The Department of Archaeology at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts is proud to announce the 12th international conference Castrum Bene: The Castle as Social Space.
The conference theme is aimed at exploring the social dimensions of medieval castles, as well as early modern fortresses and manors, thereby focusing on the various aspects of human interaction with these intriguing buildings in the past and present.
While the aristocracy and lower gentry as the builders and owners of castles have always received a lot of scholarly attention, much less is known about the ways in which other social groups perceived, used and experienced castles. How did castles shape the living spaces of the members of various gender, age, professional and status groups? Which parts of a castle complex and its surroundings would have been accessible or at all visible to an individual considering his or her social background? How did the social relations played out through the daily activities taking place in and around castles determine or mould their architectural disposition and form? What meanings did castles hold for the owners, their castellans, their friendly or hostile visitors and, on the other hand, for the servants going about their daily business and the peasants working the lord's land and paying their yearly duty? Do the written documents, preserved architectural remains and artefacts uncovered at an individual castle site offer us an insight into these intricate worlds of past lived experience and how? Is it at all possible to detect the clues of individual lives lived out in, around and with the castles?
Furthermore, the fascination which castles continue to exert on both scholars and the general public today is also of interest in the context of the conference theme. Which images and readings of castles prevail today, how and in what ways are they explored and exploited in the academia, heritage industry and popular culture? Are there different social readings of castles as heritage today or did they exist in the past? Are there particular gendered experiences connected with castles? Does it (still) hold true that castle studies are dominated by male scholars, as they clearly have been until the mid-twentieth century? If so, what are the reasons for that? How, if at all, can the particularly masculine or feminine approaches to studying castles be defined?
Scholars from the fields of archaeology, documentary, architectural and art history, as well as anthropology and sociology are invited to take part in the conference. Next to the paper session, there will also be a poster session and one full- or two half-day excursions. The papers and posters will be presented in German or English.
Interested scholars are kindly requested to submit a brief abstract for a paper or poster proposal (300-500 words) or an expression of interest to attend without presenting a paper by January 10th 2010. The papers and posters presented at the conference will be considered for publication.
For further information please visit the website: http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si (conference information to be published by the end of 2010) or contact Katarina Predovnik (katja.predovnikff.uni-lj.si)