Discovering Dalmatia IX

A call for papers for an international scientific meeting / round table organized as part of a week of events in scholarship and research organized by the Institute of Art History – The Cvito Fisković Centre in Split

DISCOVERING DALMATIA IX

A woman's view of Dalmatian artistic heritage through travel narratives from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries

Split, 20–21 October 2023

>>> CFP <<<

How to explore a specifically female view of the artistic heritage of Dalmatia through books, documents (letters, manuscripts, diaries, drawings, photographs) and works of art from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries?

The beginning of the answer to this question was made in the creation of a chronogeographic database of "grand tourism" in Dalmatia, as part of the Grand Tour Dalmatia project (Croatian Science Foundation, UIP-2013-11-7091, 2014-17), through which numerous travelogues of Dalmatia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were collected and classified. The very scope of women's travel writing mapped by the database indicates that these are very relevant materials for further collection and research across a wider time span, and in response, the creation of a special subcategory of women's travel writing in the database is proposed. The significance of women's travel narratives in this region – geographically located on the border of East and West, and where Christian and Islamic cultures touched and created a rich artistic heritage – can thus become the focus of interdisciplinary travel writing research for the first time.

We approach the travelogue as a genre for collecting and conveying information about other cultures, testing it as a genre of female emancipation, and exploring the scope of female expertise in this field. Focusing on trips to Dalmatia (but not exclusively so), this gathering will consider the specificity of women's views of the artistic heritage of Dalmatia through collected case studies. But we are also interested in how travel served women: the ways in which women established themselves as experienced travellers, respected authors, and disciplinary experts from the eighteenth century, during a period when their rights were seriously challenged.

Although we are primarily interested in Dalmatian travel writing by women, and the evolution of Dalmatian artistic heritage in their works, the meeting is open to all those who, through their research, can contribute to the understanding of women's transfer of knowledge through travel. Therefore, an interdisciplinary circle of scholars are invited to participate in this meeting in order to open this topic together and explore the innovation and erudition of women's narratives.

We invite professionals of various backgrounds, whose research addresses these topics to send a 250-word abstract and a short CV to: discoveringdalmatia@gmail.com.

Scientific Committee
Joško Belamarić (Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre Split)
Mateo Bratanić (University of Zadar, Department of History)
Katrina O’Loughlin (Brunel University London)
Cvijeta Pavlović (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Marko Špikić (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Ana Šverko (Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre Split)
Elke Katharina Wittich (Leibniz Universität Hannover)

Organizing Committee
Joško Belamarić (Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre Split)
Tomislav Bosnić (Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre Split)
Ana Ćurić (Institute of Art History)
Ana Šverko (Institute of Art History – Cvito Fisković Centre Split)

Registration
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers. Proposals consisting of a 250-word abstract and a short CV in Croatian or English should be sent via email as a pdf attachment to discoveringdalmatia@gmail.com by 06/08/2023.

Important dates
Proposal submission deadline 06/08/2023
Notification of acceptance 12/08/2023
Conference day 20/10/2023

Important Information
Registration will take place on the evening of the 19th of October, the closing address will take place on the 21st of October, and the hosts will organise coffee and refreshments for the conference participants during breaks.
No participation fee will be charged for this conference. The organisers do not cover travel and accommodation costs.
The organisers can help participants to find reasonably-priced accommodation in the historical city centre.
Papers and discussion will be conducted in Croatian or in English.
The duration of a spoken contribution should not exceed 20 minutes.
We propose to publish a collection of papers from the conference.

Cover photograph
Maude M. Holbach, Dalmatia. The Land Where East Meets West, London/New York, 1908 (Morlacci Women in Zara Market)