About Kathryn Dickason
Cambria, California
Kathryn Dickason (CBA ’22) is a Public Relations Specialist at Simmons University (Boston) whose academic work focuses on Western medieval Christianity. She has published numerous articles on medieval dance, religion, performance, iconography, gender, Dante, and sign theory. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral fellow and visiting scholar at the University of Southern California. Her first book, Ringleaders of Redemption: How Medieval Dance Became Sacred, was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. Currently, she is guest editing a special issue of postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies, entitled “Legacies of Medieval Dance” (forthcoming September 2023), and is writing her second book on Western medieval dance iconography housed at American museums and archives.
Medieval Dance: Treasures from the Morgan and Beyond
At CBA, Kathryn Dickason pursued her second book, a study on Western medieval dance iconography tentatively entitled Medieval Dance: Treasures from the Morgan and Beyond. Based largely on illustrated medieval European manuscripts from the Morgan Library and Museum (NYC) collection, this project may be the first comprehensive study of Western medieval dance iconography in the English language. The book project analyzes visual representations of biblical dancers, court dancers, peasant dancers, dances of love, dances of death, and much more. In doing so, this study unveils the complex relationship between medieval dance and religion, aesthetics, and social class. At CBA, Dickason worked on smaller-scale projects that explore medieval European dance from the perspectives of enchantment, race, and colonization.
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