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Project
Spiritual Role-Play as Technology of Self: An Interdisciplinary Pioneer Study of a Devotional Practice from the Late Medieval Low Countries (SRP).
This study breaks new ground by mapping the late medieval phenomenon of spiritual role-play for the first time. This
practice, popular in the late medieval Low Countries, was a form of private devotion in which Christ and the human soul were
each assigned a social role, and engaged in imaginary interactions, sometimes including physical props such as dolls.
Having not been studied as of yet, the many texts and objects that were used in this practice cannot be properly
contextualized, and important aspects of the history of technologies of self remain unstudied. The action nuances existing
views on the historical development of technologies of self by showing that in the late Middle Ages not only in high
mysticism, but also in the devotional culture of everyday life, elements of personal discovery were present. In this action
spiritual role-play is studied through texts and material objects from the late medieval Low Countries. The aim is to
contextualize the practice of role-play within late medieval Christian meditation practices, and to arrive at an understanding
of the transformative potential of the practice. Combining methods from art an literary history, such as iconological and
discourse analysis, my project contributes to the study of medieval devotion by integrating a text-centred, cognitive with an
embodied, object-based approach. Moreover, I will incorporate insights from cognitive psychology to the study of medieval
literary and material culture, opening up new perspectives on premodern spiritual culture. The project will broaden the scope
of previous studies on scripted devotion by exploring how role-taking could incite inner transformations, looking not only at
the emotions that are incited, but at a broader spectrum of experience involving sensory perception, empathy and religious
knowledge and understanding.
Date:1 May 2021 → 30 Apr 2022
Keywords:ART HISTORY, MEDIEVAL LITERATURE, LOW COUNTRIES, SPIRITUALITY
Disciplines:Cultural history, Gender studies, Medieval literature, Study of spirituality