Project description
Studying age as a social category
In Western societies, calendar age, defined as the number of years since birth, serves as the primary measure of age. However, this categorisation of age is a social construct that can significantly impact individuals. Therefore, it is important to comprehend the origins and widespread adoption of calendar age, as well as how people perceived age before its prevalence. The MSCA-funded AGEOFAGE project investigates the emergence of reporting age in calendar years from the early Enlightenment to the onset of the Industrial Era. Focusing on early modern Germany and Italy, the project illustrates how cultural influences shaped notions of accuracy and led to the creation of birth certificates. These certificates became essential as young men needed to validate their birth legitimacy to enter guilds.
Objective
Modern Western societies have coalesced around one way of thinking about human age: Calendar age (i.e. the number of years since birth), which shapes both how we think about age-related behavioural norms and how we define, for example, access to retirement benefits. Despite its unrivalled importance, calendar age has come under critical scrutiny amid recent debates on ageism. In line with historical notions of gender or class, it becomes increasingly clear that calendar age is not a 'neutral number', but an impactful social category.
When did calendar age rise to become such ubiquitous category and which factors contributed to this? How did ‘early modern age consciousness’ function before the rise of calendar age? The project studies these two questions at the example of southern Germany and northern Italy between 1650 and 1850. Based on a sample of burial records, it shows how between the early Enlightenment and the onset of the Industrial era reporting one's age in calendar years became increasingly common, as calendar age grew into a category to identify people. Driven by Enlightenment notions of accuracy, a significant share of early modern populations could report their age in calendar years. This rise of calendar age supplanted an early modern age consciousness, in which alternative ways of age reporting coexisted, and whose degrees of accuracy depended on the specificities of context. The project studies one such context to show how early notions of accuracy were culturally motivated and how information about birthdates and baptisms could actually be retrieved. To enter guilds in early modern Italy and Germany, young men had to prove their legitimate birth, forcing them to research its circumstances and provide written documentation. This production of 'birth certificates' will be analyzed by comparison of an German and Italian city. By historicizing calendar age, the project contributes to the fight against ageism and reflections on age-based norms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.