A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Medieval Age
Published on 16. January 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-1-4725-5463-5 (ISBN)
Description
The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities of medieval western Europe conceived of the human body in manifold ways. The body was not a fixed or unmalleable mass of flesh, but an entity that changed its character depending on its age, its interactions with its environment, and its diet. For example, a slave would have been marked by her language, her name, her religion, or even by a sign burned onto her skin, not by her color alone.
Covering the period from 500 to 1500 and using sources that range across the full spectrum of medieval literary, scientific, medical, and artistic production, this volume explores the rich variety of medieval views of both the real and the metaphorical body.
A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on the centrality of the human body in birth and death, health and disease, sexuality, beauty and concepts of the ideal, bodies marked by gender, race, class and disease, cultural representations and popular beliefs, and self and society.
Covering the period from 500 to 1500 and using sources that range across the full spectrum of medieval literary, scientific, medical, and artistic production, this volume explores the rich variety of medieval views of both the real and the metaphorical body.
A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on the centrality of the human body in birth and death, health and disease, sexuality, beauty and concepts of the ideal, bodies marked by gender, race, class and disease, cultural representations and popular beliefs, and self and society.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
12 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
520 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-5463-5 (9781472554635)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Linda Kalof is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University, USA and author of Looking at Animals in Human History and series editor of A Cultural History of Animals and A Cultural History of Women.
Content
Illustrations
Series Preface
Introduction
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
1 Birth and Death
Katharine Park, Harvard University, USA
2 Health, Disease, and the Medieval Body
Ann G. Carmichael, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
3 The Sexual Body
Ruth Mazo Karras, University of Minnesota, USA and Jacqueline Murray, University of Guelph, Canada
4 The Body Inferred: Knowing the Body through the Dissection of Texts
Fernando Salmon, University of Cantabria, Spain
5 Bodies and the Supernatural: Humans, Demons, and Angels
Anke Bernau, University of Manchester, UK
6 Beautiful Bodies
Montserrat Cabre, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
7 Bodily Essences: Bodies as Categories of Difference
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
8 The Diversity of Human Kind
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
9 Cultural Representations of the Body
Samantha Riches, Lancaster University, UK and Bettina Bildhauer, University of St Andrews, UK
10 Self and Society
Sylvia Huot, University of Cambridge, UK
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Series Preface
Introduction
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
1 Birth and Death
Katharine Park, Harvard University, USA
2 Health, Disease, and the Medieval Body
Ann G. Carmichael, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
3 The Sexual Body
Ruth Mazo Karras, University of Minnesota, USA and Jacqueline Murray, University of Guelph, Canada
4 The Body Inferred: Knowing the Body through the Dissection of Texts
Fernando Salmon, University of Cantabria, Spain
5 Bodies and the Supernatural: Humans, Demons, and Angels
Anke Bernau, University of Manchester, UK
6 Beautiful Bodies
Montserrat Cabre, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain
7 Bodily Essences: Bodies as Categories of Difference
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
8 The Diversity of Human Kind
Monica H. Green, Arizona State University, USA
9 Cultural Representations of the Body
Samantha Riches, Lancaster University, UK and Bettina Bildhauer, University of St Andrews, UK
10 Self and Society
Sylvia Huot, University of Cambridge, UK
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index