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.

Keywords:ART HISTORY, MEDIEVAL LITERATURE, LOW COUNTRIES, SPIRITUALITY

Disciplines:Cultural history, Gender studies, Medieval literature, Study of spirituality