Alicia Smith
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timekeptcity.bsky.social
Alicia Smith
@timekeptcity.bsky.social
57 followers 35 following 8 posts
Researcher and teacher in medieval studies. Currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bergen, Norway, researching sex, money, and power in the story of the 'harlot saint' Thais.
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timekeptcity.bsky.social
Calling anyone interested in saints, sanctity, and the weird and wonderful world of primary sources outside the conventional hagiography form! ❤️‍🔥
New Workshop Series: Call for Participants Saints Outside Hagiography We invite expressions of interest to participate in a new series of online workshops examining how saints and holy people are represented outside the classic form of the single-text hagiography, what Thomas J. Heffernan calls the ‘sacred biography’. This group aims to bring together scholars interested in saints and sanctity across global history and culture, to explore how they are constructed in other forms—poetry, visual art, sermons, letters, monuments, drama, chronicles, liturgy, objects, didactic literature, and others—in an informal, work-in-progress format focused on discussion of primary sources from any historical period. We envision each meeting consisting of 1-2 brief presentations, with the text or object and a short description or summary (max 500 words) circulated in advance along with one or two questions for discussion. If you have a historical source or item related to sanctity that you would like to bring to an interdisciplinary forum, please get in touch with Laura Moncion (laura.moncion@philosophie.uni-tuebingen.de) and Alicia Smith (alicia.smith@uib.no) by 15 January 2026 with a brief description, your career stage and institutional affiliation if any. Guidelines: • The chronological and geographical scope is intentionally open. We are happy to receive proposals that argue for definitions of saint / sanctity outside the mainstream. • Speakers are free to contest whether a text is ‘outside hagiography’ or ‘not a classic hagiography’—the goal is to study saints and the construction of saint/sanctity beyond canonical textual forms, including troubling our understanding of those forms. • If your source is not in English, you will need to include an English translation.
November 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
timekeptcity.bsky.social
I've been in Bergen for a couple of weeks now, getting used to a new city and new institution. It's really exciting to have two years in front of me for research! I'll be digging further into the figure of Thais in medieval culture, & thinking through modern responses (and responsibilities) to her.
A fountain built into a flight of steps in Bergen, Norway A detail of a medieval manuscript initial Q with Thais depicted inside, in an elaborate dress, with a long-necked bird at her feet.
September 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
timekeptcity.bsky.social
Wishing I was back beside Lac Léman instead of roasting in Oxford! I got to go to Lausanne (and the Chateau de Chillon as pictured) last week, for the wonderful 'Holy Harlots / Saintes Ribaudes' symposium held at @unil.bsky.social by Juliette Vuille & Prunelle Deleville. www.unil.ch/events/en/17...
June 30, 2025 at 2:25 PM