The various manifestations of Fasching, Fastnacht, Karneval [Carnival and Shrovetide] and their interdisciplinary scientific consideration stand at the center of an upcoming conference held from October 5 to 8 in Seminarhaus Room 3.104 Max-Horkheimer-Str. 4 on Goethe University Frankfurt’s Westend Campus.
The conference, titled “Rethinking Carnival from the Pre-modern to the Present,” will explore the dynamic history of this ritual, offering a comprehensive look at historical developments in their political and social contexts as well as in the history of everyday life and emotion. The event is organized by Goethe University’s Institute for Romance Studies (Dr. Roberta Colbertaldo) and the University of Exeter’s History Department (Dr. Jeremy DeWaal).
The tradition that emerged in the Middle Ages is the subject of much research – not only in history and cultural studies, but also in literary studies, sociology and anthropology. As they spread throughout Europe and across several continents, customs took on very different regional manifestations. As a result, the state of research also differs depending on the regions and epochs concerned. Held in English, the international and interdisciplinary conference, funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council, will bring together scholars and researchers from thirteen countries with the aim of discovering new perspectives on the spread and transformations of carnival forms and their interpretations. The event is supported by the German Research Foundation’s [Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG] project “Fat Worlds II”.
All interested parties are invited to attend, informal registration is requested at Colbertaldo@em.uni-frankfurt.de.
