BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:30th McDonald Institute Annual Lecture: The Medieval Ritual Landsc
 ape: Archaeology and Folk Religion  - Professor Roberta Gilchrist (Univers
 ity of Reading)
DTSTART:20181107T170000Z
DTEND:20181107T180000Z
UID:TALK113176@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Emma Jarman
DESCRIPTION:This lecture explores the value of archaeology in reconstructi
 ng lived religion as it was practised and experienced by medieval people. 
  Archaeological sources of evidence reveal ritual practices that were neve
 r documented in historical texts: archaeology demonstrates how ordinary pe
 ople expressed their religious agency as part of everyday life\, independe
 nt of the clergy and institutional religion. The main source material is a
 rchaeological evidence for the deliberate deposition of objects in the lan
 dscape\, in water and in medieval settlements\, as part of Christian ritua
 ls.  Until recently\, these practices were not recognised or were dismisse
 d as superstitious behaviour or echoes of pagan survivals.\n\nTen years ag
 o\, a foray into ‘folk religion’ might have been regarded as eccentric
  or at least marginal to medieval archaeology.  But the past decade has se
 en an explosion of interest in folk religion across Europe and spanning th
 e disciplines of history\, archaeology\, anthropology and museum studies. 
  ‘Folk’ religion is a contested concept\, arising from 19th-century sc
 holarship and rooted in colonial ideologies.  But recent approaches share 
 common ground with archaeology’s concerns with agency\, gender\, power a
 nd relationality.  There is now a compelling case to rethink our assumptio
 ns about medieval ritual and belief and to propose new archaeological appr
 oaches for their study.  Key  to interpreting ‘folk’ practices is an u
 nderstanding of the different types of agency that were integral to the me
 dieval world view – the perceived causal relationships between humans\, 
 objects\, the divine and the supernatural.
LOCATION:Mill Lane Lecture Room 9\, Mill Lane\, Cambridge\, CB2 1RX
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR