A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
An Imagined Experience? Dancing as Intercorporeality in the Fifteenth-Century Pastoralia of Vadstena Abbey
Authors: Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Article number: 4
Volume: 55
Issue: 1
First page : 51
Last page: 72
ISSN: 1082-9636
eISSN: 1527-8263
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-11568646(external)
Proper gestures, signs, and rituals were important for orthopraxis in the Middle Ages; they affected the way religion was “lived out,” since the body was a site where religion was experienced. Analyzing fifteenth-century pastoralia from Vadstena Abbey in Sweden, this article argues that didactic textual representations of dancing reveal elements of lived religion. The imagined dancing in preachers’ exempla served as a warning against illicit behavior, while for the audience it could evoke corporeal praying and an alternative way of celebrating liturgical feasts. Both perspectives have in common, however, an understanding of dancing as a shared experience and intercorporeal communication that created spiritual communitas.
Funding information in the publication:
Research Council of Finland's Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences