Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Western Michigan University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Textiles, Gender, And Materiality: A Response, Bettina Bildhauer Nov 2020

Textiles, Gender, And Materiality: A Response, Bettina Bildhauer

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This response outlines the predominant current conceptions of gendered materiality in contemporary theory (such as Karen Barad’s development of Judith Butler’s thought) and in medieval studies (such as work by Caroline Walker Bynum). It identifies and expands upon four themes from the two articles in the section that are pertinent to the descriptions of textiles and other material objects in a wider range of medieval texts and current medievalist scholarship: 1) the idea that textiles and other material things can have biographies; 2) the idea that textiles are today (but not necessarily in medieval writing) perceived as connective networks; 3) …


Early Modern Britain’S Relationship To Its Past: The Historiographical Fortunes Of The Legends Of Brute, Albina, And Scota, Philip M. Robinson-Self Jan 2019

Early Modern Britain’S Relationship To Its Past: The Historiographical Fortunes Of The Legends Of Brute, Albina, And Scota, Philip M. Robinson-Self

Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

This volume considers the reception in the early modern period of four popular medieval myths of nationhood—the legends of Brutus, Albina, and Scota—tracing their intertwined literary and historiographical afterlives. The book is particularly timely in its dialogue with current investigations into early modern historiography and the period's relationship to its past, its engagement with pressing issues in identity and gender studies, and its analysis of British national origin stories at a time when modern Britain is considering its own future as a nation.


Inventing Modernity In Medieval European Thought Ca. 1100–Ca. 1550, Bettina Koch, Cary J. Nederman Dec 2018

Inventing Modernity In Medieval European Thought Ca. 1100–Ca. 1550, Bettina Koch, Cary J. Nederman

Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

One of the most challenging problems in the history of Western ideas stems from the emergence of Modernity out of the preceding period of the Latin Middle Ages. This volume develops and extends the insights of the noted scholar Thomas M. Izbicki into the so-called medieval/modern divide. The contributors include a wide array of eminent international scholars from the fields of History, Theology, Philosophy, and Political Science, all of whom explore how medieval ideas framed and shaped the thought of later centuries. This sometimes involved the evolution of intellectual principles associated with the definition and imposition of religious orthodoxy. Also …


Influences Of Pre-Christian Mythology And Christianity On Old Norse Poetry: A Narrative Study Of Vafþrúðnismál, Andrew E. Mcgillivray Sep 2018

Influences Of Pre-Christian Mythology And Christianity On Old Norse Poetry: A Narrative Study Of Vafþrúðnismál, Andrew E. Mcgillivray

Northern Medieval World

In this study, McGillivray explores the cultural environment in which the Eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál was composed and re-examines the relationship between form and content in the poem and the respective influences of pre-Christian beliefs and Christian religion on the text. The poem has a dual aspect, acting as a poetic framework and functioning as a sacred story. It serves both as a representation of early pagan beliefs or myths and also as a myth itself, relating the journey of the Norse god Óðinn to the hall of the ancient and wise giant Vafþrúðnir, where Óðinn craftily engages his adversary in …


Tmg 4 (2018): Seals--Making And Marking Connections Across The Medieval World, Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak Jan 2018

Tmg 4 (2018): Seals--Making And Marking Connections Across The Medieval World, Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak

The Medieval Globe Books

This book is a publication of Arc Humanities Press and is available on ProjectMUSE. After March 31, 2022, this title will no longer be available on ScholarWorks at WMU.

Extensive geographic coverage, including China, South East Asia, Arabia, Sasanian Persia, the Muslim Empire, the Byzantine empire, and Western Europe allows the essays gathered in this volume to offer a well differentiated examination of seals and sealing practices between 400 and 1500 CE. Contributors expose rather than assume the inter-subjective, transnational, and transcultural connectivity at work within the varied processes mediated by seals and sealing – representation, authorization, identification, and …


Deadly Hostility: Feud, Violence, And Power In Early Anglo-Saxon England, David Ditucci Jun 2017

Deadly Hostility: Feud, Violence, And Power In Early Anglo-Saxon England, David Ditucci

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the existence and political relevance of feud in Anglo-Saxon England from the fifth century migration to the opening of the Viking Age in 793. The central argument is that feud was a method that Anglo-Saxons used to understand and settle conflict, and that it was a tool kings used to enhance their power. The first part of this study examines the use of fæhð in Old English documents, including laws and Beowulf, to demonstrate that fæhð referred to feuds between parties marked by reciprocal acts of retaliation. This assertion is in opposition to Guy Halsall’s argument that …


Towards A Connected History Of Equine Cultures In South Asia: Bahrī (Sea) Horses And “Horsemania” In Thirteenth-Century South India, Elizabeth Lambourn Dec 2015

Towards A Connected History Of Equine Cultures In South Asia: Bahrī (Sea) Horses And “Horsemania” In Thirteenth-Century South India, Elizabeth Lambourn

The Medieval Globe

This article explores ways that the concept of equine cultures, developed thus far principally in European and/or early modern and colonial contexts, might translate to premodern South Asia. As a first contribution to a history of equine matters in South Asia, it focuses on the maritime circulation of horses from the Middle East to Peninsular India in the thirteenth century, examining the different ways that this phenomenon is recorded in textual and material sources and exploring their potential for writing a new, more connected history of South Asia and the Indian Ocean world.


Power Relations At The Cistercian Abbey Of St. Mary At Rushen: With Special Interest In Connections At Furness And Influence Through The Kingdom Of The Isles, Valerie Dawn Hampton Dec 2015

Power Relations At The Cistercian Abbey Of St. Mary At Rushen: With Special Interest In Connections At Furness And Influence Through The Kingdom Of The Isles, Valerie Dawn Hampton

Dissertations

The Isle of Man is an island situated in the Irish Sea at the geographical center of the British Isles. During the Middle Ages, the Isle of Man, which was only two hundred and twenty-two square miles, surprisingly was the seat of an important Viking kingdom that controlled and patrolled the Irish Sea and Hebrides. Rushen Abbey, a Savigniac monastery, was founded in 1134 near Ballasalla, in the parish of Malew, in the southeast of the Isle of Man.

This dissertation focuses on the influence that Rushen Abbey exerted on the ecclesiastical institutions and secular personas within the area of …


2014 Complete Digest, Department Of English Jan 2014

2014 Complete Digest, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.


The Lost Pasts Of Women's History, Judith M. Bennett Jun 2006

The Lost Pasts Of Women's History, Judith M. Bennett

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Divine Minds: The Cognitive Foundations Of God And Religion, Todd Tremlin Dec 2004

Divine Minds: The Cognitive Foundations Of God And Religion, Todd Tremlin

Dissertations

Understanding how human brains work bears directly on the study of religion. Introducing the new "cognitive science of religion," this dissertation explains how natural mental processes that shape everyday human thought are also responsible for the arising and persistence of religious ideas and for the content and development of religions. The central claim of this work is that understanding the origin and features of god concepts and the religious systems that form around them requires an understanding of the adapted mind. This argument unfolds in two parts. The first explores the cognitive foundations ofsupernatural beings. It discusses in both evolutionary …


“Imagined Communities” In Showcases: The Nationality Rooms Program At The University Of Pittsburgh (1926-1945), Lucia Curta Jun 2004

“Imagined Communities” In Showcases: The Nationality Rooms Program At The University Of Pittsburgh (1926-1945), Lucia Curta

Dissertations

From the inception of the program in 1926, the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh were viewed as apolitical in their iconography. Their purpose was primarily didactic. Designed as classrooms meant for lectures and seminars, they were however ad-hoc museums for the display of symbols of national identity. In many ways, they constitute an excellent illustration in terms of the decorative arts of Benedict Anderson's concept of "imagined communities."

The identity referent of the symbolism attached to the decorative arrangements of these rooms was not that of the ethnic communities in Pittsburgh, for whom the rooms were supposedly designed …


Bibliography, No.30 2000 , Chris Africa Sep 2000

Bibliography, No.30 2000 , Chris Africa

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Wishing For History , Katharine Kerr Sep 1996

Wishing For History , Katharine Kerr

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Feminist Scholarship In Old Norse Studies, Jenny Jochens Mar 1995

Feminist Scholarship In Old Norse Studies, Jenny Jochens

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


The Reemergence Of The Goddess Image In Contemporary Art, Tara E. Patrick Dec 1993

The Reemergence Of The Goddess Image In Contemporary Art, Tara E. Patrick

Honors Theses

The goddess image, and its use in art and life, has a long history. The historical uses are explored through a brief history, followed by an expansion and discussion of the contemporary uses of the goddess image in the art of three Michigan artists: Ann Burian, Katheryn Trenshaw, and Ruth Zachary. The goddess image in art reflects a change in the spirituality of contemporary times.


27th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University May 1992

27th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 27th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 7-10, 1992).