CfP: Memory and the Making of Knowledge in the Early Modern World (31 May)
Keynote Speakers
- Dr Marie Luisa Allemeyer Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
- Professor Andrea Frisch University of Maryland, USA
- Professor Marian Füssel Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
- Professor Judith Pollmann Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
Memory
is now established as a dynamic and vital field of study in the
humanities and social sciences. It is no longer disputed that how, why,
and what individuals, communities, and societies remember is essential
to under-standing their pasts and presents. A good deal of this work has
understandably concentrated on contemporary history: the emergence of
social history in the middle decades of the twentieth century shifted
the spotlight to focus on ordinary people, and developments in medicine,
psychology, and sociology produced a more sophisticated understanding
of the functioning of individual and social memory. This has led to new
techniques of oral history opening up a wide vista of perspectives on
the recent past. But people living before the twentieth century also
remembered, and this summer school aims to explore memory in the early
modern period, one from which there are obviously no living witnesses,
but which nevertheless left numerous traces of the politics and poetics
of memory in its art, literature, and history.
Between 1500 and
1800, remembrance of the past was crucial for creating knowledge in a
wide range of personal, social, and political projects, and vital
contributions were made to the theory and practice of memory. Actors
from across the social spectrum used both old and new media to encode,
manipulate, transmit, and deploy memories. The development of the
Renaissance ars memoria played an important role in new ideas about
memory in early modern elite culture; at the same time, the traumas and
crises of the period produced what may be termed an ars oblivia, in which legally prescribed ‘forgetting’ played a vital role in social and cultural reconstruction.
Memory and the Making of Knowledge in the Early Modern World
will bring together senior scholars and junior researchers whose work
addresses memory in early modern literature and history. It aims to
consolidate recent advances in these fields and develop new avenues of
inquiry through an intensive programme of skills training,
collections-oriented excursions, and – above all – productive
intellectual exchange on research topics and techniques. The Summer
School will also explore how studies of memory and early modernity might
shape one another in the future.
Junior (postgraduate and
postdoctoral) scholars whose research touches on any aspect of memory in
the early modern world are invited to participate in the Summer School.
Participants will be expected to give a short (no longer than 20 mins)
presentation on their research. Particular topics of interest might
include (the following list is by no means exhaustive):
- Collective, individual, communicative, and cultural memory
- Memory in art, sculpture, architecture
- Memory in literature, drama, poetry
- Alternative sources of memory: material culture and cheap print
- Early modern oral history: memoirs, testi-mony, legal sources
- Mnemonic techniques and institutions: ars memoria, museums, libraries
- Places of memory/lieux de mémoire
- Memory and identity formation/elaboration: class/rank, nation, empire, religion, sex/gender, race/ethnicity
- Memory and its function for the formation of knowledge
- Relation of memory, historical knowledge and historiography
- Memory and politics: Reformation, the ‘general crisis’ of the seventeenth century, Enlightenment, war, local/regional/urban politics, imperial expansion and trade
- Memory and (early) modernity: print media, early industrialisation
- Mediating and remediating memory: recycling and reusing memories
- Space/place and memory: town, country, nation, empire, private/public spaces
The
Summer School will be conducted in English. With generous support from
the VolkswagenStiftung, we can provide return transport to Göttingen,
accommodation, and breakfast/lunches for participants. Child care is
available for up to four children and is provided on a first come, first
served basis.
Prospective participants are requested to send the following to the organisers, Andrew Wells and Claudia Nickel, at memory2017@uni-goettingen.de by 31 May 2017:
We
particularly welcome applications from all individuals from
under-represented groups or who may have special requirements
(including, but not limited to, physical or mental disability). Such
applicants are encouraged to specify any such requirements in their
letter of motivation.
Further information will be available
shortly at the website of the Göttingen Graduate School of the
Humanities (Graduiertenschule für Geisteswissenschaften Göttingen): https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/summer-school-memory/562570.html
Contact Info:
Organization:
Dr. Claudia Nickel, Dr. Andrew Wells
Graduiertenschule für Geisteswissenschaften Göttingen (GSGG), Universität Göttingen, Friedländer Weg 2, 37085 Göttingen, Germany
Contact Email: