CfP Scale of Nature: Long Nineteenth-Century Culture and the Great Chain of Being
One-Day Conference. Saturday 18 March 2017
Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and Centre for Visual Arts and Culture
Durham University, UK
Keynote Address: Professor Peter Bowler (Queen’s University, Belfast)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Amongst the paradigms current in nineteenth-century culture the Great
Chain of Being frequently held pride of place, vying against Darwinian
approaches in what historian of science Peter Bowler described broadly
as the ‘non-Darwinian revolution’. Arming scientists
with a scale of nature - a fixed hierarchical arrangement of the
natural world from the lowest rudimentary forms of life to its apogee in
man – the Great Chain helped Victorian Britain reassert order and
control in the face of perceived threats by the inherent
randomness, chance and uncertainty of Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
Paradoxically, in the battle between The Great Chain and Darwin, it was
the Great Chain of Being that was frequently the fittest survivor. This
one-day interdisciplinary conference examines
this phenomenon, exploring Britain’s understanding of the Scale of
Nature by investigating the Great Chain of Being in the context of the
pre-, non- and post-Darwinian as well as Darwinian evolutionary culture
in the long nineteenth century. It pays particular
attention to visual representations of natural hierarchies.
We invite academic and institutional staff, postgraduates and other
researchers to submit abstracts of 300 words for 20-minute individual
papers, and 500 words for panels (three papers). Topics might include,
but are not limited to:
• The history of The Great Chain as diversely and divergently reinterpreted by nineteenth-century figures
• Visual and spatial representations of The Great Chain of Being and
competitor evolutionary ideas, as found in drawings, paintings, book
illustration, cinema, photography, sculpture, architecture, museum
design, exhibition and taxidermy spaces, and zoological
gardens
• Implications for literary contexts, such as fiction, poetry, history and biography
• Its cultural influence in the arts more broadly, including
evolutionary impacts in theatre, dance and music and other
performance-related activities
Abstract Submission Information
Confirmation of acceptances will be made by Tuesday 1 September 2016.
For more information, please contact Bennett Zon at bennett.zon[at]durham.ac.uk or
Ludmilla Jordanova at ludmilla.jordanova[at]durham.
Further information about the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies can be found here.
Further information about the Centre for Visual Arts and Culture may be found here.
This event is supported by the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University