2nd EUI Conference in Visual and Material Culture Studies - Scandalous Feasts and Holy Meals: Food in Medieval and Early Modern Societies (12th-18thc)
25th May 2021
European University Institute, Florence (via Zoom)
Organizing committee: Moïra Dato, Matthias Ebejer, Ana Struillou
From medieval Western Europe to the early modern Spanish Americas and Asia, scholarship dealing with foodways and foodstuffs has considerably evolved in the last decades. From the questions of local consumption practices, global flows of commodities to evolving tastes, new studies shed light on the intricate significance of food to early modern societies across the globe. Going beyond the essential character of drinks and foodstuffs for the survival of the human body, food consumption is now also being considered as an economic, social, religious and cultural marker. While the enjoyment of a meal can bring communities together, foodways and foodstuffs are also inherent to (sometimes violent) strategies of exclusion, resistance and protest. If texts provide precious information, material and visual sources have been increasingly used by historians to inform the study of food-related practices in past societies.
The researcher-led Visual and Material History Working Group of the European University Institute in Florence invites participants to a one-day conference on the visual and material culture of the history of food in medieval and early modern societies. We welcome proposals covering any aspect of food history, from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Papers should discuss the methodology and the perspectives brought by the use of objects and visual representations as source material. We aim for this conference to reach beyond the bounds of historical scholarship and therefore warmly welcome papers from the fields of history of art and archaeology.
Proposals may include, but are not limited to: