Workshop: Materiality and Historical Research
- Cameron Heagney & Geert Ham
- Date
- Monday 20 April 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.30 (KITLV Seminar Room)
We are pleased to invite you to the postgraduate workshop "Materiality and Historical Research", organised in Leiden on Monday 20th of April 2026 by Cameron Heagney, the Birmingham-Leiden fellow 2026, and Geert Ham, PhD-candidate at Leiden University. The organisers of this workshop invite researchers to present papers reflecting on the topic of materiality and its presence in historical research.
The workshop will be hosted from 13:00 to 17:00 in the KITLV Seminar Room (Room 1.30) of the Herta Mohr building. There will be coffee, followed by a drinks reception at the conclusion of the event.
This workshop will consist of short (15-minute) presentations by PhD-candidates on a single object, or group of objects, that can demonstrate the importance of materiality in historical research. This can include clothing, jewellery, documents, paintings, etc. We encourage presenters to speak about material from a range of historical periods and historical themes (e.g. religion, imperialism, gender), and we invite presentations from researchers from all methodological backgrounds. Presenters and attendants are invited to contribute to discussions around the importance of materiality and human sensory engagement with objects in the research of their historical themes, and what engagement with materiality might reveal about their chosen subject in ways other approaches might not. Papers on materiality in religious cultures are especially welcome.
We intend for this to be a low-stakes environment where PhD candidates can present their research and gain feedback from their peers.
Submissions should take the form of an abstract of 100-150 words, submitted to Cameron Heagney (cjh546@student.bham.ac.uk) or Geert Ham (g.a.ham@hum.leidenuniv.nl) by Friday 3rd of April 2026, 17:00. We will confirm your participation by Wednesday 8th of April, 17:00.
We look forward to seeing you there!
From the Materiality and Historical Research organising committee,
Cameron and Geert