Location
University of Helsinki/Turku Castle (hybrid format)
The annual conference of the Society for Court Studies, organized by the European Branch Committee in partnership with the Department of History at the University of Helsinki, will take place in hybrid format at the University of Helsinki and Turku Castle on 1–3 September 2022.
Recent years have seen increased attention paid to the individual bodies that made up premodern royal and princely courts, and how the courtly environment shaped the corporal experiences of everyone involved, from the ruler down to the servants. This interdisciplinary conference will explore the physicality of the court in four key contexts from across the lifecycle: bodies being born and giving birth; bodies as sexual actors or objects; bodies in courtly lifestyles; and dead and dying bodies. These common experiences were not one-size-fits-all, but took on particular political, social, and cultural consequence in the charged atmosphere of the court (which they in turn helped define).
Keynote speakers are Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly (University of Oxford), Svante Norrhem (Lund University), and Anu Lahtinen (University of Helsinki).
Early bird registration closes 15 July, and normal registration closes 15 August.
Further information, including the conference programme and registration for in-person or online attendance, can be found at https://www.embodiedcourtconference.com/