2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

MEDV5340M Medieval Bodies

30 creditsClass Size: 14

Module manager: Catherine Batt
Email: c.j.batt@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

In this module you will explore medieval culture’s profound interest in the human body, which is conceptually grounded in understandings of medicine, of (more permeable) boundaries between the human and the non-human, of ethnicity and of gender, different from modern assumptions. You will engage interdisciplinary with a range of evidence--textual, visual, and material—to appreciate what distinguishes medieval from post-medieval culture and how knowledge of the former nevertheless enriches and informs our present.

Objectives

To help students understand cultural approaches to the Middle Ages, providing methodological underpinnings for their research. It will introduce them to working with evidence in different media: (1) textual, (2) visual and (3) material evidence. It will introduce them to working with different themes: for example, hagiography; spiritual selfhood; the monstrous; interactions between Christians, Jews and Muslims; medicine; and medievalism. It will introduce them to key readings in cultural theory: for example: gender, ethnicity, postcolonialism, disability studies, animal studies.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Critically analyse ancient and medieval theories and perceptions of the body
2. Assess effectively a wide range of medieval cultures, of different social strata, both within and beyond Western Europe
3. Evaluate and engage productively with advanced theoretical models in a chosen historical context
4. Compare and reflect on a range of media and genres through which medieval people constructed the past, and how their choice of medium/genre shaped that construction

Skills learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
5. Academic: handle a variety of data sets and applying (even interrogating) theoretical principles to them.

Syllabus

Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lectures	10	0.50	5.00
seminars	1	2.00	2.00
seminars	10	1.50	15.00
Private study hours			278.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will be given written feedback on two in-class presentations (both typically using slides). The first presentation will be on a visual primary source early in the module and will help students prepare for the primary source essay. The second presentation towards the end of the module will be on the same topic as their second summative essay, which is conceived as scaffolding activity for the 4,000 word essay.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	Primary source analysis (2,000 words)	40.00
Essay	Discursive essay (4,000 words)	60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Resits will normally take the same format as the original assessment

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/04/2024 16:15:06

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