L'engagement sensoriel au Moyen-âge

Sensational Words: Describing Sensory Engagement in the Middle Ages

Call for Papers

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo
May 10 – 13, 2018

“Sensational Words” seeks to encourage an interdisciplinary conversation not only about how the senses mediate a person’s subjective knowledge of the material world but also about how the medieval languages of sensory experience distinctively communicate and even shape that experience. As scholars have noted, while the sensorial capacity of the human body has likely changed very little, if at all, since the Middle Ages, the sensorial realities of past humans are notoriously difficult to study and relate to, particularly if we must rely primarily on textual evidence of past human perception. One long-standing example is the difficulty of translating Old English color words. Whether a cup is red, or golden, or glittering, or shining (or perhaps all of these things simultaneously) seems impossible to discern, and these options show fascinating possibilities in the way visual qualities were delineated in Old English. How a sensorial experience is perceived of, articulated, and valued is a significant component of human engagement with the world. This panel welcomes papers that explore the medieval experience and valuation of sensorial engagement with the material world through literary accounts, historical accounts, philosophical studies, or archaeological studies. As an interdisciplinary panel, we welcome papers from any stage of the Middle Ages, any geographical location, and any discipline.

Some avenues of inquiries include (but are not limited to):

• What is the relationship to the more trusted senses of sight and hearing to the senses like taste,

touch, and smell, senses that were considered more easily fooled?

• How did a medieval culture apply sense words to experiences or delineate the boundaries of the different

senses?

• How does the language of the senses relate to visual representations?

• How do sensational experiences shape practices and records of medical practice, religious devotion, artistic

creations, food cultivation and preparation, etc.?

• How are the medieval senses described as relating to the physical body parts that interface with the

material world beyond the body? To abstract concepts?

Submit abstracts of 250 words, accompanied by a participant information form (available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions), to Shannon Gayk at mestdir@indiana.edu or to Erin Sweany at

esweany@indiana.edu. This session is sponsored by the Medieval Studies Institute of Indiana University.