This project examines mystical discourse in medieval India and medieval England as a site for the construction of new images of women and the feminine. I study the poems of three women mystics from western India, Muktabai (c. 1279-1297), Janabai (c. 1270-1350) and Bahinabai (c. 1628-1700) in conjunction with the prose accounts of the two most celebrated women mystics of late medieval England, Julian of Norwich (c. 1343-after 1413) and Margery Kempe (c. 1373-after 1438). My principal areas of inquiry are: self-authorizing strategies, conceptions of divinity, and the treatment of the domestic. I find that the three Hindu mystics deploy a single figure, the guru, as their primary source of spiritual authority. In contrast, the self-authorization of Julian and Margery is more diffuse, for the two mystics record testimony from a variety of sources, including Christ himself, to prove their spiritual credentials. The texts under scrutiny offer variously gendered models of the divine; three of the five mystics show preference for a feminized god. Julian and Bahinabai invest their deities with physical and mental attributes that were labelled feminine, such as feeding and nurturing. However, both women accept God’s sexed body as fundamentally male. Janabai is the most innovative of the mystics in her gendering of the divine; her deity Vitthal’s sexed body can be either male or female, although (s)he typically undertakes chores that were the province of women. Janabai is not the only mystic to attempt a reconciliation of the domestic and the spiritual. As narrated in the Booke, Christ expresses willingness to help Margery with her baby, although the text is silent about whether this offer was accepted or not. In addition, Margery undertakes domestic tasks for God and his family, thus investing them with a new dignity. My study demonstrates that as the mystics address questions of women’s relationship with the divine, they go beyond binary frameworks, positing fluid boundaries between male and female, body and spirit, and mundane and spiritual. Thus, these texts can be harnessed to engage creatively with the model of inclusive feminine spirituality expounded by feminist thinker Luce Irigaray, particularly in Between East and West (2002). / text

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-02-16T13:54:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 carlosfredericobarbozadesouza.pdf: 2789665 bytes, checksum: 6df111460266f9263387d9e5f50f64d3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-02-20T17:42:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 carlosfredericobarbozadesouza.pdf: 2789665 bytes, checksum: 6df111460266f9263387d9e5f50f64d3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-20T17:42:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 carlosfredericobarbozadesouza.pdf: 2789665 bytes, checksum: 6df111460266f9263387d9e5f50f64d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-07-31 / O objetivo desta tese é estabelecer uma comparação entre a concepção de coração presente nos escritos de Ibn ‘Arabī de Múrcia (1165-1240) e João da Cruz (1542-1591). Para isto, a mesma se divide em três partes, sendo a primeira centrada no pensamento de Ibn ‘Arabī sobre Deus, o cosmo em sua dinamicidade, o ser humano e seu processo de ascensão espiritual rumo à aniquilação e subsistência no Real. A segunda parte se centra no pensamento de João da Cruz, também procurando descrever sua concepção acerca de Deus, da natureza e do ser humano, assim como do processo espiritual com suas Noites e de seu clímax na unio mystica . Já a terceira parte é o cerne da tese e aborda especificamente como estes dois místicos compreendem o coração e seu papel na jornada espiritual. Assim, serão percorridos textos de ambos, que demonstram que o coração é concebido como centro da pessoa e da experiência mística. Ao mesmo tempo ele se constitui de maneira dinâmica e fluídica, capaz de assumir diversas formas no processo de acolhida do Real decorrente de seu polimento que lhe torna espelho por excelência das manifestações divinas. Centrados no evento cordial , Ibn ‘Arabī e João da Cruz desenvolverão uma cardio gnosis e, ao mesmo tempo, uma religio cordis . Sobressai a semelhança com que ambos tratam esta questão e a singularidade joãocruciana, que trabalha com algumas concepções quase que exclusivas da mística muçulmana. / The aim of this thesis is to establish a comparison between the concept of heart found in the writings of Ibn ‘Arabī of Múrcia (1165-1240) and John of the Cross (1542-1591). To articulate this, the thesis is divided into three parts; the first section centres on Ibn ‘Arabī thoughts about God, the cosmos in its dynamism, the human being and the process of his spiritual ascension towards annihilation and subisisntence in the Real. The second part focuses on the thoughts of John of the Cross. It also tries to describe his conception of God, nature and the human being, as well as the spiritual process with his Nights ( Noites ) and of his climax in the Unio Mystica . The third part, however, is the core element of this thesis and it raises the question specifically of how these two mystical men understand the heart and its role through the spiritual journey. Thus, texts from both writers have been examed and they show that the heart is conceived as the centre of a person and of the mystical experience. At the same time, it is formed in a dynamic and fluid manner, capable of assuming many forms in the process of embracing the Real due to the fact that it was polished and thus becoming a mirror for excellence of the divine manifestations. Centred in the hearty event ( cordial evento ) Ibn ‘Arabī and John of the Cross's work will help to develop a Cardio Gnosis and, at the same time, a Religio Cordis . What stands out is the similarity with which both writers address this subject and the singularity of John of the Cross's writings which work with some conceptions that are almost exclusive to Muslin mysticism.