Practices and Performances: Between Materiality and Morality

Name: Practices and Performances: Between Materiality and Morality
Start: 2014-08-21T09:00:00+02:00
End: 2014-08-23T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Sigtunastiftelsen

21–23 Aug 2014

Sigtunastiftelsen

Europe/Stockholm timezone

In recent historiographical developments, two major themes have emerged, that on ‘Practices’ and that on ‘Performances’. The purpose of this conference is to bring these together, and relate them to historical change: how did practices and performances change over time, and how were they involved in making change happen? Pre-modern societies must be studied in order to uncover long-term change. In short, history must not be viewed backwards, from a modern perspective, but forwards, from a pre-modern perspective. In addition, the concepts of practices and performances need clarification. What do they signify? Could there be performance without practice, or should practice be understood as the larger concept, performances as a sub-set of practices? The conference has its beginning in the recent initiative taken by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) on ‘Research on pre-modernity’, and it aims to bring scholars from this initiative in contact with international scholars within similar fields. The conference is made possible by funding from RJ.

Starts 21 Aug 2014, 09:00

Ends 23 Aug 2014, 17:00

Europe/Stockholm

Sigtunastiftelsen

Manfred Björkquists allé 4 Sigtuna

Andreas Hellerstedt
Göran Rydén
Mikael Alm

Sigtuna is a small town situated by the lake Mälaren. You can read more about our destination at http://destinationsigtuna.se/en/ Read more about our hotel at http://www.sigtunastiftelsen.se (klick om a flag to choose language). Here are a few words from the local tourist board: Once upon a time … In 970, King Erik the Victorious looked out at the surroundings and pointed out the location where Sigtuna town would be built – a new era in the Swedish history was about to begin… Today we can go back in time and visit medieval churches, ruins, castles and rune stones from the Viking Area. They are all part of the Swedish history and well worth a visit! Sigtuna boasts more than 150 runic inscriptions, more than any other town in Sweden! The memorial stone, erected during the 11th century by wealthy citizens and merchant guilds, were usually placed along streets and roads where they would be seen and read by all who passed. At the Tourist Office and the Museum in Stora gatan, keys to the runic alphabet can be obtained, for your own efforts at reading these ancient messages.