Launched in September 2022, the SHAPE Futures is an early- and mid-career network for the disciplines of the humanities, creative arts and social sciences. Our purpose is to ensure the humanities, arts and social sciences thrive and excel in Australia, by fostering an inclusive and diverse community that supports, empowers and promotes Australian early and mid-career researchers, within and beyond academia.
We would like to encourage those who might consider themselves to be early or mid-career researchers (typically up to 15 years post-PhD, excluding career interruptions) to join the Network; there is no cost to join. Our website provides information on ways that the network can support EMCRs, including advocacy, networking opportunities, and increased visibility of opportunities, resources, and avenues of support. A crucial part of our work is our EMCR cohort survey, which will help build our understanding of the needs of this diverse group, informing our strategies for representation, advocacy, opportunities and network-building. The survey closes in mid-March.
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Daily Archives: 24 February 2023
CFP Royal Spectacle and Court Performance: Medieval and Early Modern Perspectives
Royalty has often been accompanied by spectacle, ritual, and excess. Monarchs have exploited public space to exert authority, express anger or encourage love, deploying high-profile and fantastic rituals or displays to communicate with their publics. Clothing, accessories, gifts, food, and other materials have been used to build friendships, negotiate social hierarchies, or to convey displeasure. Art, statuary, monuments and buildings, as well as the more ephemeral prints, ribbons, or household goods, have been used as propaganda and to further a performance of power. Art and material goods were often part of elaborate performances at court, on stage, in the press, or on the street, where spectacle was embodied and communicated as identity, power and privilege. Such activities were replete with emotion, as courtiers sought to build or
negotiate relationships, encourage awe or affection, and promote appreciation of systems of monarchical power and divine right. This workshop explores royal spectacles and court performances in the medieval and early modern world and now calls for papers that speak to this theme.
Topics can include but are not limited to:
Displays of monarchical power or identity
Court performances and interactions
Fashion diplomacy and dress
Gift-giving, hospitality and generosity
Abundance and excess
Ephemeral displays
Print power and the monarch in the public sphere
The audiences for monarchical displays and court performances
Displays of emotion and the capacity of performance to promote feeling
Drama, theatre, and literary court performances
Medieval and Early Modern spectacles in the modern era
Gender, race, class as spectacle
Deadline for proposals 30 April 2023.
Please email proposals to courtlyperformances@gmail.com
