Description:

The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program

Presents

A Montgomery Lecture

With

Lily Stewart, PhD
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and English 
Northwestern University
Adjunct Professor in the Honors Humanities Program
Loyola University Chicago

Memory, Transformation, and the Communal Leprous Body in 
Premodern Christian Thought

This lecture will examine how medieval people with leprosy imagined the processes by which their bodies and identities transformed. Leprosy was a degenerative condition that often carried a long prognosis and significant changes in mobility, appearance, and social positioning. We will explore how people with the disease were often caught between the memories of their former, healthy identities, and the realities of their ailing presents. At the same time, we will consider how memory was used to craft communities of care around and among leprous people that centered on the inherent mutability of human flesh, and the potential of all bodies to become leprous. 

This lecture will be held in person for Northwestern students, faculty, and staff—in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior). Chicago Campus. For those outside the Northwestern community and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, the Zoom option will continue to be available.

** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
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