Gender & Violence. Power Dynamics and their Representations, 19th–21st Centuries
May 20, 2026 - May 22, 2026
Conference at German Historical Institute Rome | Co-Conveners: German Historical Institute Rome; German Historical Institute Washington D.C.; Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte Hamburg; LWL-Institut für westfälische Regionalgeschichte Münster
Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
This conference explores how violence has been publicly represented as a deeply gendered phenomenon from the nineteenth century to the present. Individual contributions trace narratives of aggression and vulnerability in the fields of (popular) media, law, and politics. The conference maintains that these narratives have themselves influenced policymaking and continue to shape social realities in ambiguous ways. Public discourses on violence both challenge and reinforce gender hierarchies.
At the conference, we aim to develop a more nuanced understanding of how gender hierarchies are intertwined with the often ambivalent public perception of certain types of behavior as violent or non-violent. To develop a common agenda, the conveners have invited experts in European and North American history, as well as scholars with a global perspective, to exchange their work.
Seven individual panels will bring together perspectives on intimate, institutional(ized), and wartime violence but also on and legal initiatives and activism against certain forms of violence such as intimate partner violence.
The opening keynote will be delivered by Mara Keire (Oxford University).