CALL FOR PAPERS

International Workshop, 15 & 16 January, 2026 (Ghent, Belgium)

Cultures of Consumption 1500-1800: Products, Desire and Imagination

On 15 & 16 January of 2026, an international workshop will be organised in Ghent (Belgium) on cultures of consumption, focusing on the relation between products, desire and imagination in Europe from 1500-1800. 

We welcome submissions for a presentation of papers that will be distributed to participants beforehand as a (very) short paper of about 1,000 words to stimulate engaging feedback during the workshop (deadline 15 December, 2025). Paper Proposals of about 300 words can be submitted before 15 September, 2025. Please send the proposals to estel.vandenberg@ugent.beYou will be notified by 15 October whether your proposal has been accepted.

Topics that are of interest to our workshop include but are not limited to:

• Consumption in the theatrical imagination
• Consumption in early modern literature
• Consumption in early modern art
• Consumption, the body and desire
• Consumption and disease in the cultural imagination
• Consumption, food and sexuality in the cultural imagination
• Desire, products and affective economy

Keynote speakers

Prof. Dr. Inger Leemans, about ‘The Sweet Smell of Desire: How the Dutch Created an Affective Economy for Fragrance Consumption’

Prof. Dr. Daniel Fulda, about ‘Delights beyond Virtue: Consumer Ethics in the German Enlightenment’s Comedy’

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

https://aogthalia.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/call-for-papers-cultures-of-consumption-1500-1800-products-desire-and-imagination/

The workshop is organised by the researchers of the FWO-project Displays of Desire. Imagineering consumption in comedies of the Low Countries (1650-1725). This project is a cooperation between Ghent University and the Uiversité Libre de Bruxelles. It will be hosted by the alliance research group VUB-UGent: THALIA - Interplay of Theatre, Literature & Media in Performance – and GEMS, Group for Early Modern Studies at Ghent University. This workshop is made possible with funding from FWO-Flanders.