Enfilade

Quakers and Slavery, 1657-1865: An International Interdisciplinary Conference
Philadelphia, 4-6 November 2010

Proposals due by 30 April 2010

Keynote Speakers: Gary Nash (UCLA), Jerry Frost (Swarthmore), and James Walvin (York)

In 1657, George Fox wrote “To Friends beyond sea, that have Blacks and Indian Slaves” to remind them that Quakers who owned slaves should be merciful and should remember that God “hath made all Nations of one Blood.” His argument may seem far from radical today, but it initiated three centuries of Quaker debate and activism over the problem of slavery that would ultimately see Friends taking key roles in abolition and emancipation movements on both sides of the Atlantic, and beyond. It was, however, by no means inevitable that Quakers would embrace antislavery. In the seventeenth century, and most of the eighteenth century, Quakers were divided on the issue, particularly in the British American colonies, with some denouncing slavery, and others owning slaves. In the following century, Quakers were more unified in their opposition to slavery, but encountered a range of spiritual, political, and personal challenges while taking their antislavery message to a wider world. This interdisciplinary conference aims to examine the history, literature, and culture of the Quaker relationship with slavery, from the society’s origins in the English Civil War up to the end of the American Civil War, with a focus on what David Brion Davis has called “The Quaker Antislavery International.”

We welcome proposals for pre-circulated papers from scholars in all relevant disciplines; in particular, from historians, literary scholars, art historians, and scholars studying Quakers and slavery beyond the English-speaking world. Topics to be discussed may include but are not confined to: (more…)

36th Annual CSECS Conference: Charting the 18th Century: Encircling Land & Sea
St. John’s, Newfoundland  & Labrador, Canada, 14-16 October 2010

Proposals due by 28 February 2010

Plenary Speakers:

• Isobel Grundy (Professor Emeritus, English & Film Studies, University of Alberta)
• Jean-François Palomino (Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, Montréal)
• Pat Rogers (Distinguished University Professor and DeBartolo Chair in the Liberal Arts, University of South Florida)

The planning committee for the 36th annual CSECS conference welcomes papers on any aspect of the long eighteenth century. Selected papers will be published in Lumen. 2010 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Sarah Fielding, the Copyright Act, Swift’s Description of a City Shower and the 250th anniversary of the reign of George III, Diderot’s La religieuse, Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, Voltaire’s Tancrède . . . (more…)