Research in Contemporary World Literature

Research in Contemporary World Literature

Power Struggle in Medieval Liturgies

Abstract
The Medieval period is usually known for the demise of dramatic literature mainly because the Church considered "acting" a sin unless supervised by authorities. This article, by reviewing performance strategies common among European people in the medieval period, discusses people's interventionist roles in re/shaping liturgical 'texts'. It argues that the religious rituals of the period were sites of socio-political tensions between authorities, on the one hand, and the people, on the other. The aim is to challenge the dominant idea of the pre-modern era, that is, the medieval period, in which power was disseminated to people on a top-to-bottom basis only. In other words, the article contends that people were busy negotiating their own versions of body/politic(s) with authorities.
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