This research project analyses the way religious life and religious understanding influenced the lived experience and everyday life of people with physical and mental disabilities in Europe from the Late Middle Ages to the industrial revolution. By analysing a large set of religious and secular archival material from the period of ca. 1450-1850, the project will reveal the continuities and changes in the ways bodies and minds that were deemed different were viewed, and the role faith played in this. This will also increase undrestanding and help untangling the processes that have led to the marginalised position of disabled people in the modern, western world. The project is conducted at Tampere University.

2021

2025