Women and the Supernatural: Agency, and Oppression at the Intersection of Gender and Religion in Reformation England

妇女与超自然现象：英国宗教改革中性别与宗教交叉点的代理与压迫

• 批准号: 2433379
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2433379
• 关键词: Women; Supernatural; Agency; Oppression; Intersection

This research will examine how notions of gender in Reformation England stimulated and contributed toreligious discourse through what we now term 'supernatural' phenomena.Playfully rejecting its anachronistic, historically contingent definition, the supernatural here functions as adeliberate construct encompassing a broad range of practices which were, at the time of theReformation, varyingly interpreted as orthodox, heterodox, inexplicable, divine, mystical, conformist orsubversive - such practices include witchcraft, prophesy, spiritual possession, cunning women, ghosts,monstrous births and providential intervention. Crucially, the collective lens of the supernatural allowsthis research to trace the thread of gender - the agency, culpability, constriction and lived experiences ofwomen - throughout a period in which female identity was controlled by doctrine and patriarchy. Unlikemany aspects of religious discourse during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the simple acts ofbearing witness to or discussing the supernatural were accepted and indiscriminatory means ofparticipating in spiritual life, unencumbered by socioeconomic barriers such as illiteracy, theologicaltraining, and material or cultural capital.The supernatural, therefore, exposes the multiple methods by which women both conformed to andconfronted the wider structures of the Reformation, to become willing participants, figures of suspicion,agents of change and victims of suppression. Such multifaceted encounters between gender and thesupernatural underpin the most urgent questions driving this proposed study. What is the relationshipbetween gender and the supernatural? Was the supernatural a means of expressing agency andpartaking in religious life? Was it, therefore, a means of circumventing patriarchal systems? Why werewomen particularly suited to the supernatural? What were the cultural, social, legal, theologicalcircumstances that made this the case?

这项研究将探讨英国宗教改革中的性别观念如何通过我们现在所说的“超自然”现象刺激和促进宗教话语。超自然在这里顽皮地拒绝了其不合时宜的、历史上偶然的定义，它的功能是有意构建的，涵盖了广泛的实践，这些实践在宗教改革时期被不同地解释为正统、异端、难以解释的、 神圣的、神秘的、顺从的或颠覆性的——这些做法包括巫术、预言、精神附体、狡猾的女人、鬼魂、怪物的诞生和天意的干预。至关重要的是，超自然现象的集体视角使这项研究能够追踪性别的线索——女性的代理、罪责、束缚和生活经历——在整个女性身份受到教义和父权制控制的时期。与十六世纪和十七世纪宗教话语的许多方面不同，见证或讨论超自然现象的简单行为被接受，是参与精神生活的不加区别的手段，不受文盲、神学训练、物质或文化资本等社会经济障碍的阻碍。因此，超自然现象暴露了女性顺从的多种方法。 并面对更广泛的宗教改革结构，成为自愿的参与者、可疑人物、变革的推动者和镇压的受害者。性别与超自然现象之间的这种多方面的遭遇是推动这项拟议研究的最紧迫问题的基础。性别与超自然现象有何关系？超自然现象是表达能动性和参与宗教生活的一种手段吗？那么，这是规避父权制度的一种手段吗？为什么女人特别适合超自然现象？造成这种情况的文化、社会、法律、神学环境是什么？