Abstract:
This project draws on research in the history of emotions, affect theory, and ecocritical theory to investigate how medieval texts from the insular North Atlantic (Ireland, Britain, and Iceland) represent the intersection between environment and emotion. The purpose of the project is to examine how texts depict landscapes as 'emotional', i.e., possessing emotions and exhibiting emotional responses, and also how environments are shown to elicit, influence, or interact with human emotions.
Presentations of the project
2026
- Mills, Kristen May (May 2026): Delivered keynote lecture: “'The Plain of Conchobhar is the Ark:’ Writing about the Flood in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland,” Societas Celtologica Nordica Symposium, Helsinki.
- Mills, Kristen May (July 2026): The paper “Dust to Dust: Affective Asynchrony,” presented at the panel Eco-Emotions in Old Norse Literature, II: Comparative Perspectives, at Leeds International Medieval Congress.
- Mills, Kristen May (September 2026): The paper “Baile Binnbérlach mac Búain and the Botany of Desire,” presented at the Eco-Emotions on Earth Conference, University of Oslo.
2025
- Mills, Kristen May (July 2025): The paper “Emotional Environments: Troubled Waters,” presented in the session “Medieval Ecocriticisms, II: Depicting Places, Landscapes, and Environments” at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, UK.
- Mills, Kristen May (November 2025): "Thinking with Floods in Medieval Ireland,” Lecture for the Research Group Literature & Religion at the University of Bergen.