The act of wearing clothes made from the body of another animal, which in the past was useful to humans to protect themselves from atmospheric agents, has symbolic connotations. Wearing skin or fur allows the individual to appropriate the animal’s body and to assimilate its symbolic essence by metonymy.
In this conference, we will try to identify the occurrences — across ritual practices and imagery — where animal skins or furs lead to partial hybridisations, states of pre-metamorphosis, or transformations of the individual’s physical and psychological identity, especially when they are superimposed on the human body. The papers are meant to create a picture of how the use of skins and furs is structured in different medieval contexts and to demonstrate the capital role of skins in elaborating the fluidity between humans and animals in the Middle Ages.
The conference will take place on 28 and 29 September 2022 in hybrid format, at the Université catholique de Louvain and in videoconference. The papers will be approximately 20-minutes long and will be followed by a discussion.
The research axes of the conference include: animal skins as an element of physical and symbolic transformation of the human and as trigger of hybridisation processes; animal skins in the representation of otherness; uses of animal skins in medical and magical practices and in masquerade rituals.
The organising committee encourages proposals of communications on the following topics:
- the use of human and animal skins/furs in magical and medical preparations to change the individual’s identity;
- metamorphoses of human skin as a result of ingesting ‘magic’ food or drink.
Proposal submission
Papers are welcome from researchers and scholars at all levels of their career in every field of medieval studies, especially literature, history, history of science, and cultural history. Candidates interested in presenting a paper should send a title and an abstract (about 250 words) of their proposed paper, by the deadline of 20 June 2022, to the following address: [email protected]. Please feel free to address any question to the same address.
Organising committee
Craig Baker (Université libre de Bruxelles) - Andrea Maraschi (Università degli studi di Bari) - Angelica Aurora Montanari (Università di Bologna) - Antonella Sciancalepore (Université catholique de Louvain) - Baudouin Van den Abeele (Université catholique de Louvain)
