Sensory Experiences and Early Modern Objects: RSA 2021

Sensory Experiences and Early Modern Objects

Interest in sensory experiences of the past has grown in recent years, with scholars engaging with both interdisciplinary and anthropological approaches in order to better understand historical lived experiences. This panel aims to connect such scholarly sensorial approaches with early modern artefacts, and to consider the extent to which we can understand past human experiences of these artefacts today. By using a particular object or type of object/ material as a starting point, papers in this panel will explore how these items were experienced by those who encountered or made use of them, in local or cross-cultural contexts. They will consider how individuals’ engagement with an artefact involved the visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory or olfactory senses, as well as the broader cultural, economic and social factors that may have shaped these sensory experiences. The panel welcomes all disciplinary and sensorial approaches to the exploration of early modern artefacts. The object(s) at the focus of each paper may be those clearly connected with the creation of a sensory experience (e.g. incense burners, musical instruments or books, goblets or tableware) or items not yet explored from a sensory perspective. Papers may focus on extant, lost or conceptual objects and take either a multisensory or single sensory approach.

Topics to be considered might include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

• How sensory experiences were shaped by and in turn shaped cultural, social and economic conditions.
• Sensory experiences of the same objects in different environments (considering, for example, transcultural exchange or experiences of objects in different architectural spaces and/or geographical locations).
• How sensory experiences of the same objects varied according to gender or social class.
• What tangible objects/materials can reveal about intended and real sensory experiences in particular places or contexts.
• Contemporary perceptions of the senses in relation to objects/materials.

Papers are invited from scholars working in any discipline, including musicology, art history, cultural and/or social history or book history.

As per the RSA requirements, please send proposals of no more than 150 words, including your paper title (15 words maximum), full name, current affiliation (if applicable), email address and a brief CV to Leah Clark (leah.clark@open.ac.uk) and Helen Coffey (helen.coffey@open.ac.uk) by 7 August 2020.

Presenters will need to be members of the RSA by the time of the conference.