Objects and the Construction of Gender Identities in Eighteenth-Century France: An Overview of Current Research

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

This session will feature Sihem Kchaou and her reflection on the role of objects in the construction of gender identities in eighteenth-century France. Situated at the intersection of the history of material culture, gender history, and everyday practices, this presentation will offer an overview of ongoing research into objects associated with the French nobility, and the methodological and historiographical issues raised by their study from a gendered historical perspective.

Presentation of the project

"The role of objects in the construction of gender identities throughout history has received little scholarly attention thus far. Our research project, entitled Objects and the Construction of Gendered Identities: The Case of the French Nobility in the 18th Century, seeks to explore this issue through an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of material culture history, gender history, and the history of everyday practices. This study aims to examine how objects—through their form, use, and staging—contribute to the definition and performance of gendered identities. Were there, in the early modern period, objects specifically associated with men or women? How did individuals appropriate these objects in their daily lives? To what extent did these objects reinforce or, conversely, challenge gender norms and stereotypes? Here, we propose to take stock of these questions and outline the key methodological and historiographical issues they raise, while also considering the new avenues opened by the intersection of object studies and gender studies within a renewed historical perspective."

Speaker

Sihem Kchaou is a lecturer in the History Department of the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities at the University of Manouba, and a member of the Cultures, Technologies and Philosophical Approaches Laboratory (Philab) at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Tunis. She was also a member of the Board of the University of Manouba from 2017 to 2020.

She obtained her DEA, Agrégation, Doctorate, and Habilitation from the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Tunis. From 2011 to 2018, she was a permanent researcher at the Institut Supérieur d'Histoire de la Tunisie Contemporaine, University of Manouba.