10-11 June 2025, in-person at the University of Warwick

We are pleased to announce that the Work, Authenticity, and Social Identity in Early Modern Britain (c.1500-1750) Conference, funded and sponsored by the Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre at the University of Warwick and the AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership Midlands4Cities, will take place at the University of Warwick on 10-11 June, 2025.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Professor Steve Hindle (Washington University in St Louis), Professor Jane Whittle (University of Exeter), and Dr Mark Hailwood (University of Bristol) & Dr Brodie Waddell (Birkbeck, University of London).

We are currently accepting abstracts of 250 words maximum. Submissions for 20-minute papers might consider, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Occupational and labouring identities in print culture and/or everyday life
• The relationship between racial, gender, and social identities
• Literary and theatrical depictions of work and social status
• Individual and communal memories of work and labouring cultures
• Difference and similarities between urban and rural labouring patterns and their impact on social relationships
• Non-elite notions of selfhood and practices of self-fashioning; the social significance of concepts such as honesty, credit, trust, etc.
• The role played by religion and politics in the construction and experience of non-elite labouring identities
• Anthropological approaches to early modern social history (e.g., the ‘taskscape’), as well as the material culture of work

Submissions are due 1 February 2025, and accepted speakers will be notified by 1 March 2025

Please email submissions, as well as any questions, to

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