This symposium brings together scholars from across disciplines to explore how bodies were imagined, regulated, and materially transformed between the 16th and 18th centuries. Foregrounding com- parative, praxeological, and interdiscipli- nary approaches, the conference will encourage dialogue between historians of medicine, art and literature, social and cultural historians, anthropologists, and scholars of science and technology. Contributions will address themes such as embodied labor and skill, training and educational technologies, medical and surgical interventions, representations of bodily change, and the entanglement of corporeal practices with religious, politi- cal, and social norms. By doing so, the symposium aims to reframe the early modern body (or rather, bodies) as not a stable given but as a mutable, contested, and productive site of human experience. Moreover, it attempts to compare differ- ent practices of corporeal modification across the early modern world and to analyze their significance for past (and present) societies.
| Wann? | 07.05.2026 09:00 - 08.05.2026 15:15 |
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| Wo? | MIS 04 4112 Espace Jäggi Avenue de l'Europe 20, 1700 Fribourg |
| Vortragende | Program:
Thursday, 7 May 2026 9:00–9:30 | Introduction Vitus Huber, University of Fribourg Session 1: Foreign Body Modifications Chair: Claude Bourqui, University of Fribourg 9:30–10:15 | A Clever Man’s Invention? Speculations on the Chinese Practice of Foot Binding in Early Modern Travel Writing Jasmin Mersmann, FU Berlin 10:15–11:00 | The curious case of one-breasted bodies Alanna Skuse, University of Reading 11:15–12:00 | “Different de celuy des hommes”: French Colonial Perspectives on Body Modification and the “Bardache” in the Late Seventeenth and Early-Eighteenth Centuries Lance Pederson, University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign Session 2: Medical Body Modifications Chair: Glaire Gantet, University of Fribourg 13:45–14:30 | Margaret Cavendish and the “Medicine that Could Renew Old Age” in the Early Modern Atlantic World Edith Snook, University of New Brunswick 14:30–15:15 | The Body and the Sea: Modifying the Body Via Transformative Qualities of the Sea in Magical Healing Practices Across Islands of the Early Modern Greater Mediterranean Carolin Schmitz, King’s College London Session 3: Shaping Power Chair: Olivier Richard, University of Fribourg 15:45–16:30 | Mending the Ruler's Body: Injury, Mutilation and Prosthetics in Early Modern Court Culture Benjamin Steiner, University of Munich 16:30–17:15 | The Inca Rulers Between Institutional Sacredness and Individual Personality Karoline Noack, University of Bonn Keynote Chair: Thomas Lau, University of Fribourg 18:00–19:15 | High Hair in Early Modern Europe Evelyn Welch, University of Bristol Friday, 8 May 2026 Session 4: Shaping Youth Chair: Cassandre Mardonao, University of Fribourg 8:45–9:30 | The Transformative Power of Physical Exercise in Early Modern Europe Valerio Zanetti, University of Oxford 9:30–10:15 | Teaching the Physical Practice of the Healthy Soul: Corporeal Pedagogies at Die Franckeschen Anstalten, 1698–1750 Trine Outzen, University of Lund Session 5: Religious and Legal Body Modifications Chair: Marco Schnyder, University of Fribourg 10:30–11:15 | Not of This World: Radical Protestantism and Bodily and Spiritual Manipulation, c. 1700 Karin Sennefelt, Stockholm University 11:15–12:00 | Legal Modifications: Judicial Facial Disfigurement in Early Modern Britain Emily Cock, University of Cardiff Session 6: Aesthetic and Dietetic Body Modifications Chair: Dominic-Alain Boariu, University of Fribourg 13:15–14:00 | Shaping Beauty and Health: Concepts of Body Modification in Early Modern Medicine and Art Romana Sammern, University of Salzburg 14:00–14:45 | Damn the Barber! The Embodied Experience of Early Modern Personal Grooming Alun Withey, University of Exeter 14:45–15:15 | Final Discussion |
| Kontakt | Prof. Dr. Vitus Huber Cassandre Mardonao cassandre.mardonao@unifr.ch |
| Mehr dazu | Website |
| Anhang |