Friday 16 – Saturday 17 May, 2003
The Folklore Society,
Warburg Institute (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Woburn Square,
LONDON WC1H 0AB
Tel: 0207 862 8564

Guising, both literal and figurative, has been important to many cultures and many periods. Masks have been worn in rituals and in war, disguises have been adopted out of necessity or the pursuit of pleasure. From Rabelasian revellers to armed revolutionaries, people in the past have been ready to become ‘other’. Given current interest in fragmented identities and multiple subjectivities, it is worth exploring when and how our predecessors chose to speak with different voices.

This conference, jointly hosted by the Warburg Institute and the Folklore Society, aims to bring together students and scholars from many fields to consider the occasions, the costumes and the performance of guising, as well as the strategies and purposes of guisers. This call for papers is addressed to historians concerned with the political play of guisers, folklorists interested in the traditional and ritual use of disguise such as Carnival, theatre scholars, art historians, anthropologists, anyone interested in the use of masks and disguises, whether in war, religion, medicine, pageant or drama.

Proposals for short papers (20 minutes) which explore any aspect of this topic are invited from all quarters, particularly graduate students. Proposals should include: name; contact details; a very brief c.v.; title of paper and a synopsis of not more than 350 words.