24 Jun, 8pm: Online talk. MIDWIVES OR MISFITS? UNRULY WOMEN AND THE EUROPEAN WITCH TRIALS
Online talk presented by Romany Reagan, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
The idea of the persecuted female folk herbal healer reaches its archetypal zenith in our modern-day concept of The Witch of early modern Europe. But this image has often been used as an ideological football held up by various movements throughout the 20th century to forward a specific world view. Did the witch hunts really persecute female healers, manifesting in their centuries-long slog into intellectual oblivion? Women have long been associated with the healing arts across cultures and time. Findings from archaeological digs of Anglo-Saxon England and re-examined colonial descriptions of indigenous healers in the Americas all point to a rich global heritage of female prominence in medicine. But somewhere along the way medicine—even obstetrics—became a male-dominated field throughout Europe. The multifaceted factors that lead to this sea-change took centuries to develop and fracture into various political, religious, cultural, and economic catalysts. Along this same timeline, the late Middle Ages in Europe, the witch craze began. Did the witch hunts reframe the role of women in their communities? This talk re-examines the evidence of the long-timeline European Witch Trials (1300s-1700s), the various cultural shifts that led to this shocking massacre of women, and what society made of the aftermath.
A zoom link will be sent prior to the talk to the email address provided when booking. Video replay will be available after the event for all ticket holders to watch back.