|
|
|
The Excremental Imagination: Disgust, Compassion, and Laughter in Medieval Japan
Rajyashree Pandey
|
|
|
When?
|
Wed 1 October 2025, 6pm (UK Time)
|
|
Where?
|
Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), Russell Square: College Buildings, SOAS University of London
|
|
Open to?
|
Students, scholars, public, alumni
|
|
Registration
|
This event is free, but registration is required
|
|
|
|
This lecture takes the reader on a journey into uncharted territory, tracking the presence of faecal matter in the diverse narratives of medieval Japan. It addresses a subject which, for the most part, has been excised from public and intellectual life because
it is seen as too disgusting or infantile to merit serious academic attention.
The body and excrement, it argues, were neither maligned nor celebrated in medieval Japan, as was usually the case in medieval Christian writings, but instead carried significations that are likely to strike us as surprising and unexpected. Excrement was used
as a metaphor for the foul and evanescent nature of the body, while at the same time made to work as a positive force, as an instrument of compassion, that ensured the salvation of humans, animals, and hungry ghosts who were associated with it. The humorous
tales about shit and farts in medieval Japan, it suggests, were less about transgressing social norms and more in the nature of literary games.
Here we encounter a high-born lady who farts in her lover’s presence, an eccentric monk who defecates in the imperial precincts, and a noted calligrapher who uses an imperial anthology of poetry to mop up his diarrhea. Urging us to cast aside our contemporary
prejudices, this lecture invites us to better understand and appreciate a world very different from our own.
This event will be followed by a reception in the Cloister, Paul Webley Wing (Senate House).
|
|
Do you have event information or a notice you'd like including in the next bulletin?
Please send notices to cen...@soas.ac.uk and we will endeavour to
include. Events associated with the JRC or organised by SOAS will be prioritised over external events.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2025 Centres and Institutes Office, SOAS University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG.
All rights reserved.
JRC Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this email is as accurate as possible at the time it is sent. We cannot guarantee, however, that subsequent changes have not been
made. Readers are advised to check information relating to scheduled events on the
SOAS
website or by using the contact information provided. Our mailing address is
cen...@soas.ac.uk
We hope that you find this service useful but if you do wish to remove your name from the list simply reply back to this email listing your email address and the
word UNSUBSCRIBE
|
|
|
|
|
|
