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IMC 2024: Sessions

Session 623: Critical Border Studies, II: Crises of Identity on British and French Borders

Tuesday 2 July 2024, 11:15-12:45

Sponsor:Medieval March of Wales Project (MOWLIT), Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Organiser:Helen Fulton, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Moderator/Chair:Helen Fulton, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Paper 623-aRe-Animating the Past: Manuscript Production in 12th-Century Durham
(Language: English)
Dana Weaver, School of History, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval and Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 623-b'The far and barbarous Hielandis': Scotland's Enemy Within
(Language: English)
Kate McClune, Department of English, University of Bristol
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English and Social History
Paper 623-cMedieval Lives on Linguistic Borders: Communication Management on the French-Dutch Language Border
(Language: English)
Ad Putter, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Index terms: Language and Literature - Dutch, Language and Literature - French or Occitan and Social History
Abstract

This is the second of four sessions exploring the role that borders play in managing or inciting crisis, whether political, social, linguistic or emotional. The imposition of geographical and political borders, inevitably by national or imperial authority, creates crises of identity for people living in those border regions. Each of the papers in this session explores the effects of border living as expressed through written documents. The first paper looks at a border which is geographical and cultural rather than national, namely the border between the Lowlands and Highlands of medieval Scotland and how it was perceived by people on both sides. The second paper considers Welsh identity in the context of French culture, using the evidence of the Welsh Charlemagne tales to analyse linguistic difference. The third paper looks at similar issues on the French-Dutch linguistic borderlands, focusing on how communication was facilitated and the importance of bilingualism and professional interpreters.