- www.virginialangum.com
Virginia Langum
Umeå University, Languages, Department Member
- Medical Humanities, Languages, Medieval Studies, Literature and Medicine, History of Religion (Medieval Studies), Medieval English Literature, and 30 moreMedieval Literature, History of Medicine and the Body, History of Medicine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Medieval Sermons, Exempla, History of Medicine, Maternity, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), History of Religion, Genre Theory, History of Science and Religion, Middle English, History Of Emotions, Medieval Medicine, Medieval History, Medieval Latin Literature, Medieval Literary theory, Medieval Mysticism, Medieval England, Middle English literature and culture, Chaucer, Margery Kempe, Medieval Latin, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), History of Science, Medieval Art History, Medieval French Literature, Medieval Intellectual History, Historical Fiction, and The Historical Noveledit
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edited with Kristina Sehlin MacNeil
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This project examines medical and naturalistic explanations of the seven deadly sins in late medieval culture. Understanding the inter-relationship of ethics and body not only frames interpretations of medieval texts, but also touches... more
This project examines medical and naturalistic explanations of the seven deadly sins in late medieval culture. Understanding the inter-relationship of ethics and body not only frames interpretations of medieval texts, but also touches upon contemporary concerns. Much debate in popular and scholarly science concerns the value of neuroscientific models that plot motivations and responsibility - our "culpability." There are many examples of how the idea of genetic or physiological dispositions to certain kinds of behavior, ranging from over-eating to assault have shaped both popular and scientific discussions of criminality and legislation of morality. Some scientists have even used the seven deadly sins as an organizing principle.
I offer a descriptive and analytical account of the medical imagery used to describe ethical feelings and actions in religious and literary contexts, explored with reference to discussions of behavior and subjectivity in medical contexts. It will draw upon medical and theological writing for its philosophical basis, and upon more popular works of religion, as well as poetry, to show how these themes were articulated, explored and questioned more widely in medieval culture.
I offer a descriptive and analytical account of the medical imagery used to describe ethical feelings and actions in religious and literary contexts, explored with reference to discussions of behavior and subjectivity in medical contexts. It will draw upon medical and theological writing for its philosophical basis, and upon more popular works of religion, as well as poetry, to show how these themes were articulated, explored and questioned more widely in medieval culture.
Research Interests: Religion, Medieval Literature, History of Religion, History of Medicine, Middle English, and 9 moreMedieval Studies, History of Science, Medieval Latin Literature, Early Christianity, Science and Religion, Social History of Medicine, History of Medicine and the Body, Hamartiology, and Seven Deadly Sins
This volume explores the idea of the North from ancient times to the early modern period. The essays explore where, who, and what was seen and defined as North over two millennia. The essays are all historically-situated but approach... more
This volume explores the idea of the North from ancient times to the early modern period. The essays explore where, who, and what was seen and defined as North over two millennia. The essays are all historically-situated but approach their material from a variety of disciplines including cultural history, literature studies, art history, environmental history, and history of science. The North as a circumpolar geographical and ideological space has been receiving growing attention from humanities scholars interested in colonialism, imperialism and environmental change. Almost all of the previous scholarship dedicated to the idea of the North has focused on the modern era yet the North existed long before the modern age in both reality and imagination.This essay and the work curated in this volume explore the idea of the North from ancient times to the early modern period. Rather than one defined location, we argue that the North is a space imagined by people, part of an identity, or state of mind, held not just by individuals but also by institutions, organizations and societies. Furthermore, we contend that the North, then, is a valuable analytical framework that goes beyond nation-states and transgresses borders set up by previous politics and historical scholarship.
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As the title of the collection suggests, the essays consider the Virgin Mary as a textual and material presence where the Virgin Mary’s materiality is conceived broadly in bodily descriptions and visual representations. The essays span... more
As the title of the collection suggests, the essays consider the Virgin Mary as a textual and material presence where the Virgin Mary’s materiality is conceived broadly in bodily descriptions and visual representations. The essays span the Nordic countries, Ireland, England and southern Europe from the later Middle Ages and the Reformation. However, all the essays are grounded in the practices of the late medieval parish and beliefs of the “ordinary faithful.” Diverse views of Mary emerge dependent upon place and period.
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Nineteenth-century Madeira was a popular destination for wealthy British people suffering from consumption and other pulmonary ailments. A rich store of sources from the period provide first-hand accounts of invalids on the island or... more
Nineteenth-century Madeira was a popular destination for wealthy British people suffering from consumption and other pulmonary ailments. A rich store of sources from the period provide first-hand accounts of invalids on the island or offer special advice for the invalid traveller. After positioning medical travel within the context of contemporary science about climate, health and acclimatization, this article will provide a brief account of existing sources related to medical travel to Madeira. This article then examines this material for what it reveals about contemporary ideas about the Madeiran climate upon health, as well as cultural interaction between the British and the island. In particular, the article will trace how writing about Madeira conforms or diverges from popularly held views about the southern European climate and southern European people, as well as what resonance such views may have in the present.
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(written with Kristina Sehlin MacNeil)
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The expectation that doctoral students publish during their studies has increased in recent years. The standard of having international academic publications before entering the job market has long been perceived to pose an even greater... more
The expectation that doctoral students publish during their studies has increased in recent years. The standard of having international academic publications before entering the job market has long been perceived to pose an even greater challenge to doctoral students in non-English speaking countries who are often expected to publish in English, rather than their national language. This deficient perspective has, however, recently been questioned. We undertook a narrative inquiry at a Swedish university in order to better understand the experience, self-perception, and needs of doctoral students writing academic English. From these narratives, two themes relating to the doctoral students' journeys towards academic writing emerged: deficit and commonality. After reviewing the data, we argue that it is important to support doctoral students in their journey into bi-literate academic writers, rather than focus on the notion of the privileged position of the native speaker.
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“Kinde” is a polysemous word and complex concept in Middle English. The definitions of “kinde” as “natural” and “affectionate” intersect in medieval writing about maternity, as being a “natural” and an “affectionate” mother are bound up... more
“Kinde” is a polysemous word and complex concept in Middle English. The definitions of “kinde” as “natural” and “affectionate” intersect in medieval writing about maternity, as being a “natural” and an “affectionate” mother are bound up in the same physiological and emotional processes. In the article, I develop what it means to be a “kinde modur” according to medieval medical and religious writing before turning to representations of Mary’s “kinde” maternity which is at once the most natural and most un-natural. Placed within the context of “kinde” maternity, attempts to represent Mary’s physiological maternity speak to deep anxieties and concerns of the “ordinary faithful,” those who would have read or listened to or witnessed vernacular poetry and drama.
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The article examines how the causes of Black Death were conceived and discussed in two distinct contexts: learned sources from late medieval England and oral Swedish legends that were collected and recorded many centuries after the... more
The article examines how the causes of Black
Death were conceived and discussed in two distinct
contexts: learned sources from late medieval
England and oral Swedish legends that were collected
and recorded many centuries after the outbreak.
While focused on discussions of a particular
disease – plague or what is known as the bacterium
yersinia pestis – the geographical, chronological
and material range enables a greater perspective
upon the continuities and transitions of how theories
of causality are framed.
Death were conceived and discussed in two distinct
contexts: learned sources from late medieval
England and oral Swedish legends that were collected
and recorded many centuries after the outbreak.
While focused on discussions of a particular
disease – plague or what is known as the bacterium
yersinia pestis – the geographical, chronological
and material range enables a greater perspective
upon the continuities and transitions of how theories
of causality are framed.
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This article discusses the presentation of wrath and envy, primarily in the Middle English poem the Confessio Amantis, but with some references to the French Mirror of Man, as a means of exploring the fourteenth-century English poet John... more
This article discusses the presentation of wrath and envy, primarily in the Middle English poem the Confessio Amantis, but with some references to the French Mirror of Man, as a means of exploring the fourteenth-century English poet John Gower’s understanding of the body, medicine and sin. Wrath and envy present interesting case studies as Gower claims that they are the most unnatural of the seven sins. Yet wrath and envy are richly embodied in both his poetry, as well as contemporary medical and pastoral literature as will be shown. The essay argues for the hitherto unnoticed importance of medicine in understanding Gower’s poetry. I would specifically like to address the question of whether wrath, envy and other passions cause or are metaphors for, sin, in Gower's representations of these passions. By attending to human physiology, Gower invites the reader to recognize their shared human weakness, particularly in reference to the passions (emotions) and the predisposition to sin: his text thus fosters co-passion or compassion in his reader, as I will argue.
Research Interests: Medieval Literature, History of Religion, History of Medicine, Medieval Studies, History of Science, and 5 moreMedieval English Literature, History of Religion (Medieval Studies), John Gower, History of Medicine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, and History of Science and Medicine In Medieval and Renaissance Europe
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Although Swedish high school graduates are recognized as having among the highest level of L2 English competence in Europe, we find that students arrive at university with a lack of knowledge about the design and purpose of academic... more
Although Swedish high school graduates are recognized as having among the highest level of L2 English competence in Europe, we find that students arrive at university with a lack of knowledge about the design and purpose of academic English writing. Nor can they articulate what makes academic writing successful or unsuccessful. In this study, we asked 21 Swedish university students to reflect upon attributes of good and bad writing, providing examples of each, at the beginning of an introductory course in academic writing in English. We then asked them to do the same at the end of the course. This longitudinal approach enables us to understand how attitudes change after learning. Using NVivo we sorted their responses into themes. We were interested in the variety and recurrence of themes and the detail of examples. After sorting we were able to map shifts in perception across the semester-long course The findings are valuable to better design courses and academic writing support. The presentation will focus on the detail of the shifts, illustrating the misconceptions that the course has removed, and the misconceptions that remain. The presentation will also discuss positive changes of students' attitudes towards academic writing. The changes will be contextualized with reference to course assignments. We will also suggest that a future study use podcasts for meta-reflections about good and bad academic writing to reduce the cognitive load of producing good academic writing, to answer a reflective question and to strengthen deep learning.
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The article examines how the causes of Black death were conceived and discussed in two distinct contexts; learned sources from late medieval England and oral Swedish legends that were collected and recorded many centuries aftr the... more
The article examines how the causes of Black death were conceived and discussed in two distinct contexts; learned sources from late medieval England and oral Swedish legends that were collected and recorded many centuries aftr the outbreak. While focused on discussions of a particular disease - plague or what is known as the bacterium yersinia pestis - the geographical, chronological and material range enables a greater perspective upon the continuities and transitions of how theories of causality are framed.
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It has often been acknowledged that English is the dominant language of scholarly publication. While the disadvantage this poses to English as an Additional Language (EAL) academics is controversial, it is clear that some senior academics... more
It has often been acknowledged that English is the dominant language of scholarly publication. While the disadvantage this poses to English as an Additional Language (EAL) academics is controversial, it is clear that some senior academics and doctoral researchers perceive that EAL writing affects idea creation. This article surveys the research on EAL academic writing and the particular challenges it poses for doctoral researchers in the humanities. We argue for more support and research in this area
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Do women have a history? Did women have a renaissance? These were provocative questions when they were raised in the heyday of women's studies in the 1970s. But how relevant does gender remain to p ...
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The relationship of the physical, gendered body to mental health is a common theme in literary studies, which have sought to understand historical and contemporary narratives by female authors. Med ...
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This article discusses the presentation of wrath and envy, primarily in the Middle English poem the Confessio Amantis, but with some references to the French Mirror of Man, as a means of exploring ...
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Although Swedish high school graduates are recognized as having among the highest level of L2 English competence in Europe, we find that students arrive at university with a lack of knowledge about ...
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Research Interests: History, Cultural Studies, History of Ideas, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, and 13 moreEarly Modern History, History of Medicine, History of Science, Climatology, Early Modern Literature, History of climate studies, Historia, History of the Imaginary, Medieval Medicine, Languages and Literature, Temperament, Medieval Climate History, and Kulturstudier
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According to Augustinian theology skin becomes darkened after the Fall. Man’s perception of himself, the world around him and others becomes limited, manifested by both his opaque body and his opaque language.1 The sign becomes removed... more
According to Augustinian theology skin becomes darkened after the Fall. Man’s perception of himself, the world around him and others becomes limited, manifested by both his opaque body and his opaque language.1 The sign becomes removed from the signifier, opening the possibility for literary devices such as metaphor, while at the same time words become temporal and material. These physical and linguistic changes parallel each other. Just as the body darkens to enclose, separate, and cover the intentions of the heart, language also encloses, separates, and covers meaning. The influence of this Augustinian theology on medieval beliefs about language is particularly visible in pastoral discussions of confession; it is the role of the medieval confessor to interpret and to penetrate the opaque covering of the body—the skin—and its testimony. Thus, some medieval penitential texts urge confessors to read the surface of confessants’ material skin to determine their complexio and so, in turn, how likely they are to repeat certain sins.2 Complexio referred both generally to a person’s humoral balance, which revealed his or her temperament, and more specifically to the most immediate marker of this balance: his or her skin tone. Yet other texts advise confessors metaphorically to cut through the opaque covering of flesh and words to reach the naked interior.3