When you wake up every morning and get dressed, you probably don’t stop to think that you’re taking part in a millennia-old cultural tradition. How you choose to look is all part of the long history of humans altering their appearance to make a statement - from self-expression and individuality to signalling which group you belong to.
Join Eleanor Janega and a panel of experts to explore the weird, wonderful and fascinating history of body modification - from tattoos to outlandish clothing and hairdos, piercings to diets.
The panel comprises Dr Matt Lodder of the University of Essex, an art historian who works on tattoos and body piercings; Dr Susan Vincent from the University of York, a cultural historian of clothing and hair; and Dr Eleanor Barnett from Cardiff University, who is a cultural and religious historian with a particular interest in the history of food.
Ask yourself why you chose to present yourself the way you did today - and how that decision is part of an age long process of body modification that is inherently human.
Up Next in Documentaries
-
Medieval Apocalypse
For medieval people, the apocalypse was not some distant prophecy—it was an imminent reality shaping their lives.
In Medieval Apocalypse, historian Dr. Eleanor Janega embarks on a journey through England and France to uncover how our ancestors understood the end of days. From the terrifying vis...
-
Exploring the Medieval Afterlife with...
Ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night! Dr Eleanor Janega delves into the medieval phantasmic to find out what their restless dead can tell us about the worries of the living. Because if we want to understand what makes another society tick, it helps to take a look at what makes them...
-
Life and Death in Medieval London
Medieval historian Dr Eleanor Janega takes us on a whistle-stop tour across London, visiting some key historical sites and shining a light on the various communities of medieval London.
10 Comments