Below please find the description of a session I have organized for the
Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians to be held in
Toronto from April 17-21. If you are interested in participating, please
send a proposal and a resume or CV by Sept. 5 to:
Linda Pellecchia
Dept. of Art History
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Neighborhoods in Early Modern Italy (1300-1700)
The concept of neighborhood has fascinated and frustrated social historians
of Italian Renaissance and Baroque cities. How do we define the sense of
shared values embodied in our word "neighborhood?" What forces—economic,
familial, political, or religious—create an atmosphere of community or
destroy it? How does the study of architecture and urban space help define
issues of social cohesion and exclusion in early modern cities? This session
aims to stimulate an exchange between architectural and social historians
concerned with issues of urban community.
The Italian city in the Early Modern period can be defined as a series of
overlapping, permeable, and sometimes transitory areas of social interaction.
Defined by class, gender, religion, economic interest or political
allegiance, neighborhoods are both public and private arenas. The space of
neighborhood can create enclaves of privilege or unite groups across social
and economic boundaries. In Florence, the district (gonfalone), in which tax
burdens are assessed and political eligibility determined, is often
synonymous with patrician neighborhoods. Parishs, which can overlap the
boundaries of gonfaloni, provide the focus for the working class.
Neighborhood rarely means mere physicial proximity. Yet in some cases,
imposed proximity creates a "neighborhood." Would prostitutes in Rome have
chosen to live in a ghetto? What was the result of forcing Jews to live in
restricted areas of the city? What results when clusters of artisans or
foreigners create specialized enclaves within a city. Thus, social groups,
both transgressive and mainstream, define the neighborhood. Even transitory
events can have an impact: if only for a day, the public space in front of
patrician palaces can be transformed—by groups such as the potenze of
Florence—into working-class "Kingdoms". Ephemeral architecture associated
with religious feste or political entries create temporary spatial foci
within the city. Religious and secular processions, such as the possesso,
unify neighborhoods across class boundaries while restrictions on women
create gendered pathways between patrician palaces and parish churches.
This session welcomes papers that explore the concept of neighborhood in its
broadest terms. Topics might address: neighborhoods that change over time;
urban planning for transients and tradesmen; the role of institutions
(religious, political, etc.) in shaping social space; neighborhoods as seen
in maps or catastal records; the effect of ritual space on the image of the
city; the social containment of women.
===============================================
From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
===============================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 02 2000 - 18:14:06 EDT