In the wake of the “corporeal turn” in cultural studies and the associated “sensory turn,” the role of the human body and sensory experiences has come into focus in recent decades, both within academic circles and among the general public. The Middle Ages in particular, with its rich material culture, are increasingly being examined from an interdisciplinary perspective with regard to phenomena of sensory experience. The goal of the international conference organized by the Heidelberg research project “Monasteries in the High Middle Ages” is to examine these aspects specifically within the monastic and regular canonical context of the Middle Ages:

How were sensory experiences perceived, shaped, evoked, interpreted, and/or instrumentalized in religious communities? What visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and synesthetic experiences—whether real or imagined—characterize the lived experience of spirituality in the monastery? To what extent were these experiences reflected upon, interpreted, and deliberately incorporated into the practice of lived spirituality by medieval religious figures?

Program (PDF)

Further information on the project:

www.hadw-bw.de/kloester.html (internal link)