Recovering Women’s Identities between Centre and Periphery

Senate House, Malet Street, London, , March 5, 2020 - March 6, 2020
Deadline for submission/application: November 30, 2019

This two-day conference aims to recover and put across the voices of women across Europe who defied the existing order and the rules of society. It intends to recover the forgotten voices and experiences of these women, who might not have had a prominent role in their world during their lifetimes, but, nevertheless, contributed to shape our present. For centuries, concepts such as infirmitas, imbecillitas and levitas were considered key characteristics of women. Therefore, the construction of the identities of both women and men was framed by the dichotomy between the private and the public sphere, and by the opposition between obedience, a woman’s virtue, and command, the prerogative of men. Beyond the conceptualisation and idealisation of the female sex, however, a close investigation of everyday realities questions this long-standing, stereotyped notion of women, uncovering a different scenario, including women who did not passively accept their status. In a static, hierarchical, male-dominated society, some of these women reacted against the constraints imposed upon them and challenged their family, their society, their worlds. Theirs were small, but powerful acts of resistance against and disruption of the status quo.

Recovering Women’s Identities between Centre and Periphery
Location: Senate House, Malet Street, London,
Start Date: March 5, 2020
End Date: March 6, 2020
Deadline for submission/application: November 30, 2019