We are pleased to announce the results of our recent funding competition, which invited researchers to apply for a share of £1500 toward the cost of organising an event in Oxford. Proposals were judged on the extent to which events would contribute to CEMS’ mission of furthering the conversation between disciplines in early modern studies. The successful proposals were for interdisciplinary conferences that each have different approaches and themes, but which all aim to facilitate scholarly discussion in Oxford and beyond.
In calendar order, here are the winners of our funding competition for 2018:
Literary Form After Matter, 1500-1700
22 June, The Queen’s College
This one-day conference aims to address the topic of ‘literary form’ in light of the recent scholarly turn toward examining texts as material objects. Aiming to bring together scholars working at the (potentially fraught) interface of form and materiality, this conference will provide a platform for highly focussed 10-minute papers that draw together the methodologies and aims of both approaches, as well as work that attempts to identify the limits of each. The conference is organised by early career researchers Dr Katherine Hunt and Dr Dianne Mitchell (both Queen’s), and will feature keynotes from Dr Sophie Butler (University of East Anglia) and Professor Adam Smyth (Balliol).
‘Digitizing Enlightenment III’
19-20 July, Maison Francaise d’Oxford
The third instalment in this international conference series (the first two were held in Sydney and Nijmegen in 2016 and 2017) focusses on historical prosopography and network analysis of scientific, literary and artistic networks in western Europe from c.1600-1800. Taking a narrower focus than the first two events, this two-day conference will bring together researchers from across the world to identify and work collaboratively on shared research problems relating to the digital study of early modern intellectual networks. The conference is co-ordinated by Professor Howard Hotson (St Anne’s) and will bring together participants from a wide range of overlapping research organisations and Digital Humanities projects, including the Voltaire Foundation, the Newton Project, the Electronic Enlightenment, Cultures of Knowledge and EMLO.
‘(Dis)information in the Early Modern World’
21-22 September (TBC), New College
Taking its cue from the widespread concern that we are currently living in a ‘post-truth’ era, this two-day conference calls into question the idea that ‘fake news’ is a uniquely modern phenomenon precipitated by the rise of the internet. Instead, this event calls on speakers to explore the ways that improvements in transportation, postal services, and information networks also facilitated the spread of rumours, disinformation and falsehood in the early modern world. Organised by DPhil candidates in History at New College, Thomas Goodwin and Luca Zenobi, along with Dr Emma Claussen (Career Development Fellow and Tutor in French), the conference aims to bring together researchers working on both European and Non-European topics.
