Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland

Judith L. Bishop, Mills College, USAAnn Dooley, University of Toronto, CanadaJoanne Findon, Trent University, CanadaGiselle Gos, Harvard University, USAAmy C. Mulligan, University of Bergen, NorwayMáirín Ní Dhonnchadha, National University of Ireland, Galway, IrelandJennifer Karyn Reid, University of Amsterdam, NetherlandsSarah Sheehan, Independent Scholar, TorontoCatherine Swift, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland

"This book is a groundbreaking re-reading of gender construction in Medieval Ireland. Despite Ireland's unique early literature, there has been little produced on this topic, and it is a joy to find contributions from such scholars in one volume. This book will be welcomed for its scope and depth as an invaluable addition to the general medieval field of gender studies, for the amateur and professional scholar alike." - Muireann Ni Bhrolchain, Senior Lecturer, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland "The unruly sex-gender systems of medieval Irish literature remain nearly as much a scandal to the conservative heteronormativism of modern scholarship in the field as they were to Romanizing churchmen, proto-colonialist Normans, and Elizabethan carpet-baggers. This collection, at long last, clarifies what scholars of medieval gender have to learn from Irish texts, and why it's high time for Celticists, in their turn, to engage more fully the gender-critical insights of the last three decades." - David Townsend, Professor of Medieval Studies and English, University of Toronto, Canada "[A] genuine conversation about the gendered implications of medieval Irish literature .Until the recent vote on same-sex marriage, the Irish have rarely taken a revolutionary lead in the battle for gender equity. The authors of this volume, led by Mulligan and Dooley, suggest that Irish ambivalence about sexuality and gender boundaries has its origins in the medieval past." - The Medieval Review

• Introduction: Ann Dooley and Sarah Sheehan 1. Travelers and Settled Folk: Women, Honor, and Shame in Medieval Ireland ; Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha 2. Sex in the civitas : Early Irish Intellectuals and their Vision of Women; Catherine Swift 3. Looking for 'Mr. Right' in Tochmarc Becfhola ; Joanne Findon 4. Playing for Power: Macha Mongrúad's Sovereign Performance; Amy C. Mulligan 5. Feasts for the Eyes: Visuality and Desire in the Ulster Cycle; Sarah Sheehan 6. They Kept their Skirts On: Gender-Bending Motifs in Early Irish Hagiography; Judith L. Bishop 7. Human Frontiers in Medieval Irish Religious Literature; Jennifer Karyn Reid 8. Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Late Medieval Irish Rómánsaíochta ; Giselle Gos 9. Speaking with Forked Tongues: Gender and Narrative in the Acallam ; Ann Dooley