We encounter violence not just in ongoing international conflicts. Violence – which we define as targeted, external influence that causes an individual bodily harm – remains a crucial everyday reality that structures the social fabric on the global, national, and local levels. Gender hierarchies, in particular, continue to be shaped not just by concrete attacks but also by the ways in which these attacks are represented and debated. Discourses about violence remain saturated with gendered images of aggression, strength, weakness, and victimhood. But (how) have representations of violence as a gendered phenomenon themselves had social or political impacts on gender hierarchies? In what way have debates on violence and gender interacted with other categories, above all, race, religion, and class? The proposed conference addresses the longue durée of public negotiations of gender and violence and their attendant power dynamics, raising not least the question of what role those affected by violence themselves have played in these negotiation processes.
The conference seeks a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which gender hierarchies are intertwined with the often ambivalent public perception of certain behavior as violent or non-violent. We invite contributions that trace the interrelation between gender and violence in relation to the (re)production of or challenges to power structures within European and North American history as well as in global perspectives. Since the nineteenth century, at least in Europe and North America, popular media, the social sciences, and parliamentary politics have become central sites for seemingly endless public debates about the gendered aspects of violence. War-time propaganda – for instance, during World Wars I and II – referenced violence against women to justify combat while, at the same time, further reinforcing binary oppositions of brutal men and vulnerable women. Conversely, sensationalized reports of female terrorists or of woman vigilantes avenging male assaults stoked fears of gender disorder and served as a justification for political measures. To this day, journalistic reports, popular media, (case) law, and academic analyses remain central modes of negotiating the relationship between gender and violence. These representations have had political consequences, but beyond these, we ask how they have impacted the lives of men, women, and those and those who identify as non-binary. Whose accounts of violence have been publicly acknowledged, whose experiences have been disavowed, concealed, or suppressed? Whose narratives have led to political reforms intended to stop certain forms of violence?
We invite scholars from different methodological and historical backgrounds to convene and develop a common research agenda. The presentations could explore the impact of representations of violence on power dynamics in the following thematic areas (among others):
Gender and Violence in the Media, Artistic and Scholarly Discourses (e.g., popular/high culture, criminology, gender studies, etc.)
Gender and Violence in Religious, Denominational, and Ideological Contexts
History of Violent Rituals in (Previously) Homosocial Spaces (e.g., in the military, in professional contexts, in schools/academia, sports, and clubs)
Gendered Spaces: Histories of Public and Private Violence (e.g., history of domestic violence/intimate partner violence/intergenerational violence, violence in education, the creation of shelters, and debates on legal protections against sexual violence)
Gender Violence in Politics (e.g., parliamentary debates, policy initiatives, movements protesting different forms of violence)
The conveners intend to publish a selection of papers from the conference as a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal or as an edited volume in a peer-reviewed book series.
The conference will take place from May 21–22, 2026 and will be hosted by the German Historical Institute in Rome.
Please submit an abstract (max. 500 words) and a short biography (max. 150 words) in English via the GHI conference platform by September 30, 2025.
https://app.smartsheet.eu/b/form/01975a6f59727236bf300d208eec43e2
The organizers are applying for third-party funding and will arrange and pay for participants’ accommodation. Participants will make their own travel arrangements; funding subsidies for travel are available upon request for selected scholars, especially those who might not otherwise be able to attend the workshop, including junior scholars and scholars from universities with limited resources.
For further information regarding the event’s format and conceptualization, please contact Raphael Roessel. For other logistical questions, or if you have any difficulties submitting your information online, please contact Nicola Hofstetter-Phelps.