The 11th annual conference of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past will be jointly organised by the Institute of Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Anthropology of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. The conference will be held at the Museum of Natural History from Thursday the 20th of September to Saturday the 22nd of September 2018.
The main conference theme is: Pregnancy, birth, early infancy and childhood: life’s greatest transitions in the past. The theme emerges from Katharina Rebay-Salisbury’s European Research Council project: “The Value of Mothers to Society: responses to motherhood and child rearing practices in prehistoric Europe.” The conference aims to bring together scholars across multiple disciplines, including childhood studies, history, archaeology, biological anthropology and social anthropology.
We particularly invite papers addressing:
– how and when life is considered to begin in past societies
– the dangers of birth to mothers and children
– cultural factors that influence infant and childhood mortality
– the recognition of developmental stages in the past
– marking and celebrating childhood transitions.
For any questions and queries, please get in touch with Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, the local organiser. She is looking forward to welcoming you in Vienna next year! The deadline for abstracts is the 30th of June, 2018
Katharina.Rebay-Salisbury@oeaw.ac.at
