses of queens and other elite women such as abbesses and noblewomen devised when confronted with dangers and change points. Some of which did indeed open doors of opportunity. |