Emotion and Memory in Gift Exchanging Practices
PIMo online workshop (hosted by N. Iorga Institute of History)
12 March 2021

Gifts, offered and received, served not merely as a symbol of wealth and status, but also represented relationships and emotions before those involved. Whenever discussing “diplomatic gifts,” “wedding gifts,” “tools for bribery,” “poisoned gifts,” “exotic gifts” or more “personal” ones, sources addressing such objects are marked by a plethora of emotions and bonds between people. Each case of a gift being presented carries within itself a very personal experience embedded in such exchanges.
The scope of this workshop is to gather contributions that explore the evidence of emotions and experiences of those participating in gift exchange. Journals, diplomatic reports, letters, memoirs could represent useful sources for understanding the struggle of an official to prepare and fulfil his mission to an imperial court, or to the house of another official. Still, gift exchanges were by no means always associated with positive emotions, but also with competition and struggle to secure gifts playing an important role in numerous instances. Finally, collections of gifts could provide interesting insights about the experience of the individuals who received/gathered them.
The workshop’s aim is to connect researchers embracing a variety of methodological
approaches to the issue of gift exchange. We expect that the outcomes of the workshop (the papers) will be published as a special issue of one of the journals hosted by the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, indexed in international databases. They may also contribute to an exhibition on emotions (posters on the topic) to be displayed either online on PIMO web page or during any of the other PIMO events.

Guidelines for workshop participants can be found here: Guidelines for the workshop Bucharest