07-09-2022

Interwoven Societies – International EuroWeb Conference in Lübeck, DE

International EuroWeb Conference

Interwoven Societies

The impact of textile industries on societies across European history

European Hansemuseum Lübeck

8th – 10th March 2023

Organizers: Angela Huang & Joana Sequeira

Textiles and their trade have long determined how people live together. Far-flung areas have been linked for centuries by trade in cloth. The textile industry is and has been a central factor in European economic development and had great impact on societies. The textile industry stands for market economy, innovation and prosperity, but also for dependency, unfair work and ecologic problems.

We invite participants to join our conference on Interwoven Societies from the 8th to 10th March 2023 in Lübeck, to explore the broader impact of textile industries on societies. Current debates about fair work and sustainability in a global economy very much centre around textiles, their production, marketing and trade – this conference wants to look further back in how textiles influence societies and their relationship to one another. We would like to bring together international researchers for an interdisciplinary conference between economic and social history, archaeology, art history and anthropology.

Specifically, we invite case studies on aspects as: Consumption via the market and trade; conspicuous consumption; the role of textiles in urbanization and specialization processes; technical and other innovations in production and trade (tools, institutions etc.); working conditions; the emergence and nature of ‘supply chains’; the quality of relationships between regions and continents; how the textile industry influences economic policies on a large scale (protectionism); the role of textiles in the growth and welfare of societies; establishment and enforcement of gender roles. Papers addressing other topics but contributing to the general interest of the conference are of course also welcome. Locating the case studies within a theoretical framework is encouraged to promote a comparative discussion.

The Research Centre for Hanse and Baltic History (FGHO) conducts and coordinates historical and interdisciplinary research on the German Hanse and related topics, in the former sphere of Hanse trade, stretching from Portugal to Russia. Therefore, we particularly invite papers on premodern Europe in a first age of commercialisation (14th to 18th c.). At this time major changes occurred in European societies: Trade picked up its pace, communication increased and private consumption accelerated – a proto-industry emerged. We aim at connecting the developments in the Hanse era and region to other textile economies.

The conference is part of the COST Action Group “EuroWeb – Europe through Textiles”, which aims to research textiles in an interdisciplinary and intersectional way, and is co-organized by Angela Huang (Research Centre for Hanse and Baltic History – European Hansemuseum) and Joana Sequeira (Lab2PT, University of Minho, Braga – Portugal). Interwoven Societies will take place in Lübeck, where at the same time the exhibition Good Stuff. Textile Worlds from the Hanse Era to the Present is on display at the European Hansemuseum and will be visited as part of the conference programme. We cover travel and accommodation costs (EuroWeb for its members; the Research Centre for further participants).

Thumbnail: Fabrics in the Bruges area of the Hansemuseum (© Olaf Malzahn).

PROGRAMME

Wednesday (08.03.)

10:00-10:30 Registration & Coffee | Introduction (for speakers)

10:30-13:00 Session I
Angela Huang (Research Centre of Hanse and Baltic History, Germany):
Interwoven Societies: How Textiles Shape Economic and Social Developments – Insights from Hanse History

Steffi Grundmann (Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany):
Spinning Housewives in the Roman Empire. A New Spin on Wool-Work and Domesticity in Modern Imaginations and Ancient Sources

Kapartziani, Chrysoula/ Koulocheris, Spyros (Harokopio University, Greece):
Back to the Future: “Cocooning” greek sericulture. The revival of a circular economy paradigm

13:00-14:00 Lunchbreak

14:00-15:30 Guided Tour through Special Exhibition „Good Stuff“ (for speakers)

15:30-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Session II
Dörte Eriskat (Berlin Society for Indo-Asian Art, Germany):
How fustian connects us all and what is so “fustian” about it

Marco Tomaszewski (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany):
Interwoven Hinterland. Linen Industry and Society in Eastern Switzerland (St. Gallen/Appenzell, 15th to 17th centuries)

18:00 Option for Drinks & Dinner (for speakers)

Thursday (09.03.)

10:00-12:30 Session III
Joana Sequeira (Lab2PT, University of Minho, Portugal):
Consuming and supplying: Portugal in the international textile trade (13th-16th centuries)

Jorge Garrido (Universidad de Granada, Spain):
Transformations and change in textile production: the Nasrid kingdom of Granada and the Christian conquest (14th-16th centuries)

Ángel Rozas Español (Universidad Complutense, Spain):
Central Castilian draperies between 15th and 16th centuries. The transformation of a centralised manufacturing into a distributed manufacturing chain

12:30 – 14:00 Lunchbreak

14:00-15:30 Session IV
Orit Shamir (Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel):
Mulham Textiles (silk warp with hidden cotton wefts) – Their Innovation, Production, Consumption, Marketing and Trade [with Hadas Hirsch]

Georg Stark (Blaudruckerei Jever, Germany):
Designed in India, Excavated in Egypt and revived in Northern Europe: Continuity of human taste in printed textiles

15:30-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Session V
Luís Gonçalves Ferreira (Lab2PT, University of Minho, Portugal):
Paid with textiles and garments: the wages of the workers of Portuguese Misericórdias (16th-18th centuries)

João Teles e Cunha (Universidade Católica, Portugal):
Breaking the Fabric: The Portuguese Trade of Indian Textiles in the Beginning of the 17th Century

18:30-22:00 Conference Dinner (for speakers)

Friday (10.03.)

10:00-12:30 Session V I
Serafine Christine Kratzke (Lübeck, Germany):
“Mute communication” – Textiles as mediators of abstract ideas. Examples from the Convent of the Black Friars in Late Mediaeval Lübeck

Mordovin, Maxim (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary):
Textile consumption and purchase power in two early modern Hungarian towns

Meghan Korten (University of Iceland):
Conspicuous consumption? The role of woollen cloth in the construction of status in medieval Iceland

12:30-12:45 Coffee Break

12:45-13:30 Final Discussion

13:30-15:00 Final Lunch (optional, for speakers) I Goodbye

15:00-16:00 Meeting about conference publication (Raum “York”) (for speakers)

 

Programme – International EuroWeb Conference ‘Interwoven Societies’

POSTER – International EuroWeb Conference ‘Interwoven Societies’

 

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