Workshop: Feeling Close. A Workshop on the History of Intimacy in the 20th Century

  • Datum: 03.03.2017
  • Uhrzeit: 14:00 - 18:30
  • Ort: Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Theaterwissenschaften, Hörsaal, Grunewaldstraße 35, 12165 Berlin-Steglitz
  • Gastgeber: Dahlem International Network Junior Research Group Kunst-Paare

Kontakt: Magdalena Beljan

The Dahlem International Network Junior Research Group "Kunst-Paare", a cooperation of the Freie Universität Berlin with the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, cordially invites all interested to attend the workshop

Feeling Close. A Workshop on the History of Intimacy in the 20th Century

The 20th Century has been described as the age of the "transformation of intimacy" (Giddens). But what does this mean for intimate relations in all their historical diversification – from marriage to ‘modern’ partnership – and plurality? While the function of sexuality and the body has already been pointed out in this transformational process, the role of emotions and media is less accurate described and still blurry. The one-day workshop invites well-known international researches from different fields to rethink the role and the interplay of emotions, sexuality and media for the ‘modern’ notion of intimacy and social relations.
Capitalism and the commercialization of romantic love have clearly transformed emotional patterns. But beside these ‘romantic practices’ how has, e.g., our notion of trust changed and which role does it play for a history of intimacy? "Intimacy builds worlds" (Berlant), so can ‘modern’ intimacy be described as a specific social space created through emotions like love and trust?
Intimacy has also been read as an alternative model to the concept of romantic love, which got more and more important since the 1970ies and the so-called crisis of marriage. Partnership started to be no longer the alternative, but the hegemonic model of intimate relations. Sexuality and sexual satisfaction became an integral part of ‘good relations’. In this new model both partners had to work on their feelings, their selfs, but also on their sexuality.

Nevertheless, intimacy may not only be a product of emotional communication and sexuality, but it is also shaped and transformed by different kind of medias. Which role do movies and literature play e.g. for our idea of love and intimacy? And on the other hand: How do different forms of communication like talking and writing shape intimate relations and emotions?
"Feeling close«"wants to connect scholars from different research areas to theorize, but also to rethink the usability of the concept of intimacy for their research. The symposium language is English. The Workshop is open to the public. RSVP: workshop@kunst-paare.de

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