Enfilade

History in Travel Narrative, 1589-1826
Paris, Sorbonne nouvelle, 11-12 December 2010

Proposals due by 15 June 2010

Joint conference organised by PRISMES (CREA XVIII, Epistémè), Sorbonne nouvelle, and CIERL, Québec

This conference will examine the representation of history in travel narrative. A European’s perception of countries and peoples with no ‘history’ is not the same as that of ‘civilised’ nations. What model of historical change do travel narratives project—history as a decline from some mythical or mythicised origin, cyclical history, history as the unfolding of a providential design, as progress? The evolution of those categories over the period considered will be investigated; this period stretches from 1589, which saw the publication of Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations, to 1826, when William Ellis’s Narrative of a Tour through Hawaii came out.

What is the influence of historiography at any given time on the representation of history as experience in travel literature? How does travel narrative validate its status as historiography? From a more anthropological viewpoint, does the discovery of new or different spaces or places shape the perception and construction of time? Is there any interaction between the conception of space and that of time, between the depiction of spaces and that of time, especially of the time needed for the evolution of manners, customs and institutions which differ from those familiar to the traveller? Does this entail a relativisation of time? How does a European (or Europeanised) nation’s past constrain the analysis of the fabric and customs of the areas visited? Is the historicisation of lived experience limited? What is the impact of measuring instruments on this experience and the account thereof. Those are some of the questions which will be addressed in this conference. Voyages from and to Great Britain will be of particular, but not exclusive, interest.

Please send proposals—200-250 words—for papers not exceeding 30 minutes before 15 June 2010 to Isabelle Bour (Isabelle.Bour@univ-paris3.fr), Line Cottegnies (Line.Cottegnies@univ-paris3.fr) and Thierry Belleguic (Thierry.Belleguic@lit.ulaval.ca).

Call for Papers: Special Issue of The Journal of British Studies on Queer History
Articles for Consideration Due by 1 November 2010

The Journal of British Studies is calling for papers on all aspects of British queer history. Articles can be from the medieval period to the present day. This is for a special issue to be published in late 2011 or early 2012, to be guest edited by Brian Lewis (McGill University). Articles should be 10,000-12,000 words long, follow the JBS format, and be submitted by November 1, 2010.  For more information, see the journal’s website or contact the editors at jbs.history@mcgill.ca or Brian Lewis at brian.lewis@mcgill.ca.

France, Great Britain, Ireland:
Cultural Transfers & the Circulation of Knowledge in the Age of Enlightenment
University of Limerick, 25-26 June 2010

Proposals due by 29 March 2010

In 2008 the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society, the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, and La Société Française d’Étude du Dix-Huitième siècle launched a joint research programme on cultural transfers between their three countries in the Enlightenment period. This initiative has resulted in conferences at L’Université Paris Diderot – Paris VII (in 2008) and the University of York (in 2009).

The third of these conferences will be hosted by the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society and will take place at the University of Limerick, Ireland, from 25 to 26 June 2010. The conference will run in parallel with the Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society’s annual conference. Proposals for twenty-minute papers are invited for papers (in Irish, English or French) on the theme of the conference, but particularly on

• the individuals and groups involved in transfers, who could be called the ‘importers’ or ‘purveyors’ of foreign ideas and who acted as cultural intermediaries; these may include politicians, diplomats, travellers, savants, authors, artists, booksellers
• the transfer of cultural items – books, newspapers, works of art, and other objects – and their impact
• the transfer of literary, philosophical, political or aesthetic models in processes of cultural legitimisation
• transfer processes through imitation, translation or adaptation
• the effect of such transfers on the construction of national identities throughout the century: the invention of a past, a language, or a national history; it could be interesting to examine transfers in relation to mutual power play, wars and imperialist ambitions.

Postgraduate students are particularly encouraged to offer papers. Proposals should be submitted (preferably by email) to the conference organiser (david.fleming@ul.ie) before Friday, 29 March 2010. Proposals should include the title of the paper and a 250-word abstract. Prospective speakers will be notified of a decision by 30 April 2010.

The Stimulated Body and the Arts:
The Nervous System and Nervousness in the History of Aesthetics
Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease, Durham University, 17-18 February 2011

Proposals due by 31 July 2010

This conference will discuss the history of the relationship between aesthetics and medical understandings of the body. Today’s vogue for neurological accounts of artistic emotions has a long pedigree. Since G.S. Rousseau’s pioneering work underlined the importance of models of the nervous system in eighteenth-century aesthetics, the examination of physiological explanations in aesthetics has become a highly productive field of interdisciplinary research. Drawing on this background, the conference aims to illuminate the influence that different medical models of physiology and the nervous system have had on theories of aesthetic experience. How have aesthetic concepts (for instance, imagination or genius) be grounded medically? What effect did the shift from animal spirits to modern neurophysiology have on aesthetics?

The medical effects of culture were not always regarded as positive. The second focus of the conference will be the supposed ability of excessive reading, music and so on to ‘over-stimulate’ nerves and cause nervousness, mental and physical illness, homosexuality and even death. It will consider questions regarding the effects of various theories of neuropathology and psychopathology on the concept of pathological culture. What kinds of culture could lead to such over-stimulation? How was this medical critique of culture related to moral objections and changes in gender relations, politics and society? How was it linked to medical concern about lack of attention and willpower?

This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars working in a wide range of fields, including not only the history of medicine but also in subjects such as art history, languages and musicology. Abstracts for 20-minute papers (maximum 250 words) should be submitted electronically to the organisers by 31 July 2010 at the following address: James.kennaway@durham.ac.uk

Organisers: Dr James Kennaway, Professor Holger Maehle, Dr Lutz Sauerteig.

An interesting-looking conference that comes on the heels of the Met’s exhibition, Watteau, Music, and Theater — as listed at Fabula: la recherche en littérature:

Watteau au confluent des arts: Caractères de la danse
Université de Valenciennes, 9-10 December 2010

Proposals due by 15 April 2010

Le dessin – aujourd’hui disparu, mais connu par de bonnes reproductions – du compositeur Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747) par Antoine Watteau montre un artiste sûr de son art et des principes qui le gouvernent. L’homme était petit mais trapu et doté, si l’on en croit le dessin (la gravure qu’en a tirée Moyreau gomme quelque peu cet aspect), d’une énergie et d’une détermination peu communes. Le regard dominateur tourné vers le spectateur, il compose : la main gauche posée sur les touches du clavecin, la main droite, qui, dirait-on, connaît peu l’hésitation, en train de noter sa composition. En 1715, au moment où Watteau a pu lui être présenté, Rebel publie les Caractères de la Danse, tentative de distillation et de codification de ce qui, dans la musique de chacune des danses les plus répandues de son temps, en constitue l’élément le plus déterminant. La polysémie du terme saute aux yeux : les ” caractères “, c’est à la fois les notes mêmes, compris dans le sens typographique que leur attribuait encore Rousseau dans le Dictionnaire de musique ; la quintessence sonore, les caractéristiques rythmiques des différentes danses ; et les caractérisations psychologiques et typologiques qui s’en dégagent, et qui font qu’une danse a entre autres vocations celle de proposer le portrait d’un être ou d’un sentiment. La création de cette oeuvre, dont le succès fut grand et durable, coincide avec la maturité artistique de Watteau et avec l’élaboration de l’esthétique qui anime ses fêtes galantes. On y danse souvent, et la danse y est encore présente quand on ne fait que marcher, bouger, avancer, se mouvoir : on ne cesse d’évoluer sur scène. Il est vrai qu’on ignore le plus souvent le sens exact de ces mouvements chez Watteau, qui refuse de les inscrire dans une narration intelligible ou du moins vérifiable. Mais si leur signification demeure vague, leur caractère ne l’est pas. Rebel ne procède pas autrement. Il entreprend la séparation de la danse d’avec les chorégraphies qui la liaient au théâtre, et qui la faisaient dépendre des histoires présentées dans les comédies-ballets, les opéras-ballets et les tragédies en musique. Là où Lully, Molière et Quinault avaient poussé la danse à s’intégrer dans des actions où elle était à la fois indispensable et secondaire, Rebel lui rend sa primauté en la rendant abstraite. Il est possible que le même phénomène se produise, en ce qui concerne un mouvement qui tend sans cesse vers la danse, dans les fêtes galantes de Watteau, ces jouissances d’autant plus jouées et irréelles qu’elles sont, à leur tour, abstraites, et déliées des attaches de la linéarité. (more…)

Midwest Conference on British Studies 56th Annual Meeting
Cleveland, OH, 8-10 October 2010

Proposals due by 15 April 2010

The Midwest Conference on British Studies is proud to announce that its fifty-sixth annual meeting will be hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. The MWCBS seeks papers from scholars in all fields of British Studies, broadly defined to include those who study England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Britain’s empire. We welcome scholars from the broad spectrum of disciplines, including but not limited to history, literature, political science, gender studies and art history. Proposals for complete sessions are preferred, although proposals for individual papers will be considered. Especially welcome are roundtables and panels that:

• offer cross-disciplinary perspectives on topics in British Studies
• discuss collaborative or innovative learning techniques in the British Studies classroom
• situate the arts, letters, and sciences in a British cultural context
• examine representations of British and imperial/Commonwealth national identities
• consider Anglo-American relations, past and present
• examine new trends in British Studies
• assess a major work or body of work by a scholar

The MWCBS welcomes papers presented by advanced graduate students and will award the Walter L. Arnstein Prize at its plenary luncheon for the best graduate student paper(s) given at the conference. Proposals should include a 200-word abstract for each paper and a brief, 1-page c.v. for each participant, including chairs and commentators. For full panels, please include a brief 200-word preview of the panel as a whole. In addition, please place the panel proposal, and its accompanying paper proposals and vitas in one file. Please make certain that all contact information, particularly email addresses are correct and current. All proposals should be submitted online by April 15, 2010, to the Program Committee Chair, Rick Incorvati, at rincorvati@wittenberg.edu.

Print Networks Conference 2010: The Book Trade in Early Modern Britain
Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, 6-7 July 2010

Proposals due by 28 February 2010

Guest speakers: Bernard Capp (Professor of History, University of Warwick) and Giles Mandelbrote (Curator, British Collections 1501-1800, The British Library)

The conference theme is broadly defined and papers are invited on any aspect of the production, distribution and reception of print and manuscript in late medieval and early modern Britain, up to c.1750, and on aspects of book-trade relations within the Anglophone world. Papers should be of up to 30 minutes’ duration. A brief CV (c. 50 words) and an abstract (of c.300 words) should be submitted by 28 February 2010 to John Hinks: jh241@le.ac.uk. Selected papers will be published as part of the Print Networks series, edited by John Hinks and Matthew Day, published by Oak Knoll Press and the British Library.

We can offer up to two Conference Fellowships to postgraduate students who wish to present a paper. Fellowships cover the cost of attending the conference and assistance towards costs of travel. An outline of the research being undertaken, together with a letter of recommendation from a tutor or supervisor, should be sent by 28 February 2010 to John Hinks: jh241@le.ac.uk. For the latest information on the conference visit the British Book Trade Index website.

The conference (earlier in July than usual) will be held over two full days. We shall meet in the attractive surroundings of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon. Delegates will need to book their own overnight accommodation, of which there is a wide choice in Stratford.

Scratching the Surface: The History of Skin, Its Diseases, and Their Treatment
History of Medicine Unit, University of Birmingham (UK), 29-30 October 2010

Proposals due by 30 April 2010

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…)