By Dr. Brendan Röder (Contact: brendan.roeder@lmu.de)
The project examines the multiple ways in which early modern urban dwellers perceived and aimed to prevent material dangers. Concentrating on the three critical areas of infectious disease, contaminated food, and fire in the Southern German city of Augsburg, it highlights the active involvement of citizens in prevention practices. Far from being fatalistic or indifferent to collective threats, inhabitants creatively drew on their bodies and senses in food control as well as disease and fire prevention. At the same time, who could authoritatively “sense danger“ in the city and what it meant to be a good citizen in the face of threats was highly contested and underwent considerable transformation during the early modern period.
Personal Website (LMU München)
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
nemos (June 7, 2024). Sensing Danger. Material Threats and Citizen Prevention in Early Modern Augsburg. NEMoS. Retrieved May 11, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12rlr