Two main focuses have structured the identity of the Lab of Theory and History of Medieval Media (LATHIMM) among the Brazilian medieval studies: the study of medieval material culture (found especially in images, music and writing), as well as the theoretical tools to work with such historical documents. Therefore, it is the study of the materiality of the document and of its production, as well as the use and establishment of the most accurate theoretical-methodological tools to this kind of study, that define the scope of the academic activities of LATHIMM, and not really geographical, chronological or even thematical frameworks .
On the other hand, the choice by the term “media” it is not accidental. It evokes, at same time, the already mentioned preoccupation with medieval material culture and the wish to study more deeply the current mediatic uses of certain medievality (in movies, music, literature, for instance); all through a term of great semantic richness in a medieval context, due to the fact that the Latin word medium refers to the capital role exercised by the Church a great producer of documents through the Middle Ages) as the mediator between the men and between them and the divinity; it was by the mediation (and the communication, this is, the religious communion of the community) that different medieval societies were organized.
Publishers:
Gabriel Castanho – Editor.