Grief and Consolation – Call For Papers

Grief and Consolation
IAS/UWA Classics and Ancient History/CHE Symposium
Institute of Advanced Studies, The University of Western Australia
15 September, 2017

More info: http://www.historyofemotions.org.au/events/grief-and-consolation
Submissions Deadline: 1 August, 2017
Submissions: Send to Lara O’Sullivan (lara.osullivan@uwa.edu.au)

Grief, particularly the grief associated with bereavement, has been a constant companion of humanity throughout the ages. But how are we best to deal with grief? Traditional rituals have had a part to play, but consolation for grief has also been sought through intellectual processes: through awareness and (self-) analysis of the emotional and cognitive responses to grief, and through the articulation of grief in language, music and the arts.

Held under the joint aegis of the Institute of Advanced Studies UWA, the Discipline of Classics and Ancient History at UWA, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of the Emotions, this interdisciplinary colloquium proposes a broad exploration of grief, and of the strategies employed in the consolation grief across time and culture. Papers (of c. 20 minutes’ duration) are invited to engage with this theme, whether literary, musical, philosophical, medical or other perspectives.

The special guest at the colloquium will be Professor Han Baltussen, the Walter Watson Hughes Professor Classics at the University of Adelaide. Professor Baltussen will be visiting UWA in September as an IAS Visiting Professor; while in Perth, he will be working on his current project, which traces the emergence of the conscious treatment of grief in ancient Greek oratory, philosophy and medicine.