One possibility might be to explore the growing body of literature on neurodiversity, which simply suggests that there are a variety of ways in which brains can function effectively. In any case, I can't see any reason to associate Joan with epilepsy. The symptoms don't match up at all well. Schizophrenia is a more likely candidate if you WANTED to medicalize something, but there is also a literature out there on the different cultural meanings that have been assigned to what we would today call schizophrenia. If you have access, try looking for references on the PsychLit database.

Megan McLaughlin
Professor Emerita of History, Gender and Women's Studies,
and Medieval Studies
University of Illinois
309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801 U.S.A.

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Cecilia Gaposchkin [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2015 2:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] "take down" of Joan of Arc as epileptic (voices) - for students?

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Dear colleagues,

I am teaching (just starting) an undergraduate seminar on Joan of Arc. One of the units I am doing is exploring the literature on mental illness - with articles that appear in journals such as Epilepsia and Eplipesy and Behavior. The idea of devoting an entire class to this was in part to answer the question in the negative, and discuss the larger problem of "medicalizing" the past. But as far as I can tell, the claims in this scholarship is not directly refuted in the more traditional historians scholarship on Joan (or at least I haven't found it).

The problem is akin to the one I learned about first when reading Bynum's Holy Feast in graduate school. She does a good take down of the mystics as anorexic, showing how much more sense it makes to understand these women in the medieval mystical context. (I actually don't remember whether Bynum discusses Joan, and I don't have the book on my shelves here and the library copy is out). What I need is someone, somewhere who wrote that same assessment for Joan and epilepsy / schizophrenia.

The danger is, of course, that without this, the students will just think "why yes. This is the answer." And this of course is precisely what I don't want to have happen.

If anyone knows this literature, I would be very grateful!

cecilia

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