Naval Expertise Conference - Registration Open
Naval Expertise and the Making of
the Modern World
Wolfson College, University of Oxford
10-11 May 2013
This conference examines the
generation of expertise in naval contexts and traces how such developments
helped shape the modern world. Expertise will be considered not only as
knowledge but also as methods and practices central to the evolution of modern
nation states and empires.
In the search for
useful knowledge and in answering the demands of global infrastructure, navies
have not only pursued military aims, but have also encouraged the formation of
other areas of expertise, whether medical, technological, or bureaucratic.
Recent research has identified navies as forerunners of modern scientific
research, social disciplinary practices, and political economy for instance.
This conference will explore such developments comparatively and consider their
influence in the early modern and modern periods. By exploring how issues such
as social welfare, professionalization and industrialization shaped and were
shaped by naval institutions and innovations, this inter-disciplinary conference
will link scholarship on naval infrastructure with research on the origins of
the modern world.
Speakers and discussants include Dr
Eric H. Ash (Wayne State), Dr William J. Ashworth (Liverpool), Dr Maria Fusaro
(Exeter), Prof. N. A. M. Rodger (Oxford), and Prof. Mark Harrison
(Oxford).
Registration is now open. More
details can be found at www.navalexpertise.com .