Gender and Emotions in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Subtitle: Destroying Order Structuring Disorder
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9781472453273
Subjects: Emotions; Sex role; Social structure; Civil society; Civilization, medieval; Renaissance; Europe, civilization
Description: "States of emotion were vital as a foundation to society in the premodern period, employed as a force of order to structure diplomatic transactions, shape dynastic and familial relationships, and align religious beliefs, practices and communities. At the same time, societies understood that affective states had the potential to destroy order, creating undesirable disorder and instability that had both individual and communal consequences. These had to be actively managed, through social mechanisms such as children's education, acculturation, and training, and also through religious, intellectual, and textual practices that were both socio-cultural and individual. Presenting the latest research from an international team of scholars, this volume argues that the ways in which emotions created states of order and disorder in medieval and early modern Europe were deeply informed by contemporary gender ideologies. Together, they reveal the critical roles that gender ideologies and lived, structured, and desired emotional states played in producing both stability and instability"--