Enfilade

BSECS 40th Annual Conference — ‘Emotions’
St Hugh’s College, Oxford, 5-7 January 2011

Proposals due by 30 September 2010

The annual meeting of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies is Europe’s largest and most prestigious annual conference dealing with all aspects of the history, literature, and culture of the long eighteenth century. We invite proposals for papers and sessions dealing with any aspect of the long eighteenth century, not only in Britain, but also throughout Europe, North America, and the wider world. Proposals are invited for fully comprised panels of three or four papers, for roundtable sessions of up to five speakers, for individual papers, and for ‘alternative format’ sessions of your devising.

While proposals on all and any eighteenth-century topics are very welcome, this year the conference theme will be ‘Emotions’. We would thus particularly welcome proposals for panels and papers that address eighteenth-century understandings, and consequences, of the emotions, broadly conceived, and the role of the passions, feelings, and sentiment throughout the long eighteenth century, at all levels of society, and in any part of the world. These might include, but will not be confined to: the meanings and significance given to the emotions and feelings of all kinds, from affection to xenophobia, including fear, hatred, love and sensibility, and in all fields from history, politics and religion, to the arts, literature, and philosophy; gender and the emotions; ‘affect’; the relationship between reason, thought and feeling; and controlling emotions.

The deadline for submission of papers and panel proposals is Thursday 30th September 2010. You will be notified by Sunday 31st October as to whether your proposal has been accepted. If you are travelling from outside the UK and need an earlier decision, please mention this in your proposal and we shall endeavour to reach a decision earlier.

We also offer two bursary schemes. The first type of bursary is for postgraduate students enrolled on a programme of PhD or equivalent study at a higher education establishment within the European Union whose papers have been accepted for presentation at the BSECS Conference. Successful applicants will receive a bursary of £100 which will be presented to them in person at the conference. The second type is for established scholars whose papers have been accepted for presentation at the BSECS Conference, but who are from countries whose institutions may not normally have the resources to support staff attendance at conferences in Western Europe. Successful applicants will have their registration, meals, and accommodation costs met by the Society.

Dr. Jeremy Gregory is the academic programme co-ordinator for the 2011 conference. Further information can be found on our website: http://www.bsecs.org.uk/