The gendered body : female sanctity, gender hybridity and the body in women's hagiography / Sarah Schäfer-Althaus.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Schäfer-Althaus, Sarah, author.

Series:

Regensburger Beiträge zur Gender-Forschung ; Band 8.

Regensburger Beiträge zur Gender-Forschung ; Band 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women saints.

Femininity--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Femininity.

Christian hagiography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (185 pages).

Place of Publication:

Heidelberg, [Germany] : Universitätsverlag Winter, 2016.

Summary:

The (female) body was a highly controversial and much debated topic in the Middle Ages. It constantly had to negotiate its place between glorification and crucifixion, between superiority and subordination and many social, cultural and gender-related implications were closely connected to it. However, no other aspect of medieval cultural history has been more neglected within scholarship than the body, leaving a research gap in chronicles of cultural history and in the modern understanding of the past. This study investigates the complex historical, cultural, sociological and gendered constructions of the medieval female body in popular female saints' legends. By focusing on frequently recurring body parts in women's hagiography, such as the breast, hair(styles) and the tripartite construction of mouth, teeth and tongue, it critically reflects on the gendered treatment of these body parts against the ideological and religious background of its genre and the role of women at that time.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed April 25, 2017).

Doctoral Universität-Gesamthochschule Paderborn 2015.

ISBN:

9783825376512

3825376516