Controlling the Power of Material Things
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Theresa Flanigan, Holly Flora
Organizer Affiliation
College of St. Rose, Tulane Univ.
Presider Name
Theresa Flanigan
Paper Title 1
The Mound and the Fountain: The Role of Human/Nonhuman Assemblages in Medieval Welsh Stories
Presenter 1 Name
Kathleen P. J. Brennan
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa
Paper Title 2
Countenances as Lightning: The Materiality of the Noli me tangere Fresco in Assisi
Presenter 2 Name
Sarah S. Wilkins
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Pratt Institute
Paper Title 3
Holy Bread and Holy Child: The Pseudo-Sacramental Performances of Margaretha Ebner
Presenter 3 Name
Erin Carter
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Start Date
10-5-2014 10:00 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1350
Description
Much recent scholarship has expanded our understanding of the active nature of medieval objects, which we now know were thought capable of penetrating and transforming other objects in their vicinity, including the bodies and souls of their beholders. In addition, new materialist theories have called scholars to consider the ethical implications of such intimate relationships between material things and their beholders. The ethical implications of this newly (re)discovered intimacy between medieval humans and objects calls for greater investigation. This session seeks papers that further our understanding of the affective power and material vibrancy of medieval objects by inquiring into the various methods used to control or condition the beholder’s ethical experience and/or response to such objects. Such methods might include: training on how to use, interpret, and/or respond to certain objects, regulation of the use of certain materials, instructions on sensual contact, limits on access to or total censorship of “dangerous” objects, encouragement of experiences beyond the materially sensible, and artistic theory indicating how art objects should be made or experienced.
Theresa Flanigan
Controlling the Power of Material Things
Schneider 1350
Much recent scholarship has expanded our understanding of the active nature of medieval objects, which we now know were thought capable of penetrating and transforming other objects in their vicinity, including the bodies and souls of their beholders. In addition, new materialist theories have called scholars to consider the ethical implications of such intimate relationships between material things and their beholders. The ethical implications of this newly (re)discovered intimacy between medieval humans and objects calls for greater investigation. This session seeks papers that further our understanding of the affective power and material vibrancy of medieval objects by inquiring into the various methods used to control or condition the beholder’s ethical experience and/or response to such objects. Such methods might include: training on how to use, interpret, and/or respond to certain objects, regulation of the use of certain materials, instructions on sensual contact, limits on access to or total censorship of “dangerous” objects, encouragement of experiences beyond the materially sensible, and artistic theory indicating how art objects should be made or experienced.
Theresa Flanigan