Encounters with the Paranormal in Medieval Iceland I: New Methodological Approaches
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Miriam Mayburd
Organizer Affiliation
Háskóli Íslands
Presider Name
Miriam Mayburd
Paper Title 1
The Power of Christ Compels You: Liturgical Rites and the Undead in Eyrbyggja Saga
Presenter 1 Name
Kent Pettit
Presenter 1 Affiliation
St. Louis Univ.
Paper Title 2
The Sorceress's Stone: Deviant Burial in Viking Age Scandinavia
Presenter 2 Name
Veronica Donato
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Boston College
Start Date
13-5-2018 8:30 AM
Session Location
Bernhard 212
Description
Encounters with the Paranormal in Medieval Iceland I: New Methodological Approaches
This session will question the discursive boundaries of what has conventionally been delineated as the 'supernatural' in saga scholarship (with its emphasis on classifying and categorizing otherworldly beings), suggesting that paranormal encounters in pre-modern cognitive experience rather hinge upon obscurity and lack of such delineations. Paranormal (with its broader definition of 'unexplainable') may include phenomena that need not be “supernatural” while still being uncanny and unsettlingly other. Consequentially, this opens up even the “realistic” sagas for such analyses. After introducing the main issues in the current discourse on the subject, the aim is to draw attention to several theoretical tools being used in adjacent fields of anthropology and folklore (as well as cognitive science) in the study of pre-modern mentalities and demonstrate their relevance of application to medieval Norse textual sources.
Miriam Mayburd
Encounters with the Paranormal in Medieval Iceland I: New Methodological Approaches
Bernhard 212
Encounters with the Paranormal in Medieval Iceland I: New Methodological Approaches
This session will question the discursive boundaries of what has conventionally been delineated as the 'supernatural' in saga scholarship (with its emphasis on classifying and categorizing otherworldly beings), suggesting that paranormal encounters in pre-modern cognitive experience rather hinge upon obscurity and lack of such delineations. Paranormal (with its broader definition of 'unexplainable') may include phenomena that need not be “supernatural” while still being uncanny and unsettlingly other. Consequentially, this opens up even the “realistic” sagas for such analyses. After introducing the main issues in the current discourse on the subject, the aim is to draw attention to several theoretical tools being used in adjacent fields of anthropology and folklore (as well as cognitive science) in the study of pre-modern mentalities and demonstrate their relevance of application to medieval Norse textual sources.
Miriam Mayburd