The Global Dimensions of European Knowledge, 1450-1700
CALL FOR PAPERS
"The Global Dimensions of European Knowledge, 1450-1700"
(Birkbeck, University of London)
24-5 June, 2011.
An international conference organized with support from
The Leverhulme Trust, the Society for Renaissance Studies and
Birkbeck, University of London
Confirmed speakers:
Keynote speakers: Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Notre Dame),
Professor Pamela Smith (Columbia), Dr Joan-Pau Rubiés (London School
of Economics)
Plenary speakers: Professor Ricardo Padrón (Virginia), Professor
Nicolás Wey-Gómez (Brown),
Dr Michiel van Groesen (Amsterdam)
Afterword: Professor Peter Burke (Cambridge)
The period 1450-1700 saw the expansion of European seaborne
reconnaissance of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, which would
lead to long-distance European empires in these regions. It also
witnessed changes in European knowledge-making practices that heralded
what is often termed the Scientific Revolution.
This conference will investigate the impact of European exploration
and travel on the structures, contents and sources of authority of
European knowledge c. 1450-1700. It seeks to explore connections
between the making of knowledge and a broad range of intellectual,
political, cultural,
religious and mercantile encounters between Europe and the wider
world. It aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines
working on any aspect of European knowledge that included an
extra-European dimension. Forms of knowledge under consideration
include ethnology, natural history, botany, natural philosophy,
geography, cartography, medicine and chronology.
Overarching questions
In what ways was European knowledge re-shaped by exploration,
imperialism and colonialism?
To what extent did indigenous knowledge systems influence European
'science'?
How did information about distant places circulate, and how was it
changed by circulation?
What was the nature of the exchanges of information and expertise
between travellers, missionaries, colonial administrators, indigenous
informants, artisans, scholars, readers and other groups from
different countries?
What challenges did these exchanges pose for testimony and authority?
What was the impact of colonial rivalries on the ways in which
information was interpreted, used and disseminated?
Possible panel themes might include:
first-hand testimony and authority; expectations and observations;
circulation networks; artisans and learned societies; cultural
encounters and indigenous knowledge; gender and knowledge; empire and
knowledge; commerce and collecting; classification and the structures
of knowledge; visual culture.
Proposals are welcomed for full panels and individual papers (25 mins).
Individual submissions should comprise a paper title, abstract (up to
300 words) and brief CV (max. one page) emphasizing publications. For full
panel proposals, please include an additional 300-word description of
the panel itself. Submissions should be sent to the conference
organizer, Dr Surekha Davies (Birkbeck, University of London) at
s.davies@bbk.ac.uk, and to Prof. Ricardo Padrón (University of
Virginia) at padron@virginia.edu
by 31 July 2010. A selection of papers will be published as an edited
collection.
"The Global Dimensions of European Knowledge, 1450-1700"
(Birkbeck, University of London)
24-5 June, 2011.
An international conference organized with support from
The Leverhulme Trust, the Society for Renaissance Studies and
Birkbeck, University of London
Confirmed speakers:
Keynote speakers: Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Notre Dame),
Professor Pamela Smith (Columbia), Dr Joan-Pau Rubiés (London School
of Economics)
Plenary speakers: Professor Ricardo Padrón (Virginia), Professor
Nicolás Wey-Gómez (Brown),
Dr Michiel van Groesen (Amsterdam)
Afterword: Professor Peter Burke (Cambridge)
The period 1450-1700 saw the expansion of European seaborne
reconnaissance of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, which would
lead to long-distance European empires in these regions. It also
witnessed changes in European knowledge-making practices that heralded
what is often termed the Scientific Revolution.
This conference will investigate the impact of European exploration
and travel on the structures, contents and sources of authority of
European knowledge c. 1450-1700. It seeks to explore connections
between the making of knowledge and a broad range of intellectual,
political, cultural,
religious and mercantile encounters between Europe and the wider
world. It aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines
working on any aspect of European knowledge that included an
extra-European dimension. Forms of knowledge under consideration
include ethnology, natural history, botany, natural philosophy,
geography, cartography, medicine and chronology.
Overarching questions
In what ways was European knowledge re-shaped by exploration,
imperialism and colonialism?
To what extent did indigenous knowledge systems influence European
'science'?
How did information about distant places circulate, and how was it
changed by circulation?
What was the nature of the exchanges of information and expertise
between travellers, missionaries, colonial administrators, indigenous
informants, artisans, scholars, readers and other groups from
different countries?
What challenges did these exchanges pose for testimony and authority?
What was the impact of colonial rivalries on the ways in which
information was interpreted, used and disseminated?
Possible panel themes might include:
first-hand testimony and authority; expectations and observations;
circulation networks; artisans and learned societies; cultural
encounters and indigenous knowledge; gender and knowledge; empire and
knowledge; commerce and collecting; classification and the structures
of knowledge; visual culture.
Proposals are welcomed for full panels and individual papers (25 mins).
Individual submissions should comprise a paper title, abstract (up to
300 words) and brief CV (max. one page) emphasizing publications. For full
panel proposals, please include an additional 300-word description of
the panel itself. Submissions should be sent to the conference
organizer, Dr Surekha Davies (Birkbeck, University of London) at
s.davies@bbk.ac.uk, and to Prof. Ricardo Padrón (University of
Virginia) at padron@virginia.edu
by 31 July 2010. A selection of papers will be published as an edited
collection.