[H-verkko] CFP: cfp: The Relevance of Laughter in premodernity (1250-1750)

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on tullut seuraava ilmoitus:

cfp: The Relevance of Laughter in premodernity (1250-1750)

Centre for Medieval Studies – Call for Papers 

The Relevance of Laughter in premodernity (1250-1750) 

January 16th and 17th 2009 

Laughter is involved in a wide variety of historical phenomena such
as laughing kings in medieval chronicles, carnevalistic feasts,
literary parody or defamatory libels. Historians have frequently
highlighted the general relevance of laughter to the history of
political cultures. Resonance in historiography seems limited to the
study of the 19th and 20th centuries, while laughter in the era from
the late Middle Ages to the French Revolu-tion has been considerably
less studied. One of the main reasons for this is the predominance of
theories with broader claims, such as that of Mikhail Bachtin’s
‘theory of carnivalesque’. Although this inspiring the-ory was
criticized for its lack of empirical foundation, impulses towards a
fundamental reevaluation of the field remain rare. 

The aim of this workshop is, therefore, to summarize existing
research of historical laughter in literary stud-ies, (historical)
psychology, more recent anthropology as well as interdisciplinary
work. A constructive syn-thesis of studies in the field of humour,
laughter and public communication should lead to a development in
empirical case studies. While the main emphasis should be on debating
ongoing research projects, there is also room for methodological
discussions regarding the historical re-conceptualization of
emotions. 

In preparation for the ‘in-house’-discussions, an efficient web space
will be made available to all participants, providing introductory
bibliographical information as well as a platform for forum
discussions
(http://vc.uni-bamberg.de/moodle/course/view.php?id!87). Speakers
are asked to send the text of their presentation in pdf-format by
January 2nd 2009; while the presentations are restricted to short
introductions of main theses and empirical examples, all participants
are encouraged to prepare discussions at least two weeks before the
conference. This allows presentations of four invited keynote
speakers, shorter presentations of shared pa-pers, as well as the
discussion of papers selected for the planned publication. 

We encourage participation from any relevant discipline and welcome
PhD students. The Otto-Friedrich-Universitaet Bamberg provides for
intense discussions with all the students studying for the degree of
“BA in Medieval Studies” as well as with the university’s public of a
thriving community of scholars working mainly in the fields of
cultural studies. The character of the workshop is explorative;
therefore, there will be a section for work in progress as well.
Please send an abstract of no more than two pages (including
title/sources/theses/very short CV) until September 26th 2008 to
zemas at uni-bamberg.de. Within the limits of received funding, speakers
will be reimbursed for the cost of travel. Selected contributions and
results of the workshop will be published shortly after the
conference, both in print and in permanent online-access of the
“University of Bamberg Press”. 

This interdisciplinary workshop is funded by the Center of Medieval
Studies of the Otto-Friedrich-Universitaet Bamberg (ZEMAS). As a
research seminar it will be part of the curriculum for students of
“Me-dieval Studies”, a program offered by the ZEMAS. 

For submissions and inquiries mail to: 

Center for Medieval Studies (ZEMAS) 
“Laughter” 
Am Kranen 10 
96047 Bamberg 
www.uni-bamberg.de/zemas/news/kolloquium_valenzen_des_lachens/ 
email: zemas at uni-bamberg.de 
or contact: 
Stefan Biessenecker, stefan.biessenecker at uni-bamberg.de 
Dr. Christian Kuhn, christian.kuhn at uni-bamberg.de

------------------------------------------------------
Ilmoituksen lähetti: Outi Hupaniittu <ousini at utu.fi>
Ilmoitus vanhentuu: 02.01.2009
Lisätietoja WWW-osoitteesta:
http://www.uni-bamberg.de/zemas/news/kolloquium_valenzen_des_lachens/