Mental, Physical and Ontological Boundaries of the Human in Old Norse literature

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This research investigates the ways in which Old Norse texts grapple with processes of embodiment, fragmentation andpermeability. Spanning the scholarly frameworks of posthumanism, disability studies, thing theory, and new materialism,it will examine how the individuals creating and consuming these texts-from the sagas to the myths-explored themental, physical and ontological boundaries of the 'human', envisioning man to be critically enmeshed in an agentivematerial world. A dual focused will be maintained on somatic loss and mutilation, and somatic 'gain' and mutation throughthe extension of the body by various prosthetics and appendages. See full research proposal below for more information.