Humour and Obscenity in the Medieval and Early Modern World
All sessions take place in the Senate Suite, University College (Durham Castle), unless otherwise stated.
Monday 9th July |
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9.00 – 9.30 |
Registration, Tea and Coffee |
Panel 1
Obscenities in Public Spaces
9.30 – 11.00 |
Jan Dienstbier (Charles University, Department of Art History) Turd under hat, or the function of visual obscenities |
Daniel Pereira Martins (Hereditas) and Tiago Ramos (University of Lisbon, Institute of Medieval Studies) An ass facing Spain – A singular gargoyle from Guarda Cathedral (Portugal) |
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Andrew Vidali (University of Trieste, Department of Humanities) ‘Parole de ignomia’: repressing challenging signboards in the early and mid-sixteenth century Venetian Mainland |
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11.00 – 11.15 |
Tea and Coffee |
Panel 2
Gendering Humour and Obscenity
11.15-12.45 |
Yousef Barahmeh (University of Portsmouth, English Department) The humorous and the obscene body: the poetry of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi |
Ramatu Musa (Universität Luzern, Cultural Studies) The brutalized black female body in that Christiaen van Couwenbergh painting |
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Rachel Fennell (Durham University, Department of English Studies) Saintly sex symbols: Christ's vagina and the erotics of medieval Christian religious practice |
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12.45 – 1.45 |
Lunch |
Panel 3
Humour, Religion, and Rivalry
1.45 – 3.15 |
Ceren Çikin Sungur (Central European University, Department of Medieval Studies) The function of humour in Saltikname: a late medieval Anatolian narrative |
Geneviève Young (University of Minnesota, French Department) Bridging the gab: making sense of laughter in Charlemagne’s Pilgrimage |
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Dr Sarah Brazil (University of Geneva and Edinburgh, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities) Grappling with humour in its many forms: the language of play and acts of torture in the early English Passion plays |
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3.15 – 3.30 |
Tea and Coffee |
Keynote Lecture
3.30 – 4.30 |
Dr Daniel Derrin |
4.30 – 5.00 |
Visit to Durham Cathedral |
5.00 – 6.00 |
Wine Reception (location TBC) |
6.15 – 7.30 |
Performance of ‘Unruly Women’, by Dr Daisy Black (University of Wolverhampton) Joachim Room, Hild Bede College |
7.30 |
Conference Dinner, Lebaneat Wraphouse |
Tuesday 10th July |
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9.00 – 9.30 |
Tea and Coffee |
Panel 4
Insults and Honour
9.30 – 11.00 |
Dr Alexander Wilson (Durham University, Department of English Studies) That joke isn’t funny anymore: shame-culture and dangerous humour in the Icelandic Sagas |
Emily Reed (University of Sheffield, School of English) Bloody son of a bitch! Calques and competition in Anglo Norman and Middle English insults |
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Kimberley Foy (Durham University, Centre for Visual Arts and Cultures) ‘Much forwardnesse to cover’: hats and humiliation at the early Stuart court, 1603-1642 |
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11.00 – 11.15 |
Tea and Coffee |
Panel 5
Satire in the Visual Arts
11.15-12.45 |
Eilis Livia Coughlin (University of Edinburgh, History of Art) ‘The Triumph of Phallus’: the disembodied penis as a comedic device |
Georgios Miliaras (University of Edinburgh, History of Art) Cinquecento and ideas of comic theory: The Ricotta Eaters, a moralising allegory |
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Matteo Moro (Università del Piemonte Orientale, Humanities Department) Humour, political satire and obscenity: some unusual drawings in the judicial and fiscal registers of medieval Piedmont (14th-15th centuries) |
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12.45 – 1.45 |
Lunch |
Panel 6
Censorship and Regulation
1.45 – 3.15 |
Tristan Lake (Durham University, Department of Archaeology) The Anglo-Saxon ‘cover up’: critical attitudes to Anglo-Saxon nakedness |
Dr Federica Boldrini (details tbc) ‘Quasi more vaccarum’: regulating the depth of female décolletages in fifteenth-century Italy |
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Matthew Robertson (University of St Andrews, Department of History) Like the mascara stick in the mascara pot: fornication and sex work in the Ottoman Empire |
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3.15 – 3.30 |
Tea and Coffee |
Panel 7
The Politics of Humour and Obscenity
3.30 – 5.00 |
Martin Laidlaw (University of Dundee, Department of English) Political obscenity and The Canterbury Tales: farce, fabliau, and film |
Caitlin Burge (University of York, Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies) The limits of mockery in the reign of King Henry VIII |
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Leo Shipp (Exeter University, Department of History) ‘Satyrs against Vice and Folly’: Thomas Shadwell and the Moral Politics of Laughter |
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Keynote Lecture
5.00 – 6.00 |
Dr Daron Burrows (University of Oxford, Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages) |
For more information and updates, visit our blog, website, or sponsors’ pages:
durhammemsa.wordpress.com www.dur.ac.uk/imems/memsa
www.dur.ac.uk/ias www.dur.ac.uk/arts.humanities www.dur.ac.uk/imems
Hannah Piercy and James Cronin
MEMSA Conference Conveners 2018
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