Material Culture & Emotions
A BSA Regional Postgraduate Day Event
10 June 2025 (10:00-18:00 BST)
The Oculus, University of Warwick, University Road, CV4 7AL
About the Event
The field of material culture reveals the active role of objects and spaces in shaping identities, relationships, and power dynamics. By examining material forms—whether everyday items, architecture, or technology—sociologists can begin to uncover how values, collective memories, social norms, and forms of dissent are inscribed in the physical world, demonstrating how materiality both reflects and constitutes our social worlds.
This one-day conference on ‘Material Culture and Emotions’ will delve into the complex relationship between objects and the emotional lives they both influence and embody. Our focus is on how material objects and forms hold emotional resonance, not only reflecting personal or collective sentiments but also shaping them. By examining these tangible elements of culture, we want to encourage research that uncovers how objects and spaces inform experiences, create social bonds, and evoke memories.
This theme aims to illuminate the powerful role of materiality in crafting the emotional contours of social existence, inviting diverse perspectives on the interplay between the material and affective realms. By examining the affective dimensions of materiality, our focus on material culture and emotions deepens our understanding of how relationships, memories, and meanings are negotiated and maintained in everyday life, shaping broader social dynamics and cultural belonging.
Food will be provided at the event. We kindly request that you inform us of any dietary restrictions or preferences when submitting your abstracts to ensure your needs are accommodated.
Call for Papers
We are particularly eager for this conference to serve as a collaborative environment where PhD candidates and early-career researchers can come together to refine their research on material culture and emotions for potential publication.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Emotion, Place, and Space: How environments and architecture influence emotional experiences and social interactions.
- Material Loss and Emotional Resilience: Investigating the impact of loss of belongings or places due to displacement, disaster, or personal transitions.
- The Body as Material Culture: Understanding the body as a site of emotional expression, cultural inscription, and identity formation.
- Gender, Sexuality, and Queering Material Culture: How material culture reflects, challenges, and reimagines norms of gender and sexuality through queer practices and perspectives.
- Objects of Care and Domestic Life: How everyday household items carry emotional significance and shape intimate relationships.
- Affective Labor and Materiality: The emotional work involved in creating, preserving, and maintaining material objects, especially in caregiving or craft traditions.
- Materiality in Religious and Spiritual Practices: The role of sacred objects and spaces in fostering spiritual connection and emotional experience.
- Emotion and the Politics of Display: How museums, memorials, and public displays of artifacts mediate collective emotions and historical narratives.
Abstract Submission
To submit an abstract, please complete this form including a 200-250 word abstract as well as a 50-word biographical note. When submitting your abstract, you can choose whether to apply to be a paper presenter (10-15min presentation) or conduct an interactive workshop (30-45min workshop). Submission deadline: 25 March 2025.
Funding
Reasonable funding will be available for participants to cover transport expenses. Priority will be given to participants who have already secured partial funding from other sources or who do not have access to institutional or UKRI funding.
Key Dates
- Abstract Submission Deadline: 25 March 2025
- Abstract Decisions sent out: 15 April 2025
- Presenter Booking Deadline: 1 May 2025
Contact Information
This event is organised by the convenors of Warwick University’s Material Culture Network. For any queries about the event please contact the organisers: Vicky Panossian and Puja-Arti Patel.