An international symposium part of an EHESS-Cartier cooperation
Paris, April 25 and 26, 2024.

Precious objects, and jewelry in particular, have generated repeated and echoed reactions over the centuries and across the globe, despite variations in context and location. Indeed, while the disapproval of an often ostentatious dissipation has been recurrent since Antiquity (Pliny the Elder), the benefits of a precious object has been claimed for aesthetic, symbolic, religious and economic reasons alike, whether it may be an agalma worthy of devotion ; an offering to the gods or the dead ; a symbol of status, power, alliance; a social or family heirloom, both a vehicle and a pledge of transmission or tradition ; an inspiration for artistic creation and the development of techniques ; as majors elements of exchange in the gift economy, and even a driving force behind the capitalist economy as emphasized by Bernard de Mandeville, Jean-Baptiste Say, Werner Sombart, and many others.  

The international symposium “The precious object: a total social fact? [L’objet précieux : un fait social total ?]” (INHA, April 25 and 26, 2024) invites researchers active in all fields of the social sciences to discuss these paths of research. This initiative, part of a wider EHESS-Cartier cooperation, aims to stimulate a wide-ranging reflection on this interdisciplinary theme par excellence.

We invite you to send us your proposals, including titles and an abstract of no more than 2,500 characters (approximately 400 words), together with a short bio-bibliography, by October 31st, 2023 at the latest at the following email address: objetprecieux@ehess.fr .

More information and details are in the call for papers