05/03/2026
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Gender and Violence in Historical Perspective: Social Practices and Discourses, Kraków, 3-5 December 2026
Natalie Zemon Davis was among the first to conceptualize violence as a distinct historical phenomenon. Her 1973 study on religious violence in sixteenth-century France remains a seminal contribution to the field. As Philip Dwyer observed: “Davis was able to throw light on behaviours which historians until then had dismissed as irrational acts of barbarism or savagery, by interpreting seemingly random acts of violence in terms of their social-symbolic significance. She created a paradigm for a great deal of the cultural analysis of violence that was to follow.” It is no coincidence that in pioneering the cultural analysis of violence—focused on meaning and symbolism—Davis inextricably linked it to the context of gender. In her view, the violence experienced or performed by historical protagonists during rituals was deeply enmeshed in the negotiation of gender roles.
Today, the histories of violence and gender have matured significantly, boasting advanced research into the public and private spheres, lethal and non-lethal acts, and both physical and psychological dimensions. Nevertheless, the fifty-year tradition of this scholarly intersection serves as an invitation to rethink the challenges currently facing the field. This is particularly vital given contemporary debates regarding violence as a "useful category of historical analysis" and the occasional criticism that historians lack sufficient methodological rigor or rely too heavily on outdated sociological frameworks. However, it is not only "violence" that demands critical re-evaluation. The field of gender history itself is shifting away from rigid concepts of collective identity toward subjectivity, agency, and emotion. This shift necessitates a closer examination of individual experiences and the emotional drivers of actions that often circumvented or shattered cultural norms. A prominent manifestation of this trend is the surge in research on sexual violence during armed conflicts, where the primary objective—sources permitting—is to restore agency to victims through the recovery of their lived experiences. Furthermore, it is essential to contextualize categories such as "marital r**e" or "physical punishment" as socially and culturally constructed phenomena. Our perspective can be also enriched by examining women as perpetrators of violence (e.g., against children or other women) and by recognizing the specificities of violence directed at men and boys. Simultaneously, the gender perspective must operate within an intersectional framework alongside ethnicity, religion, and age. Such an approach is invaluable for decoding the social mechanisms that either escalate or inhibit aggression, whether in interpersonal contexts (domestic violence), collective settings (lynching), or state-sponsored structures (torture, forced sterilization, and the death penalty).
The aim of our conference is to create an academic forum for in-depth reflection on the above-mentioned roles of victims and perpetrators, the multifaceted experiences associated with violence and its legal and historical frameworks, all through the lens of gender categories. Participants are encouraged to address the evolving practices and understandings of violence from the Middle Ages to the present day. Potential themes include, but are not limited to:
• Women as perpetrators: female criminality, violence within female hierarchies
• Sexual violence
• Domestic violence: historical transformations of "private" aggression and legal responses.
• Discipline and exclusion: violence as a tool for maintaining social boundaries.
• Identity and ritual: cultures of honour, rites of passage, militarism, and the construction of manhood/womanhood.
• Intersectionality: the role of race, class, and ethnicity in shaping victimization and aggression.
• State-sponsored violence: biopolitics, eugenics, and the weaponization of the reproductive body.
• Representations: violence in literature, media, and visual culture.
• The role of experts: medical, psychiatric, and legal discourses on violent behaviour.
Organizational Information:
We invite proposals for individual papers (abstract up to 300 words, author's name and surname, affiliation, and a short cv up to 200 words) or full sessions (3–4 papers). Please submit your proposals by June 15, 2026, to: [email protected]
The conference will be held at the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University (13 Gołębia Street, Krakow).
dr hab. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, prof. UJ, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Scientific Committee:
dr hab. Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek, prof. UAM, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
prof. Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, Arizona State University
dr hab. Dobrochna Kałwa, Warsaw University
prof. dr hab. Bożena Popiołek, University of the National Education Commission, Kraków
dr hab. Katarzyna Sierakowska, prof. IH PAN, Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
dr Katarzyna Stańczak-Wiślicz, Institute of Literary Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
dr Stanisław Witecki, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Conference Secretaries: dr Karolina Kwaśna (UKEN, Kraków) i Jan Jakub Grabowski (UJ, Kraków)
