Phelpstead, Carl. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Hair Loss, the Tonsure, and Masculinity in Medieval Iceland: Difference between revisions
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==Annotation== | ==Annotation== | ||
[...]a psychoanalytical approach that takes account of historical context might provide a path between cultural constructionism (where because everything is "cultural" the concept of "culture" becomes meaningless) and biological determinism (where biology explains everything, leaving no space for meaning) (cf. Gender is constructed in relation to this social signifier so that, as Robert Mills puts it, the (Lacanian) phallus represents "what male subjects (think they) have and what female subjects (are considered, culturally speaking, to) lack" (2004, 110). Because the phallus, in Lacan's sense, is symbolic, it need not necessarily be associated with the penis. | [...]a psychoanalytical approach that takes account of historical context might provide a path between cultural constructionism (where because everything is "cultural" the concept of "culture" becomes meaningless) and biological determinism (where biology explains everything, leaving no space for meaning) (cf. Gender is constructed in relation to this social signifier so that, as Robert Mills puts it, the (Lacanian) phallus represents "what male subjects (think they) have and what female subjects (are considered, culturally speaking, to) lack" (2004, 110). Because the phallus, in Lacan's sense, is symbolic, it need not necessarily be associated with the penis. | ||
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Inspired by Lacan and Freud’s writings about the phallic symbol and Robert Mills’ analysis of the tonsure in medieval Europe, Phelpstead analyses the function and importance of hair to denote masculinity in medieval Scandinavia. He examines forced shaving, vowed hair-cutting, and the natural loss of hair. Phelpstead analyzes the use of baldness for characters in case studies from ''Egils saga Skallagrímssonar'' and ''Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka''. He examines beardlessness and the tonsure in the context of the Íslendingasögur, particularly using ''Njáls saga''. He discusses some of the historiography of the Celtic tonsure and its appearance, as well as how the tonsure signified feminine characteristics for the clergy that wore it, using grammatical and anecdotal evidence from the sagas. | |||
==Lýsing== | ==Lýsing== | ||
Texta vantar | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
===Egils saga=== | |||
===Njáls saga=== | |||
[[Njála,_020| Chapter 20]]: ''' hann ók eigi í skegg sér ''': “One may say that in general to be bald, to be unable to grow a beard, or to have one’s hair cut off is taken as symbolic of a lack of masculinity and to that extent is comparable to the emasculating effects of castration; insofar as the Lacanian phallus is implicated in the construction of gender, then hair may be seen as “loosely analogous” to it. Nevertheless, the detailed picture is more complex and more ambivalent than this.” (p. 15) | |||
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
* ''Written by:'' Carl Phelpstead | * ''Written by:'' Carl Phelpstead/Jane Kern | ||
* ''Icelandic translation:'' | * ''Icelandic translation:'' | ||
[[Category:Njáls saga]][[Category:Njáls saga:_Articles]][[Category:Authors]][[Category:All entries]] | [[Category:Egils saga]][[Category:Egils saga:_Articles]][[Category:Njáls saga]][[Category:Njáls saga:_Articles]][[Category:Authors]][[Category:All entries]] | ||
Latest revision as of 14:34, 4 June 2019
- Author: Phelpstead, Carl
- Title: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Hair Loss, the Tonsure, and Masculinity in Medieval Iceland
- Published in: Scandinavian Studies 85/1
- Year: 2013
- Pages: 1-19
- E-text: ProQuest
- Reference: Phelpstead, Carl. "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Hair Loss, the Tonsure, and Masculinity in Medieval Iceland." Scandinavian Studies 85/1 (2013): 1-19.
- Key words:
Annotation
[...]a psychoanalytical approach that takes account of historical context might provide a path between cultural constructionism (where because everything is "cultural" the concept of "culture" becomes meaningless) and biological determinism (where biology explains everything, leaving no space for meaning) (cf. Gender is constructed in relation to this social signifier so that, as Robert Mills puts it, the (Lacanian) phallus represents "what male subjects (think they) have and what female subjects (are considered, culturally speaking, to) lack" (2004, 110). Because the phallus, in Lacan's sense, is symbolic, it need not necessarily be associated with the penis.
Inspired by Lacan and Freud’s writings about the phallic symbol and Robert Mills’ analysis of the tonsure in medieval Europe, Phelpstead analyses the function and importance of hair to denote masculinity in medieval Scandinavia. He examines forced shaving, vowed hair-cutting, and the natural loss of hair. Phelpstead analyzes the use of baldness for characters in case studies from Egils saga Skallagrímssonar and Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka. He examines beardlessness and the tonsure in the context of the Íslendingasögur, particularly using Njáls saga. He discusses some of the historiography of the Celtic tonsure and its appearance, as well as how the tonsure signified feminine characteristics for the clergy that wore it, using grammatical and anecdotal evidence from the sagas.
Lýsing
Texta vantar
See also
References
Egils saga
Njáls saga
Chapter 20: hann ók eigi í skegg sér : “One may say that in general to be bald, to be unable to grow a beard, or to have one’s hair cut off is taken as symbolic of a lack of masculinity and to that extent is comparable to the emasculating effects of castration; insofar as the Lacanian phallus is implicated in the construction of gender, then hair may be seen as “loosely analogous” to it. Nevertheless, the detailed picture is more complex and more ambivalent than this.” (p. 15)
Links
- Written by: Carl Phelpstead/Jane Kern
- Icelandic translation:
