Theorizing the Spiritual Past: Critical Approaches to Early Iberian Hagiography College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham, 7‒8 July 2014
Over the last decade there has been a striking upsurge in the volume of critical interest in Iberian hagiography in all of its manifold forms. In painting and the fine arts through to poetic and narrative treatments composed in Castilian, Catalan, and Portuguese, the legacies of Christ, Mary, and the saints have been approached from a number of perspectives and subjected to detailed critical scrutiny. This work has been informed by a series of theoretical approaches, from issues of gendered identity in the analysis of Mary and the typology of female sanctity, through to questions of corporeality and the extent to which the expression and experience of popular piety is rooted in the body. This conference, which focuses specifically on the application of theoretical and methodological approaches to analysis, asks what scholars of early Iberian hagiography can bring to the analysis of the sacred past and how the study of the discipline can be taken forward innovatively in the future. It seeks in particular to explore interdisciplinary methodologies and the ways in which they intersect with broader discourses in other branches of research.
Proposals are invited for 30-minute papers on any theoretically-informed aspect of Iberian hagiography. Titles and brief abstracts (of no more than 200 words) should be sent to the conference organizer before 7 April 2014.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Andy Beresford
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
Durham University
Elvet Riverside
New Elvet
Durham DH1 3JT
United Kingdom
(a.m.beresford@durham.ac.uk)
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