IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 607: Slavery, Sexuality, and Society, II: Questions of Sex and Honour and the Enslavement of People
Tuesday 7 July 2026, 11:15-12:45
| Sponsor: | ERC DoSSE Project (101001429) |
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| Organiser: | Erin Thomas Dailey, School of History, Politics & International Relations, University of Leicester |
| Moderator/Chair: | Joanna Story, School of History, Politics & International Relations, University of Leicester |
| Paper 607-a | Sex and Service in Early Armenian Canonical Literature (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Sexuality, Social History, Women's Studies |
| Paper 607-b | Slavery, Sexual Temptation, and Ascetic Renunciation: The Companion Slaves of Hermits and the Vulnerability of Proximity (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Daily Life, Monasticism, Sexuality |
| Paper 607-c | Slavery and Lineage in the Correspondence of al-Nafs al-Zakiyya and al-Manṣūr (Language: English) Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Mentalities, Sexuality, Social History |
| Abstract | The enslavement of people occurred for many reasons, but one perhaps underappreciated motivation was sexual desire. Scholarship has begun to direct increasing attention to the profound sense of vulnerability that slaves felt at the hands of their owners. The personal aspects of this practice naturally call attention to the matter of agency (or lack thereof) for the individual. But wider social issues were also in play, including for slave owners, whose desire to sexually use and exploit others created certain anxieties within themselves. These papers explore the topic of sexual honour and its relationship with enslavement practices in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. |