Oberlin College and Conservatory

Erecting Sex: Hermaphrodites and the Medieval Science of Surgery

Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies, Hallock Auditorium
122 Elm Street, Oberlin, OH 44074

The Mead-Swing Lecture Series presents a talk by Rutgers University's Leah DeVun. “Erecting Sex: Hermaphrodites and the Medieval Science of Surgery” focuses on medieval understandings of “hermaphrodites” (as those with atypical sex anatomies were called during the period).

The Middle Ages coincided with the formation of fundamental ideas about sex, as well as the establishment of professionalized fields such as law, medicine, and surgery, which attempted to codify such ideas, and which have had a long-lasting influence on Western understandings of the body.

In this talk, Leah DeVun, an associate professor of history, examines contested ideas about hermaphrodites as they were debated by canon lawyers, physicians, surgeons, natural philosophers, and others in the Middle Ages. Such approaches help us to chart the rise of the legal, religious, and medical institutions of the period, which established their legitimacy through the categorization and regulation of members of society.

DeVun's first book, Prophecy, Alchemy, and the End of Time: John of Rupescissa in the Late Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009) won the John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy in 2013. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships, most recently from the Stanford Humanities Center in 2011-2012. She is currently an associate professor of history at Rutgers University.

 

Event Type

Lectures/Symposia/Workshops

Departments

Academic, History

Cost

Free event

Contact Person

Professor Ellen Wurtzel

Contact Phone Number

775-8528

Contact E-mail Address

ellen.wurtzel@oberlin.edu

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