Third Biennial Conference of the Society for the History of Emotions

Florence, 30 August – 2 September 2022

Conveners

Giovanni Tarantino – University of Florence/COST Action PIMo

Benno Gammerl – European University Institute

Ida Caiazza – Marie Curie Global Fellow, University of Oslo/New York University

Keynote Speakers

Premesh Lalu – The Africa Institute, Sharjah

Kathryn de Luna – Georgetown University, Washington DC

An ECR keynote, to be announced (see invitation below)

Contact: SHEFlorence22@gmail.com
SHE Website: https://societyhistoryemotions.com/  

The Third Biennial Conference of the Society for the History of Emotions (SHE)
will focus on mobility, migration, exile, traversing of space, and emotions

The current, at times heated debates about migration in Europe, Australia, North America and elsewhere necessitate a profound and critical historical contextualisation, especially from a history-of-emotions point of view. Hope, fear, hatred, empathy, all manner of feelings shape peoples’ movements around the globe and the ways in which newcomers are heartily welcomed, coldly brushed off or fiercely attacked. Using archival, literary and other sources, this conference will explore the emotions that motivate people to go elsewhere, and the emotional responses of displaced peoples and the communities they orbit and join.

We call for papers and panels investigating case studies that concern the movement of people and their feelings about places and other people, from homesickness to wanderlust, from belonging to estrangement. We also want to discuss the political, economical and emotional conditions that instigate transnational movements and inform how men and women cope with and react to these mobilities. We’ll engage with how people who have been socialised in different emotional communities learn to read each other’s emotional gestures and utterances; and will examine the affective entanglement between diasporic communities, their homelands and host communities. In short, we aim to bring research on migration and mobility to bear on the historical study of emotions, and vice versa.

We shall accept papers and panels on the following topics, as well as other potentially relevant topics not listed below:

• explorers, travellers and tourists
• dynamics of emigration, immigration and remigration
• itinerant workers
• slavery and indentured labour
• movements of colonising and colonised subjects
• feelings of inclusion and exclusion, of longing and alienation
• letters and other means by which people maintain affective bonds across countries
• migratory experiences of racism and emotional coping strategies
• emotional practices and narratives of welcome or rejection
• memory, memoires, writing practices related to experiences of migration, displacement, exile
• literary and other accounts of emotional practices linked to separation, return, nostalgia, melancholy, etc.

Chronologically, papers can delve into the ancient, the medieval and early modern, or the modern period. In geographical terms we welcome contributions on local, regional or global mobilities in areas across the world. Transdisciplinary contributions are welcome.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers. Proposals should consist of a title, abstract of up to 300 words and a short bio, to be sent via email as a pdf attachment to SHEFlorence22@gmail.com by 15 February 2022. We also accept proposals for panels of three papers, which should include all of the above for each presenter, a panel title and abstract for the panel itself and, if possible, the name and short bio of the panel chair.

Participants will be notified by late March 2022.

Attention Early Career Researchers!

Aspiring to deliver a keynote lecture at a major international conference? We invite early career researchers (ECRs) to propose a keynote lecture addressing the conference theme. This scheme is open to all topics and areas of expertise in literary/humanities studies broadly defined, and to researchers who are in regular university employment as well as those who are not.

Applicants must:

• have an outstanding research track record relative to opportunity;
• be within five years after award of the PhD (extended to seven years if not in stable university employment or with a significant career interruption).

To apply, please submit a proposed title, an abstract of 300–400 words, a bio, and a CV (3 pages maximum) to SHEFlorence22@gmail.com.

In selecting this keynote, consideration will be given to diversity and broad representation among the group of keynotes. We also reserve the right to seek third-party testimony as to the researcher’s capacity to speak and deliver scholarly presentations. The winning keynote lecturer will have flights, accommodation, and registration covered. The deadline for early career researcher keynote proposals is 15 February 2022.

Conference Details

The conference will begin in the early afternoon of Tuesday 30 August  2022 and end on Friday evening 2 September 2022.

The early bird conference registration fee is AUD340 (c.220 EUR); SHE members: AUD295 (c.190 EUR), concession: AUD215 (c.140 EUR) and includes welcome drinks, buffet lunches and coffee breaks, and access to a dance performance especially commissioned for this conference.

The conference dinner fee is AUD90 (c. 60 EUR).

The fees will need to be paid upon registration, opening on 1 May 2022. The closing date for early bird registrations is 1 June 2022 after which fees will increase by AUD60 (c. 40 EUR). These sums might change slightly at the time of registration, depending on exchange rates.

We anticipate that one conference session might be delivered in a hybrid format with speakers presenting remotely. If you do not intend to join the conference in person, please indicate this in your application.

We further anticipate that certain COVID-19 restrictions will remain in September 2022. A Green Pass (confirming vaccination, recovery or a negative test) will be required, as will social distancing and the wearing of masks. We will obviously follow the regulations that will be in force in Italy in September 2022.

Organising Committee

Katie Barclay (The University of Adelaide), Marcelo Borges (Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania), Ida Caiazza (Marie Curie Global Fellow, University of Oslo/New York University), Benno Gammerl (European University Institute), Catherine-Rose Hailstone (The University of York), Caterina Pagnini (University of Florence), Linda Zampol D’Ortia (Marie Curie Global Fellow, Ca’ Foscari, Venice-ACU, Melbourne), Giovanni Tarantino (University of Florence, Chair of the COST Action PIMo), Charles Zika (The University of Melbourne, Chair of SHE)

900, by Solara Shiha (https://www.tbd.community/en/a/art-is-back). Reproduced with kind permission from the artist

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