medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
wow. here's the jargon version of what i've been arguing for a while
(in plain english) about the problem with evidence about apocalyptic
beliefs.
On Jan 22, 2005, at 8:15 PM, Jim Bugslag wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
>> so is there a source on this beguine tale? or is it urban legend?
>
> Richard's query above raises what I am currently considering as a major
> methodological difficulty with respect to medieval religion. Why
> should not "urban
> legend" count as a source, however difficult it might be to deal with
> in a historical
> sense? If the only "sources" we recognize are those that the hegemonic
> establishment felt worthy of enshrining in written form, then are we
> not guilty of
> perpetuating a regime of Foucauldian power at the expense of other
> segments of
> medieval society, who just happen to form the vast majority of the
> population?
i'm not sure that this applies to urban legends. it really depends on
the nature of the texts we're working with.
> I have been dealing with this issue in relation to local pilgrimage
> among rural
> populations, but this mention of "urban legend" seems to raise the
> same difficulties.
> Both oral history and ethno-history are beginning to offer
> methodological means of
> dealing with such "sources", but to my knowledge, medievalists have
> been reticent
> to take them on board. I'd love, however, to be proved wrong.
i certainly think that medievalists have been extremely reluctant to
think about apocalyptic in this manner. i have, however, some solid
evidence which nonetheless needs interpretation. what's the evidence
you want to re-interpret?
r
> Cheers,
> Jim Bugslag
>
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