12th Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past

Rebels Without a Cause? Accessing and Exploring Adolescents/Adolescence in the Past

12th Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past

Location: University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, U.K

Dates:  30th October – 1st November 2019
Organisers: Dr Katie Hemer, Dr Sophie Newman

Host Department: Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield

Adolescence – the period of change within the life course when an individual transitions from childhood to adulthood. Some define adolescence as a period of disruption, when the body and mind no longer fit, and the individual has to renegotiate who they are – both in terms of themselves, but also their place in society. The adjustment and adaptation that comes with adolescence can also coincide with new responsibilities and greater expectations upon the individual, as well as exposure to new work and social environments. Is what we know about adolescence today also relevant to understanding adolescents of the past?

The 2019 SSCIP Conference seeks to explore the many facets of adolescence, and how scholars from diverse fields of research offer nuanced insight into the lives of those occupying this unique stage in the life course in the past. Papers are sought from researchers working on adolescence across the Humanities and Social Sciences (e.g. Archaeology, Art History, Anthropology, History, English literature etc.). This interdisciplinary conference is supported by the Sheffield Centre for the Archaeology of Childhood

(https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/archaeology/research/centres/childhood).

Confirmed keynote speakers: Prof. Jane Eva Baxter (DePaul University, USA) and Dr Mary Lewis (University of Reading, UK).

Please submit an abstract for a podium or poster presentation (max 200 words) to sophie.newman@sheffield.ac.uk by 31st July 2019.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

  • What is an adolescent in the past perspective?
  • Methodological approaches to studying adolescents in the past
  • The role of adolescents in the community
  • The role of adolescents in the home
  • What did adolescents do? (e.g. occupations, apprenticeships, mobility, leisure time)
  • The liminality of adolescence
  • Health in adolescence
  • The material culture of adolescence (e.g. dress as markers of identity)
  • The education of adolescents
  • Adolescent resistance (e.g. did/how adolescents resist societal norms?)

THE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION SYSTEM WILL OPEN SOON.