Pollution and Propriety (BSR)
Pollution and Propriety: DIRT, DISEASE, AND HYGIENE IN ROME FROMANTIQUITY TO MODERNITY
A two-day conference at the British School at Rome,
Thursday 21 and Friday 22 June 2007.
Keynote speaker: Professor Mary Douglas
This interdisciplinary conference will examine the significance of
pollution and cleanliness in the art, literature, philosophy, and
material culture of the city of Rome from antiquity through to the
twentieth century. Dirt, disease and pollution and the ways they are
represented and policed have long been recognised by historians and
anthropologists to occupy a central position in the formulation of
cultural identity, and Rome holds a special status in the West as a city
intimately associated with issues of purity, decay, ruin and renewal. In
recent years, scholarship in a variety of disciplines has begun to
scrutinise the less palatable features of the archaeology, history and
society of Rome. This research has drawn attention to the city's
distinctive historical interest in the recognition, isolation and
treatment of pollution, and the ways in which politicians, architects,
writers and artists have exploited this as a vehicle for devising
visions of purity and propriety.
As a departure point, then, the organisers propose the theme of
'Pollution and Propriety' and the discourses by which these two
antagonistic concepts are related. How has pollution in Rome been
defined, and by what means is it controlled? How does Rome's own social
and cultural history affect the way states of dirt and cleanliness are
formulated? Does purity always accompany political, physical or social
change? Does Rome's reputation as a 'city of ruins' determine how it is
represented? What makes images of decay in Rome so picturesque? It is
hoped that this conference will bring together scholars from a range of
disciplines who are interested in dirt, disease and hygiene in Rome in
order to examine the historical continuity of these themes and to
explore their development and transformation alongside major chapters in
the city's history, such as early Roman urban development, the Roman
Empire, early Christianity, decline and fall, the Renaissance, the
Unification of Italy, and the advent of Fascism. Papers might include,
but are certainly not limited to:
* Death and burial
* The history of medicine in Rome
* Slavery and social pollution
* Gendering dirt
* Sexuality and virginity
* Queerness and pollution
* Public and private morality
* Decay, decline and fall
* Architectural unity and purity
* Sewers and waste disposal; water supply
* Urban segregation
* The management and representation of disease
* Religions, purity and absolution
* Bodies, purging and beautification
* Ruins and renovation
* Pollution as literary metaphor
* Modernity as pollution
It is hoped that this conference will be of interest to scholars working
in archaeology, cultural history, literature, art history, and the
history of medicine, and the organisers would be grateful if classicists
could alert colleagues in other disciplines to whom this conference may
be of interest. The conference will aim to develop themes in the history
of the city of Rome, as well as providing a context for examining
general issues of pollution and purity. Papers will last approximately
20 minutes; they should be original and should have not been previously
published or delivered at a major conference. Abstracts of approximately
200 words should be submitted by November 30, 2006. Successful
contributions may be considered for publication in a conference volume.
Organisers: Dr Mark Bradley (Classics, Nottingham)
Prof Richard Wrigley (Art History, Nottingham)
Email: pollution.conference@nottingham.ac.uk
Confirmed classical speakers include:
Elaine Fantham (Classics, Princeton) - pollution and purification in
Roman ritual
Gemma Jansen (Archaeology, Nijmegen) - divinities in Roman
toilet-paintings
Penelope Davies (Art History, Austin) - pollution and urban development
in Republican Rome
Robert Arnott (History of Medicine, Birmingham) - the Antonine plague
Dr Mark Bradley
Lecturer in Ancient History
Department of Classics,
University of Nottingham,
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RD
Office C.4
Tel. +44 (0) 115 95 14814
Int. 14814
CFP: 'Pollution and Propriety: dirt, disease and hygiene in Rome from
antiquity to modernity'
An international, interdisciplinary conference to be held at the British
School at Rome, 21-22 June 2007
For further details, see:
http://www.bsr.ac.uk/BSR/sub_news/extra/BSR_News_lectures_Papers03.htm
[Classicists]