Overview about workshops and conferences that have been organized within this project:

Honor-Shame Dynamics in Western History

Date: 14 – 16 June 2018

ZIF / Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Bielefeld, Germany

Convenors: Richard Landes (Ramat Gan, ISR), Jörg Wettlaufer (Göttingen, GER)

Abstract: This workshop brings together a wide range of specialists from varyious disciplines, periods of history, and geographical areas, in order to discuss a common theme that has, for a variety of reasons, been neglected by most scholars, i.e., the dynamics surrounding honor and shame in Western culture. In fact, much of the work that does address these issues tends to focus on one or the other element in the dyad. Given how fundamental these dynamics are for socialisation (indeed to human evolution and the limbic system), how pervasive these dynamics are in every culture and every time period, and how in the West, in particular, an adversary set of dynamics emerged (change to what we call secondary honor codes), it seems rewarding to try and think systematically and conceptually about these issues. The purpose of the three-day workshop is to discuss terminology, refine definitions, identify evidence, prepare a digital archive for further collaborative research on the topic and develop common issues.

Please direct questions concerning scientific content and contributions of the workshop to Jörg Wettlaufer jwettla (@) gwdg.de or Richard Landes.