There is growing academic interest in gambling, and the harms it can do, conducted especially but not exclusively by scholars from the social sciences, behavioural psychology and population health. This one-day symposium will explore how perspectives and approaches from the Arts and Humanities can further illuminate what gambling has meant, and continues to mean, for peoples and cultures around the world. Treating gambling as a phenomenon found in many societies and under various economic systems at different times, it asks:
- What role does gambling play within cultures at different moments in their history?
- How has the relationship between the media and gambling developed over time?
- How, historically, have states facilitated or hindered gambling?
- How have attitudes to gambling changed throughout history?
- How are gambling behaviours proscribed in different contexts? What influence have religion or law played in shaping the proscription of gambling?
- How have gambling practices and gamblers been depicted in art, literature and film?
- What role can the arts play in addressing gambling harms today?
We therefore invite expressions of interest for short presentations (15 minutes) from scholars whose work directly or indirectly addresses the questions above or other aspects of gambling through approaches drawn from the Arts and Humanities. Presentations will be followed by a workshop to consider the contribution that the Arts and Humanities can make to tackling gambling harms in the UK and beyond.
Expressions of interest should take the form of a short explanation of your interest in this subject and limited to no more than 200 words.
Please email these to Dr Emily Crick: emily.crick@bristol.ac.uk by 1st June 2025.