Generosity in the Early Modern Period

This panel is devoted to exploring anthropological and economic theories of generosity useful for understanding the complex manifestations of power at work in the acts of giving and receiving in the early modern world. Among the questions this panel seeks to ask are: What logic informed gift-giving practices during the period? What is the distinction between economic and non-economic exchange in the early modern period? How do intellectual and material modes of exchange make authority legible? We welcome case studies of individual instances of gift exchange as well as papers that examine larger theoretical concerns bearing on the study of early modern generosity broadly.

Please send a 150 abstract, paper title and CV to both Jessica Keating (j-keatingnorthwestern.edu) and Touba Ghadessi (ghadessi_toubawheatonma.edu) by 31 May.