Societal Sidelines: An International Symposium at the University of Tokyo

Societal Sidelines: Exclusion and Resilience in the Early Modern World was an international symposium held at Kojima Hall, at Tokyo University’s Hongo Campus, on July 13th and 15th, 2024. In the conference participated dr hab. Anna Penkała-Jastrzebska and dr hab. Urszula Kicińska.

Funding for this conference were from both the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Centre for International Research on the Japanese Economy at the University of Tokyo.

Speakers were specialized in early modern literature, social, cultural, or economic history. Across the Humanities, there has been renewed interest in recent years in the study of ‘forgotten histories’ – the stories of the lives and livelihoods of those who may not feature in mainstream or official accounts. This symposium goal was to contribute to this scholarly turn by focusing on the experiences of minority groups in the early modern period.