RELST 4706

The Poetics of Embodiment: Figurines in the Early Middle Ages

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025. The Catalog/Courses of Study 2025-2026 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

How can a small sculpture produce monumental effects? Recent shifts in metal-detecting and excavation practices have transformed our understanding of the scope of figural art after the Roman empire's collapse; the field is newly flooded with evidence of toys, puppets, and other tiny bodies. Working across the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, art history, philosophy, and gender studies, this course investigates how figurines shaped space, ritual, and concepts of personhood in the early medieval world.

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