Guest lecture by Professor Katie Barclay: Feeling Safe at the End of the World: Time, Emotion, and Lineage

Guest lecture by Professor Katie Barclay (University of Adelaide): “Feeling Safe at the End of the World: Time, Emotion, and Lineage”, Thursday 25 January, 2.15 – 3.45pm, Room H105, Historica 
 
Abstract: Today, the end of the world seems pressing for many, not least young people who are reporting high levels of anxiety and despair. But this is not the first time in history that people have felt this way. This project explores how early modern Europeans lived with the end of the world, with a particular focus on how families created conditions of safety and security for children during times of crises, both real and existential. In this paper, I explore some of the theoretical and methodological issues that arise when conducting this research, thinking especially about the intersection of concepts of ending with the family as a location of lineage, generation and future possibility. 
 
Katie Barclay is Head of Historical and Classical Studies and Co-Director of the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender, University of Adelaide. She writes widely on the history of emotions, family and gender. Her main publications include Caritas: Neighbourly Love and the Early Modern Self (Oxford, 2021), Academic Emotions: Feeling the Institution (Cambridge, 2021). At the moment she is a visiting research fellow at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at the University of Heidelberg.