CFP: Rethinking Carnival from the Pre-modern to the Present
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Germany, an international conference on the Carnival tradition will be hosted in Frankfurt, Germany from October 5-8, 2023. The deadline for the proposal submission is March 30, 2023.
Research on celebration of the Carnival tradition in different times and places has provided a rich lens into fields ranging from political and social history to the history of everyday life and questions about intangible cultural heritage. The tradition has garnered interest not only amongst historians, but also from scholars working in literary studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and sociology, among others. Throughout the research landscape on Carnival, however, division of period and place have remained persistent barriers which have inhibited examination of the tradition’s evolution and re-inventions across time and space. These divisions have not only been re-enforced by language barriers and the expertise of researchers in particular time periods, but also by the local, regional, and national provenance of an elaborate array of Carnival traditions.
Bridging across these divisions to develop new ideas about the tradition’s historical development necessitates a collaborative approach. Contributions are welcomed that focus on any geographic area or time period, and particularly encourage submissions which shed light on questions about the perceived meaning of the Carnival tradition and Carnival forms in different times and places. The conference aims to animate both reflections about the kind of sources available to this purpose and a comparative discussion about Carnival representations.
Accommodations will be covered, and travel will be reimbursed for participants without sufficient internal funding to cover these expenses. For consideration, please submit an abstract (300-600 words) and a short bio by March 30, 2023 to the emails provided below. The conference is open to the public, but it is requested of non-presenting participants to email in advance to ensure adequate space.
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