CfP: Ancient and Modern Knowledges
Ancient
and Modern Knowledges. A two-day colloquium at the University of
Sheffield. Friday
22 and Saturday 23 June 2018
Categories
which seek to draw distinctions between different areas of scholarly inquiry in
the history of knowledge, most obviously, perhaps, the distinction between
‘humanities’ and ‘sciences’ have, in many cases, spawned their own extensive
sub-histories – the history of science and, more recently, the history of the
humanities. Yet categories which instead seek to draw boundaries between bodies
of knowledge based on distinctions of chronological time also need to be
interrogated. The spatial turn in the history of knowledge has been
particularly important, with much attention paid in recent years to exploring
circuits, networks, geographies and mobilities of knowledge. Less
consideration, however, has been given to distinctions of chronological
distance (in particular, the use of the terms ‘ancient and modern’) and the
associated claims of authority, legitimacy, originality and significance, which
are implied when these terms are used.
The colloquium
aims to explore two related sets of questions:
(1) Firstly, how have ancient knowledges been
discussed, adapted, interrogated, included, excluded or ignored by scholars,
writers and thinkers but also merchants, diplomats and other creators of
knowledge consciously identifying as modern?
In referring
to ‘ancient’ knowledges, we are not limiting our consideration to the knowledge
of Greece and Rome alone, but are keen to hear from scholars working on the
later reception of ideas, texts, images and objects originating in other
ancient cultures – in China, India, Persia, Africa.
In defining
‘modern’ knowledges, we are adopting Peter Burke’s identification of 15th
and 16th century Renaissance humanism as the first point at which societies
began to view themselves as self-consciously modern, and we will extend our
area of inquiry up to the long 18th century. In adopting this
definition, we are aware that we are choosing to focus on a predominantly
Western understanding of modernity. At the same time, we welcome papers
exploring the concept of alternative and multiple modernities developed in
other parts of the globe.
(2) The second set of questions we are
interested in involve the different ways in which chronological markers
(‘ancient’, ‘modern’, ‘new’, ‘old’, ‘traditional’, ‘novel’) have been used to
draw distinctions and make claims about the legitimacy, authority and
significance of different bodies of knowledge from the Renaissance onwards.
Papers
could, for example, address the following issues:
·
the
role of ancient knowledge in the intersection of (and the distinction between) the
natural sciences and humanities
·
the
role that individuals and informal institutions such as learned societies have played
as agents in the formation of concepts and categories of knowledge.
·
how
reading and re-reading classical authors and ancient historians, in particular,
helped to shape concepts of history, verisimilitude, plausibility and
falsehood.
·
the
relationship between ancient and modern historiography
·
the
tradition of other ancient authors such as Plutarch, Suetonius, Cicero and Sextus
Empiricus which has been particularly influential in the formation of concepts
of history.
Please send abstracts of 250 words for
papers of 20 minutes and a short bio to:
h.l.ellis@sheffield.ac.uk or d.miano@sheffield.ac.uk by Tuesday 1st May 2018