Lecture 5: Birthing Bunnies (and other such things)
Complete with illustrations and contemporary written records, this lecture unpacks stories around women giving birth to animals, from rabbits to pigs. It considers the origins of such stories, exploring the possible explanations behind them, and addresses related topics, including witchcraft, psychological duress, miscarriage, early science, and fraud.
For a peak preview of some of the topics we’ll be looking at in this lecture, read Sara Ray’s ‘How Careful She Must Be: Midwives, Maternal Minds, and Monstrous Births’, Lady Science (2019): https://www.ladyscience.com/midwives-maternal-minds-and-monstrous-births/no56
You may also be interested in Sandhya Hegade’s ‘The Tale of Tannakin Skinker — The Pig-Faced Woman of Europe’, Medium (July 18, 2023): https://medium.com/the-collector/the-tale-of-tannakin-skinker-the-pig-faced-woman-of-europe-254e0b1d59c4
Image for Lecture = ‘Tannakin Skinker’, from A Monstrous Shape, or a Shapelesse Monster, 1640
Bio:
Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. She is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality, gender, and the body, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
