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AH501D: MATERIALISING FAITH: WOMEN, ART AND RELIGION, 1150-1500 (2023-2024)

Last modified: 31 Jul 2023 11:38


Course Overview

During the late medieval period, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means. Equally it focuses on the way in which such devotional works could shape women’s visions and modes of contemplation. Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term First Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Joanne Anderson

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Postgraduate Programme (Studied)
  • Distance Learning

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

  • AH551D Materialising Faith: Women, Art and Religion, 1150-1500 (Passed)

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

During the late medieval period, women played a defining role in the commissioning, making and experiencing of devotional art and architecture. This course explores the opportunities nuns, sisters, mystics, wives and widows had to express their faith, status and power by material means, including the financial circumstances that enabled them to realise their ambitions. Equally the course focuses on the way in which the objects could shape spiritual experiences and modes of contemplation. Close attention is therefore paid to the design of objects and the surviving traces of usage as means to determining their agency.

Case studies are drawn from across Europe, with a primary focus on Italy and Germany during the period 1150-1500. Objects of investigation will include rosaries, dolls, needlework, manuscripts, music, paintings, sculptures and architecture. Alongside the objects of investigation, we will look at the textual sources which help to evaluate the norms and conventions of women’s spiritual experience, including inscriptions, hagiography, confessional literature and vitae.


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Written feedback provided; verbal feedback available on request. Assessment in week 11 of the course; feedback in week 14

Word Count 4000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralAnalyseApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written academic work

Poster Presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Written feedback; verbal feedback on request. Assessment in week 5 of the course; feedback in week 6

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralAnalyseApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written academic work

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Article/book review. Written feedback provided, verbal feedback is available on request. Assessement in week 8 of the course, feedback in week 11

Word Count 2500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralAnalyseApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written academic work

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Written feedback

Word Count 5000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyDemonstrate a broad understanding of women as makers and consumers of devotional art and architecture during the middle ages and Renaissance.
ProceduralAnalyseApply knowledge of objects and texts critically evaluate for the interpretation of women’s materialised faith.
ProceduralEvaluateShow a critical understanding of medieval and Renaissance discourses on gendered experiences of art and devotional practice.
ReflectionCreateDemonstrate confidence in researching, organising and delivering written academic work

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