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HEIndividual fellowship2024–2026

OSpaMa · Objects, Spaces and Material Culture. Gender and Politics in Early Modern European Republics (Venice, Genova, XV-XVIII centuries)

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2024-01-01 → 2026-12-31
EU contribution
€288,859
Participants
3
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Objects, Spaces and Material Culture. Gender and Politics in Early Modern European Republics (Venice, Genova, XV-XVIII centuries)

The project OSPaMa – Objects, Spaces and Material Culture: Gender and Politics in Early Modern European Republics (Venice and Genoa, 15th–18th centuries) addresses a major historiographical gap in the study of early modern republics. Traditional political history has relied primarily on institutional and normative sources that privilege male actors, thereby reinforcing the idea that women played no meaningful role in republican systems such as Venice and Genoa. This project challenges that assumption by shifting the focus from formal political documentation to material culture—objects, clothing, jewels, domestic interiors, ceremonial spaces, and visual representations—as alternative sources for reconstructing women’s presence and influence in spaces of power. The overall objectives are: - to develop an interdisciplinary methodological framework combining written, visual, and material sources, supported by Digital Humanities tools; - to reassess the role of dogaresse and the wives of Procurators, ambassadors, and other republican leaders, investigating how they exercised agency through material display, networks, and spatial proximity to power; - to refine key conceptual categories such as public/private and formal/informal power in early modern political culture. By integrating Early Modern History, Gender Studies, Material Culture, and Digital Humanities, the project demonstrates how humanities research can offer new perspectives on political authority, visibility, and gendered power in European historical contexts.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

To this day, and even in Europe, gender balance in decision-making remains a goal to be achieved. This condition has historical roots, and the power of informal leadership still remains to be investigated further.The predominantly male European republics of the modern age were careful to mark gender boundaries, excluding women from the direct exercising of power. In republican contexts, unlike queens, princesses, and duchesses, the consorts of the men in power did not have the privilege of providing the heir to the throne, so traditional historiography has generally considered their role to be very marginal, if not entirely irrelevant. The aim of the project is to challenge this established idea, using new sources and an innovative interdisciplinary methodological approach. Considering, from a comparative perspective, two Italian republics that maintained their independence until the end of the 18th century (Venice, Genoa), the investigation will examine the prominence of the Doges' wives and female relatives, the creation and use of gendered spaces, the purchase and placement of furnishings in public and private apartments, and the display strategies pursued. Particular attention will be given to clothing, jewellery and objects in contact with the body. Alongside written sources, iconographic sources and objects preserved in museums will be analysed, taking into account the sensory dimension and the three-dimensionality of things. The aim is to go beyond the limits of written sources and traditional historiography, focusing on material culture, in order to re-evaluate the identity and role of women in republican political contexts, to define their sphere of influence and agency, to grasp their attempts to negotiate power and their strategies to promote private and public interests, and to bring to light their contribution to the - still open - path towards gender equality.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA · VeronaCoordinatorItaly
  • Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia · VeneziaItaly
  • THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · CHICAGO ILLINOISUnited States

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union