Thursday, April 18th, 7:30pm
Campbell Grey (University of Pennsylvania)
Sacred Landscapes of Germanus: Movement, Power and Identity
Faculty House (please check the signs in the lobby for precise location)
Professor Grey has kindly shared an abstract of his upcoming talk with us:
Constantius of Lyon’s Vita Germani recounts the life, deeds, and—above all—travels of Germanus, bishop of Auxerre in the first half of the fifth century. This paper draws upon phenomenological approaches to landscape in making three propositions. First, narratives of movement around the landscape in this text are explicitly aimed at making claims to power. Second, we observe two complementary and, at times, conflictual mechanisms for organizing and traversing that landscape. And, third, the text offers small but significant glimpses of the agency of the countryfolk of northern Italy and Gaul—and, by extension, their collective claims to identity.
We look forward to seeing many of you at the last talk of the academic year!
