CfP for the conference of the Working Group on Pre-Modern Educational History in Prague

Conference Theme: Staging of education: On the history of an ambivalent practice.

• Conference: 11 and 12 June 2026
• Submission deadline: 15 November 2025
• Download the full CfP

In both the past and the present, we encounter diverse forms of staging in education. These representations of education can be found in texts, images, objects, and even buildings. In German, the word ‘Inszenierung’ (staging) can be understood in two ways: performances, events and even sporting events are described as successfully staged or positively presented in which case the word has a positive connotation. At the same time, it can also have a negative connotation, describing a presentation as artificial, superficial or exaggerated. This is more difficult to express in other languages, such as English, where a presentation is simply a performance or show (OED 1997, 454). The second meaning in German is perhaps best approximated by ‘exaggerated portrayal’ or ‘overambitious presentation’.

The Prague conference will focus on the relationship between these two levels of meaning. It will explore how and why education was presented and received by different groups of people. It will also examine when staging was dismissed as exaggerated and turned into its opposite. The subsequent question is what consequences this had. We will also consider to what extent the staging of education was considered necessary in certain contexts, and how the tension between tipping point and insufficient staging might be revealed.

The conference will focus on the period between the late Middle Ages and the mid-18th century. However, it has sometimes proved fruitful in historical studies to also facilitate dialogue on more recent periods (Habermas/Schwerhoff, 2009). We therefore expressly invite researchers to present their work on representations of education after 1850. Contributions that establish a relationship between the pre-modern and modern eras are particularly welcome.

Suggested topics include:

• Representations of education as self-fashioning
• Idealistic staging of education in text and image, and its impact
• Staging education as a form of power, welfare, philanthropy or reform
• Education in settings of symbolic communication and social distinction
• Staging for the teaching and learning/education market to promote the respective institution’s advantages to the public
• Material representations of education (buildings, paintings, collections, objects, etc.).
• Performative acts (e.g. celebrations, exams, performances) as representations of education
• Global historical dimensions, e.g. the education of colonial elites’ children in Europe.

Abstracts of up to 3,000-characters, with a short biographical note, should be submitted as a word or pdf file (pdf., docx) to ave@dgfe.de.

Submission deadline: 15 November 2025.

You will be notified of the acceptance of your abstract by 15 January 2026.

Further information on the working group’s events and speakers can be found at: https://www.dgfe.de/sektionen-kommissionen-ag/sektion-1-historische-bildungsforschung/arbeitskreise-kooperationen/ave-arbeitskreis-vormoderne-erziehungsgeschichte.

Download the Call for Papers