A conference on "The Trade in Luxury and the Luxury of Trade," focusing on the production, display,
and circulation of precious objects from the Middle Ages to the present
day, will be held November 22-23, 2012, at the Musée Gadagne in Lyon. The conference is being organized by the Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes (LARHRA). The organizers explain:
the objective is to reveal the richness and diversity of a phenomenon referred to as ‘luxury,’ and the progressive emergence of specialized markets. Two specific approaches will thus be developed in the conference: on the one hand, a focus on people and goods, and on the other hand, a focus on points of sale and the material and symbolic power deriving from this particular sector of the economy.
Paper proposals should be sent to
Alain Bonnet at the University of Nantes and to
Natacha Coquery, at the University of
Lyon 2. The deadline for submissions is
January 1, 2012. For a full explanation of the meeting's objectives and themes, please see the
call for papers (in French and English).
