IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 1705: Shifting Animal Meanings, II: Shifting Shapes and Symbolism
Thursday 9 July 2026, 14:15-15:45
| Sponsor: | Medieval Animal Data-Network (MAD) |
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| Organisers: | Alice M. Choyke, Department of Historical Studies / Cultural Heritage Program, Central European University, Budapest/Wien Kaila Yankelevich, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol |
| Moderator/Chair: | Diane Heath, Research & Public History Department, Science Museum |
| Paper 1705-a | The Animal That Was Sent by God to Save the Israelites: On the Abrahamic Religions and Their Rivalry (Language: English) Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative |
| Paper 1705-b | Moving from Animal to Metaphor: Tracking the Ecological Realities of the Old English 'Beasts of Battle' (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities |
| Paper 1705-c | Travelling Tales, Travelling Tails: Multimodal Animal Transformations in European Versions of Kalila wa Dimna (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - Comparative, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Printing History |
| Abstract | Medieval history teems with animals, creatures both mundane and fantastic. None of these species are fixed. They 'travel': between geographies, minds, professions, cultures, and temporalities. Between these varied contexts, a given animal’s (imagined) appearance, behaviour, and meaning often differs. This panel seeks to assess these processes of differing and shed light on how these forms of movement render the idea of what it means to be a particular kind of animal flexible. How did different cultures make meaning with (or about) particular animals? And how did animals themselves move - physically, imaginatively, and temporally - across the medieval world? |