Deutsches Historisches Institut London; Angela Schattner (Web)

Venue: London
Time: 19.-21.05.2016
Proposals due: 08.11.2015

This conference looks at practices of leisure, recreation and sociability in pre-modern societies and how these were reflected in and shaped by spatial practices. As is the case today, sociable, leisure and recreational practices and events were important means for strengthening associations and social bonds, creating local and regional identities, and maintaining distinctions. While the role and practices of sociability in clubs, societies and guilds have been well explored in recent decades, their connections with leisure and recreation have been neglected. Sociability has in recent years featured prominently in histories of consumer societies and material culture. A new interest in spatiality has also led to an intensive investigation of sociable public places such as coffee houses, clubs, salons, shops, and taverns and their connection with the emergence of a (political) public sphere. Read more and source … (Web)