[PAST EVENT] AGSC Speaker Series: Aisling Tierney, University of Bristol

March 15, 2016
6pm - 7pm
Location
Washington Hall, Room 107
241 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Title:
The Outrage of the Hell-Fire Clubs: Sex, Satanism, and Shenanigans.

Abstract:
This paper will present the core findings of my Ph.D. research into the Hell-Fire Clubs of the eighteenth century. Previous attention to the study of clubs has been conducted by lay historians who do not engage with the materiality or archaeology of the subject. The over-reliance on documentary evidence, devoid of theoretical analysis, has resulted in superficial understandings of the clubs in terms of the realities of their activities, why they emerged and disappeared, and their wider impact. The fragmentary nature of the clubs, split between Ireland and across the UK in different decades, has likewise never been satisfactorily explored. My research addresses these issues resulting in a multi-method analytical approach that includes considerations of material culture, archaeology, art history, history, and archaeological insights.