It is often assumed that those outside of academia know very little about the Middle Ages. But the truth is not so simple. Non-specialists in fact learn a great deal from the myriad medievalisms - post-medieval imaginings of the medieval world - that pervade our everyday culture. These, like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, offer compelling, if not necessarily accurate, visions of the medieval world. And more, they have an impact on the popular imagination, particularly since there are new medievalisms constantly being developed, synthesised and remade.
But what does the public really know? How do the conflicting medievalisms they consume contribute to their knowledge? And why is this important?
In this book, the first evidence-based exploration of the wider public's understanding of the Middle Ages, Paul B. Sturtevant adapts sociological methods to answer these important questions. Based on extensive focus groups, the book details the ways - both formal and informal - that people learn about the medieval past and the many other ways that this informs, and even distorts, our present. In the process, Sturtevant also sheds light, in more general terms, onto the ways non-specialists learn about the past, and why understanding this is so important. The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination will be of interest to anyone working on medieval studies, medievalism, memory studies, medieval film studies, informal learning or public history.
- 309 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Transcription Conventions
- Introduction
- 1. The Public Understanding of the Past
- 2. Their Understanding of the Middle Ages
- 3. Learning History from Film
- 4. The Medieval Film
- 5. The Middle Ages They Watched
- 6. The Medieval Worlds They Found
- 7. Discussion, Conclusions, and Looking Forward
- Appendix A Using Social Science Methods to Study Historical Consciousness
- Appendix B Methodology of The Middle Ages in the Popular Imagination Study
- Notes
- Works Cited
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Yes, you can access The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination by Paul B. Sturtevant in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & European Medieval History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.