Wickham, Chris. Gossip and resistance among the medieval peasantry.
- Author: Wickham, Chris
- Title: Gossip and resistance among the medieval peasantry
- Published in: Past and Present 160
- Year: 1998
- Pages: 3-24
- E-text: jstor
- Reference: Wickham, Chris. "Gossip and resistance among the medieval peasantry." Past and Present 160 (August 1998): 3-24.
- Key words:
Annotation
In this article, Wickham highlights the study of gossip as a social and literary function, elevating it from its previously neglected status in academia. Wickham examines the role that gossip plays in identity formation, moralization, and resistance, particularly in the form of gossip among medieval peasantry, although the implications of this study reaches far beyond the medieval period. Wickham defines gossip as the simple act of talking about someone behind their back — and specifies this definition further by defining what it is not: is not necessarily malicious, gendered, idle, exclusively concerning idle behavior, or always untrue. Most importantly, he defines it as transactional: it establishes and structures relationships between people. In the medieval world, gossip (or publica fama) played an essential role in how feuds were decided — via the public, agreed upon personas of all parties involved. Gossip created "agreed truths" within society, and could be used as an active or passive form of resistance. Wickham uses several examples across medieval Europe, but focuses on Iceland for its numerous narrative-driven sources that shine a clear light on "plausible accounts of social action."
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- Written by: Catelynn Hendrick
- Icelandic/English translation:
