Call for Papers
History of Education Society UK Annual Conference 2023
Senses, Emotions and Experience in the History of Education
17-19 November 2023
INOX, University of Sheffield
In a recent article in History of Education, Claudia Soares suggests that ‘attending to emotions as part of the history of education offers a range of new possibilities for the writing and understanding of the subject’. It is these possibilities which the 2023 conference of the History of Education Society UK is keen to explore.
We welcome papers that seek to understand people’s complex emotional and sensory engagements with education in the past, the emotions and experiences that individuals and groups brought with them as they navigated different educational landscapes. We are keen to include a wide range of perspectives on what has made educational experiences meaningful and memorable for students, teachers, parents, policymakers and communities. We understand education in its broadest sense and welcome explorations of educational experiences in later life, in the workplace, in the community, in families as well as in formal institutional spaces of learning.
Emotions and the senses are to be understood in an equally broad sense. Emotions might include understandings and experiences of friendship, loneliness, love, hatred, jealousy, grief, sadness, joy in an educational context; as well as sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touch, sensory experiences can include explorations of the materialities and physical environments of education in the past.
We would also like to explore how those involved in educational spaces have sought to make use of emotions and the senses for different purposes. In what ways have emotions and the senses been connected with power relations in educational contexts?
How have emotions and the senses connected with experiences of play, adventure, sport and risk-taking as well as more traditional understandings of learning and curriculum? How have emotional and sensory experiences of education varied across communities, nations and regions of the world as well as across time periods?
Among others, topics that papers might focus on include:
The impact of emotions and sensory experiences on understandings of education and educational spaces in the past. How have emotions and sensory experiences been incorporated into different pedagogies and curricula?
Historical changes in emotional and sensory experiences of learning: how emotions and sensory experiences of learning have evolved over time, and how these changes have influenced teaching styles and classroom design.
Power dynamics in educational settings: Exploring how emotions and sensory experiences are used to exert power and control in educational settings, and how this affects students' experiences and understandings of education.
Intersections between emotional and sensory experiences and concepts of class, race, disability and gender in education: How have racialised, classed and gendered identities shaped the emotional and sensory experiences of education for individuals and communities?
Emotional regulation and discipline in education. In what ways have emotions been regulated and disciplined in educational settings throughout history, and how has this affected students' emotional experiences of education?
The role of emotions and sensory experiences in educational policy. How have emotions and sensory experiences been incorporated into educational policies, and how has this influenced the broader social and political context of education?
Please submit your proposed paper title and abstract of no more than 200 words to Dr Heather Ellis at h.l.ellis@sheffield.ac.uk by 30th June 2023.