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CfP: Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500-2026
CfP: Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500-2026
S
01. April 2026
Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500–2026
An international, interdisciplinary conference, organised by the SNSF Starting Grant Team “Matter of Distinction: Early Modern Hair, Race, Trade, and Multispecies History” (Annika Bärwald, Laura Schleiss, Sarah-Maria Schober) at the University of Lucerne on October 8–10, 2026.
Hyper-present on almost all heads and bodies, hair is a forceful matter of difference. It signals gender, class, sometimes religion or politics – as well as racialised distinction. As such, hair connects and disconnects humans and other species across the globe and throughout history. The conference “Global Histories of Hair” aims to bring together researchers working on hair as a matter of distinction in the early modern and modern worlds.
One temporal focus is on the period between approximately 1500 and 1850, encapsulating the European and colonial “age of the wig”. Alongside various types of animal hair reaching their position as “commodities of empire” during this time, human hair was cut, collected and traded over long distances to be used on other people’s heads. In this process, hair and hair practices became an ever-clearer marker of increasingly essentialised and naturalised difference.
In a second step, the conference addresses the long-lasting hairy heritage of distinction making from 1500 to the present day. This includes the role of hair as human remains in anthropological collections as well as racialised regulations of hair or differences in hair care possibilities.
Contributions might address, but are not limited to, the following areas and questions:
Discourse, Knowledge, Practices:
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What role did hair play in the so-called “contact zone”, where Europeans commented upon and categorised hair and hair practices of others, while also being observed and often humorously commented upon themselves (for example because of their wearing of wigs and powder)?
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What did hair practices in different parts of the world actually look like?
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How were grooming techniques or practices of covering hair described, categorised, and also, in some contexts, enforced?
Materiality, Trade, Valuation:
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What role did aspects of hair materiality, such as hair colour, hair texture, hair strength, hair abundance and loss, play in the global sphere? How did the strands of hair materiality, hair knowledge and hair practices entangle or disentangle?
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How was hair collected, traded, valued and used in different regions of the world?
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How did the trade, circulation and usage of hair bring people (and other beings) together and separate them? In what ways did the human hair trade differ from or coalesce with the trade in other fibres?
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How was hair conceptualised and used by people in different regions as a naturecultural material? How were aspects of malleability or essentialisation visualised or hidden, and for what purpose? How did hair contribute to understandings of the increasing separation of nature and culture, and both of these aspects’ respective roles in distinction making?
Intersectionality:
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How did ideas about racial, gender-based, religious or class-based hair differences affect people around the globe?
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What forms of expression, or even resistance, did hair care provide to people experiencing inequality and suppression?
Heritage:
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How have lasting hairy heritages affected people and their bodies around the globe since 1500?
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What attempts have been made to de-essentialise hair? What are ways of unmaking hair distinctions?
Presentations are scheduled for 20 minutes, with ample time allocated for discussion. We invite researchers from all relevant fields, such as history, art history, anthropology as well as museum and collection professionals and archivists. Early-career scholars are strongly encouraged to apply. The conference will take place in Lucerne, Switzerland. Travel, accommodation and visa costs will be covered, and organisational assistance will be provided. Hybrid attendance is possible. The conference language is English.
Please submit an abstract (c. 250 words) and a short biography (c. 100 words). The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2026.
Contact: svenja.furger@unilu.ch
Organisiert von
SNSF Starting Grant Team “Matter of Distinction: Early Modern Hair, Race, Trade, and Multispecies History” (Annika Bärwald, Laura Schleiss, Sarah-Maria Schober), University of Lucerne
Sprachen der Veranstaltung
Englisch
University of Lucerne
Frohburgstrasse 3
6002
Lucerne
svenja.furger@unilu.ch
![»Am Sonntag ist Wahl, und ja, ich weiß - die Schnauze ist voll. [...] Aber deshalb umso wichtiger:
Check bitte ganz genau, wo du dein Kreuz machst. „WIR SENKEN DIE STEUERN!“ klingt super. Aber die Frage ist: für wen? Von den AfD-Steuerplänen profitieren vor allem die Reichen - mit einem Jahreseinkommen über 200.000 Euro! Und die Erbschaftsteuer soll ja komplett weg. Also nur geil für Familien mit nem Millionenvermögen.
UND DANN DIE WAFFEN: „keine weiteren Verschärfungen des Waffenrechts“ klingt ja erstmal harmlos. Aber wollen wir wirklich mehr Waffen in unserer Gesellschaft?
So wie in Amerika, wo Schusswaffen zum Alltag gehören - und selbst Kinder in der Schule lernen, was bei einem Amoklauf zu tun ist…! Dann doch lieber Gitarren statt Knarren, unsere Devise.
„WIR MACHEN DIE GRENZEN DICHT“ heißt übersetzt: mehr Aufwand, mehr Kosten, massive Kontrollen, Wartezeiten, Lkw-Schlangen. Und das betrifft nicht nur die Geflüchteten, sondern auch den Lkw-Fahrer, den Pendler, den Handwerker. Die Familie, die mal eben nach Polen fährt. Den Betrieb, der seine Ware über die Grenze bekommt. Totales Chaos und wirtschaftlicher Overkill.
Wut ist noch kein Wahlprogramm! Und ein Protestkreuz kein Feuerlöscher. Also wenn dir jemand erzählt:
„Mit der AfD wird alles besser“, frag ihn besser mal:
„Für wen??“Wer Deutschland WIRKLICH liebt,
wählt schwarz rot gold, gelb oder grün oder lila,
aber definitiv NICHT blau.«
Udo Lindenberg](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hru4iz4qantc4qz4nwmlht6c/bafkreie7bcu6fzs6rgpzx73xbsxxey7rsjzfpaq7ntxbt7u2sacsixclbm)
