Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	1353
Title	The Monastic Dimension of Identity Politics: Hagiographical Rhetoric and the Construction of the Other, II
Date/Time	Wednesday 3 July 2019: 16.30-18.00
Sponsor	Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Organiser	Emilia Jamroziak, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair	Sita Steckel, Historisches Seminar, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Respondent	Alicia Spencer-Hall, School of Languages, Linguistics & Film, Queen Mary University of London
Paper 1353-a	Hagiography beyond the Saints: Redefining Discipleship, True Islam, and Kashmiri Identity through Sanctifying Narrative (Language: English) Dean Accardi, Department of History, Connecticut College Index Terms: Hagiography; Islamic and Arabic Studies; Monasticism
Paper 1353-b	The Furta Sacra Tales as Legitimations of Legitimation Monastic Communities in Medieval Europe (Language: English) Marco Papasidero, Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze dell'Educazione, Università degli Studi di Torino Index Terms: Hagiography; Monasticism
Paper 1353-c	Performing Identity and the 'Funding Fathers' of Late Monastic Medieval Culture (Language: English) Emilia Jamroziak, Institute for Medieval Studies / School of History, University of Leeds Index Terms: Hagiography; Monasticism
Abstract	The aim of our session is to engage with the comparative approach of the empirical study of strategies for the construction of identity by members of 'monastic' communities, broadly constructed, across a plurality of religious traditions in the greater regions of pre-modern Europe and Asia. In particular, it seeks to understand how the production, distribution and reception of hagiographic material (written, visual, and in music) served as a tool for the implementation of 'monastic' dynamics of legitimation. Ultimately, the panel will expand our scholarly understanding of the cross-cultural processes that characterize religious communities' notions of identity, further contributing also to the re-evaluation of our taxonomy as it challenges established notions of the categories 'monk/monastic' and 'hagiography'. By bringing together scholars who work with the historical (material, textual) evidence of broadly understood monastic material in pre-modern Europe and Asia, together with scholars of religious studies we hope to bridge the gap between 'empirical' and 'theoretical' that often limits discussion. This also includes the reflection over terminology that is intimately derivative of a European and Christian context. In order to provide space and engagement with the theoretical and terminological issues in each session we have provided formal responses that address themes from all the papers cross-comparatively.