Voluntariness in Medieval History – Workshop and Talks

On April 20, 2023, our subproject in Medieval History, „Martyrdom and Voluntariness,” welcomes historians Sara M. Butler (Ohio State University) and Steffen Hope (University of Oslo) to Erfurt for a workshop entitled “Dying voluntarily in the Middle Ages”. Together, we will explore various forms of voluntary death and their medieval discourses.

Steffen Hope’s talk “Willingness and Unwillingness in the Death of Holy Kings – Examples from Latin Hagiography” will address Northern European royal saints’ special relationship with violence, both inflicted on others and endured by themselves during martyrdom.

Sara M. Butler will introduce us to legal cases wherein the accused specifically chose a certain execution method through “rock crushing” to attain a form of martyrdom instead of dying as a convicted felon. Her talk is entitled “Choosing Peine Forte et Dure: Silent Martyrdom in Late Medieval England.”

Together with Markus from our martyrdom subproject, they will discuss how medieval discourses of voluntary death relate to voluntariness as an ethical category and the research unit’s larger themes. The workshop will take place from 12 to 5:30 pm at the International Meeting Center Erfurt (IBZ; Michaelisstraße 38, 99084 Erfurt). Please send an email to markus.dolinsky@uni-erfurt.de to register for the event.

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What Else Is New?

New Conference Report and Podcast Episode online

On October 24 & 25, 2024 the international workshop „From Contested Ownership to (In)Voluntary Returns. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Postcolonial Fight for Restitution and Repatriation“ took place in Erfurt. Among other guests from Europe and Africa we especially welcomed Flower Manase, since 2009 curator of history at the National Museum of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam and visiting Mercator Fellow to the CRC “Structural Change of Property” in October and November 2024. You may read the conference report on HSozKult or listen to an interview with Flower Manase on the CRC’s podcast “Appropriate”.

Conference Report on the Workshop “Voluntariness, Women, and Development”

New conference report online!
On July 4 and 5, 2024, Maria Framke, working on the research project “Hidden Histories: Women in Rural Development Programs in India, c. 1920-1966” and affiliated with our group, organized the workshop “Voluntariness, Women and Development in Late Colonial and Postcolonial Societies.” Read more here…

Research Day Voluntariness

On June 3, 2024, we invite fellow researchers to discuss voluntariness as focus of their research and compare goals and challenges of their projects. The research day will start at 10 am with a casual welcome into a full-day program, completed by an evening lecture by philosopher Jule Govrin.