The programme for the international conference « Materiality and Confinements in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras: Objects, Actors, and Experiences » has been published. The conference will take place at the Université de Lausanne from 22 to 24 April 2026 and is organised by Nathalie Dahn-Singh (UNIL) and Anna Clara Basilicò (FBK).
The international conference « Materiality and Confinements in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras: Objects, Actors, and Experiences » examines confinements through the lens of their materiality. Drawing on a recent historiographical broadening of the field, the conference aims to address various forms of medieval and early modern confinement, both judicial and non-judicial: prisons, galleys, hospitals, workhouses, cloisters, monasteries, and the like. At the same time, it seeks to reflect on methodological questions pertaining to material history as an approach and to the sources that underpin it.
The conference is free of charge and will be held in person and online. No registration is required to attend in person. To attend online, please contact nathalie.dahn-singh@unil.ch.
The keynote address for the conference will be given by Prof. Sophie Abdela (University of Sherbrooke): « If These Walls Could Speak! An Incursion in Paris’ Jailbreaks (1700-1790) ».
Image credits: Cornelis de Wael, « To Visit the Imprisoned », ca. 1640, oil on canvas (Musei di Genova).
