Monthly Archives: September 2012

Stephanie S. Dickey: Public Lecture – University of Sydney

“Rembrandt’s Portraits: Picturing Personality in the Dutch Golden Age” – Stephanie S. Dickey (Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen’s University, Canada)

 Date: Monday 17 September, 2012
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: Law School Foyer, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney

All welcome

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) has been admired since his own time as a portraitist whose paintings and prints convey not only the physical features of their models but also a sense of inner life. Rembrandt plied his trade within the entrepreneurial culture of seventeenth-century Holland, where respect for personal achievement and character took precedence over traditional aristocratic attributes of title and position.

In this dynamic environment (a crucible of democratic ideals prevalent today), portraiture was transformed from a privilege of the nobility into a means of personal commemoration for diverse individuals, families, and civic groups. While poets and theorists argued over whether, and how, it might be possible to depict “the inner man”, Rembrandt set about crafting his response to this question through subtle techniques of pose, lighting and expression. Connoisseurs valued the results as family treasures, marketable commodities, and records of a unique and idiosyncratic talent.

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Stephanie S. Dickey is Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen’s University, Canada). Her research interests include the work of Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony van Dyck, and related artists; the history of prints and print collecting; portraiture as a cultural practice; the relationship of word and image; and the representation of emotion. She has written extensively on these themes. She is currently working on a book-length study of early responses to Rembrandt’s prints, including a chapter on Thomas Wilson, author of the second catalogue raisonné of Rembrandt’s etchings published in English (1836) and Mayor of Adelaide, South Australia, in the 1840s.

This lecture is sponsored by the Power Institute in partnership with Sydney Ideas.

Teaching Medieval and Early-Modern Cross-Cultural Encounters Across Disciplines and Eras – Call For Papers

Teaching Medieval and Early-Modern Cross-Cultural Encounters Across Disciplines and Eras

We seek essays for a collection exploring innovative methodologies for teaching medieval and early-modern cross-cultural encounters in the undergraduate and graduate classrooms. Renewed interest in Christian-Islamic and Christian-Jewish relations, revised histories of trans-Atlantic encounters, and new work on multi-cultural geographic regions, such as the Mediterranean, Andalusian Spain, and the British Isles, have led researchers from a range of fields to demonstrate the diversity and complexity of cultural identities as they were perceived and negotiated during these two eras. Scholars have also considered artistic and historical dimensions that exclude Europeans and their perspectives by focusing, for instance, on cross-cultural encounters within Asia and Africa. In addition, these areas of research have stimulated debate regarding the inclusion or non-inclusion of earlier periods into larger narratives of race, religion, and nation. Cross-cultural encounters now feature prominently in class curricula, partly because they illustrate the heterogeneity of medieval and early-modern societies and perspectives, in turn rendering these eras more interesting and relevant to our students. Given the current academic climate, in which fields of study once central to the university curriculum now face marginalization and elimination, the relevance of medieval and early-modern cross-cultural encounters to current questions regarding race, religion, and nation could help invigorate the study of early cultures. Yet, how might we negotiate concerns regarding historicism, anachronism, and cultural comparison when teaching cross-cultural encounters?

We welcome proposals from instructors in any field and any period who have organized courses (in part or in whole) on medieval and/or early modern cross-cultural encounters, actual and/or imagined. We encourage creative approaches to this topic and are open to all interpretations of “medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters.”

Some of the issues proposals might consider include:

  • medieval and early modern views and literary/artistic productions of dominant and minority cultures
  • fruitful pedagogic strategies and sources; practical and conceptual difficulties
  • teaching cross-cultural encounters as contributions to renewal or change within university pedagogy and academic disciplines
  • responsibly extending courses focused on cross-cultural encounters beyond specific historical eras
  • designing classes on cross-cultural encounters that don’t favor the perspective of a single culture
  • incorporating medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters in courses taught by non-specialists
  • medieval/early-modern cross-cultural encounters and current cultural crises across the globe
  • teaching medieval and early modern cross-cultural encounters that decenter or exclude Europe

This volume develops from a seminar we organized at the American Comparative Literature Association’s 2012 conference. Based on interest in this volume among conference participants and others, we are confident that we can place it with a peer-reviewed academic press. Essays should not exceed 7000 words and will be due in June 2013.

Please submit a 300-word abstract and short biography to Lynn.Shutters@colostate.edu and Karina.Attar@qc.cuny.edu by October 1st, 2012. We are also happy to field questions from and provide further information to potential contributors.

Eastern Resonances 2: India and the Far East – Call For Papers

Eastern Resonances 2: India and the Far East, 16th-18th centuries
University of Paris Diderot, Paris
5-7 December, 2013

 Conference Website

Contrary to ‘the echo’ or ‘the trace’, which both imply an enduring, but fading prolongation of a presence, ‘resonance’ suggests not only a continuation, but a reinforcement of a sound or image, provoked by a reflection on another surface. Taking from Stephen Greenblatt’s definition of ‘resonance’ as ‘the power of the object displayed to reach out beyond its formal boundaries to a larger world, to evoke in the viewer the complex, dynamic cultural forces from which it has emerged’ (‘Resonance and Wonder’, in Learning to Curse, p. 170), this conference aims at studying the moves, shifts, transformations and translations through which the idea of the East resonated in Europe in general, and Britain in particular, from the early modern period to the romantic age.

Calling into question the adversarial nature of Orientalism as defined by Edward Said, our conference will address the deterritorializations and reterritorializations (to borrow the concepts developed by Deleuze and Guattari in Anti-Oedipus) through which the East reshaped itself in the West through its many reflections and reverberations. Our focus will not just be on what was lost and what was gained along the routes of such recuperations, but we also wish to chart in greater detail the routes themselves, the people who crossed them and the motivations underpinning these attempts at reaching, understanding and picturing the East.

The first of our series of two conferences on ‘Eastern Resonances’, to be held at the University of Montpellier 3 (30 May-1 June 2013), will focus on the Ottoman Empire and Persia. Details about this conference and its programme can be found on: http://easternresonances.jimdo.com. 

We are now welcoming proposals for the second conference, on India and the Far East, to be held at the University of Paris Diderot – Paris 7 (5-7 December, 2013).

Suggested areas of reflection for this conference could include:

  1. Texts and their circulation/translation: What were the Sanskrit, Chinese and other texts that resonated in the West in this period? Through what channels did manuscripts and books travel? Why and how did they reach Britain in adapted or translated forms?
  2. Places and their memories: What did travellers look back to in historical and cultural terms as they embarked on their journeys to the East? What images did they bring back with them from their eastern encounters? How did these reverberate as literary and artistic artifacts at the receiving end of the journey?
  3. Actors and intermediaries: Who went East or West, and why did they? Who were their interlocutors or mediators there? Why and how were ‘contact zones’ created? On what terms was trust granted and collaborative research carried on?


For ‘Eastern Resonances 2: India and the Far East’, short proposals in English (250 words) and a brief biographical statement are to be sent by October 31, 2012 to the conference organisers:


Papers should be 30 minutes in length and may be presented either in French or in English. We intend to publish a selected number of papers from the two conferences in a volume of essays on the topic of ‘Eastern Resonances’.

Canterbury Tales exhibition

The University of Canterbury and Canterbury Museum have today launched a joint exhibition, Canterbury Tales. This exhibition brings together key books and documents from the University Library’s special collections and carefully selected items from the Museum’s rich and varied holdings.

The Canterbury Tales exhibition includes late medieval and early modern content, and is focused on the reception of these and other items in 19th c. settler society.

A physical exhibition featuring items from Canterbury Tales will run in the James Hight Building (see map) on the University of Canterbury’s Ilam Campus, from 10 September – 2 November 2012.

A virtual exhibition of the items on display is also available online: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/canterburytales/

As part of the Canterbury Tales exhibition, Dr Chris Jones and Sarah Murray co-curators of the exhibition, will be giving a free public lecture: What if we could find new ways to explore our heritage? For details, and to register your attendance at this lecture, please follow this link.

The Five Senses in Medieval and Early Modern Cultures – Call For Papers

The Five Senses in Medieval and Early Modern Cultures: Literature and Language
University of Bern
7–8 June, 2013

Conference Website

The study of the historical and cultural formation of the senses has attracted increasing scholarly interest in recent years. We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers from medievalists and early modernists (in English literary and cultural studies or in linguistics). Topics may include but are not limited to

  • sensory environments
  • sensory metaphors
  • sensory hierarchies
  • sense impairments
  • gender and the senses

Papers might explore:

  • how sensory experiences are expressed and ordered by language
  • how literature grows out of and evokes sensory experiences
  • how sensations were interpreted in the late medieval and early modern periods
  • how the meanings of sensory terms have changed with time
  • how the knowledge of sense perception was transmitted 

To maximise the interaction among the conference participants, there will be no parallel sessions. The concluding session of the conference will include a panel discussion of the outstanding problems in the fields and the trends for future research.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

  • Professor Vincent Gillespie, University of Oxford 
  • Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, King’s College London 
  • Professor Richard Newhauser, Arizona State University 

Please send an abstract (max. 250 words) and a bio-note by 15 February 2013 to annette.kern-staehler@ens.unibe.ch

Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay 2013

Australian Book Review seeks entries for the seventh Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the nation’s premier award for an original essay and one of the world’s most lucrative essay competitions.

The Calibre Prize is intended to generate brilliant new essays and to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition. We welcome essays from leading authors and commentators, but also from emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible.

First prize: $5000

Closing date: 10 December 2012

For more details and to enter, please visit the Calibre Prize website: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/prizes/calibre-prize

National Gallery of Australia – Divine Worlds: Indian paintings

A free art exhibition currently running at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, which may interest members.

Divine worlds: Indian paintings

Divine worlds brings together masterpieces of Indian painting from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Dating from the 16th to the 20th century, the paintings range from exquisite intimate miniatures to vast hunting scenes, monumental pilgrimage maps and brilliantly coloured devotional shrine hangings. Celebrating the traditions of Hindu, Jain and Islamic India, the paintings are rich in legend, regal drama and romance. Divine worlds offers a magnificent opportunity to revel in rarely seen treasures from the national art collection.

Exhibition Website

Dates + times:
1 September – 11 November 2012
Open 10.00 am – 5.00 pm every day

Tickets:
FREE

A gallery of the works is available online for those who are unable to visit the exhibition.

Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the Senses, 1300-1800 – Call For Papers

Sensing the Sacred: Religion and the Senses, 1300-1800
The University of York
21-22 June 2013

Conference Website

Confirmed keynote addresses from: Nicky Hallett (University of Sheffield), Matthew Milner (McGill University) & Chris Woolgar (University of Southampton)

Religion has always been characterised as much by embodied experience as by abstract theological dispute. From the sounds of the adhān (the Islamic call to prayer), to the smell of incense in the Hindu Pūjā (a ritual offering to the deities), the visual emblem of the cross in the Christian tradition, and the ascetic practices of Theravada Buddhism, sensation is integral to a range of devotional practices. At the same time, the history of many faiths is characterised by an intense suspicion of the senses and the pleasures they offer.

This international, interdisciplinary conference, to be held at the University of York from 21 to 22 June 2013, will bring together scholars working on the role played by the senses in the experience and expression of religion and faith in the pre-modern world. The burgeoning field of sensory history offers a fertile ground for reconsideration of religious studies across disciplinary boundaries. We welcome papers from anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians, historians, literary scholars, musicologists, philosophers, theologians, and any other interested parties. Possible topics might include, but are by no means limited to:

  • Synaesthesia: how do religious rituals blur sensory boundaries, and challenge sensory hierarchies?
  • Iconography and iconoclasm: how might we conceive the ‘rites of violence’ in sensory terms? How does iconography engage the non-visual senses?
  • The senses and conversion: how are the senses used to elicit conversion?
  • Material cultures of religion: what role do the senses play in mediating between bodies and sacred objects?
  • The senses and gender: are sensing practices gender specific?
  • The inner (spiritual) senses: how do they relate to the external (bodily) senses?
  • Sensory environments: to what extent do environments shape devotional practices and beliefs, and vice versa? How do we use our senses to orient ourselves in space?
  • Affect: what role do the senses play in the inculcation of religious affect?

Proposals (max. 300 words) for papers of 20 minutes are welcomed both from established scholars, and from postgraduate students. Applications from panels of three speakers are encouraged, as well as individual proposals. They should be sent to conference organisers Robin Macdonald, Emilie Murphy, and Elizabeth Swann at Sensing the Sacred by 6pm on 5 November 2012.

Auckland Conference Papers Published In New On-Line Journal, Digital Philology

The University of Auckland’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEDEMS) is happy to announce the upcoming appearance of a special journal issue on “Understanding Emotions in the Middle Ages” in Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming late 2012. The issue has been edited by Associate Professor Tracy Adams of the University of Auckland and originated in the eleventh annual MEDEMS colloquium which took place over the weekend of April 16-17, 2011. The conference attracted speakers from New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, England and the USA, who gathered in Auckland to discuss “Devotion and Emotion in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods.”

This issue is the first of what we hope to be a long series of collaborative on-line projects produced by MEDEMS. Papers from the conference have been brought together in what will be just the second issue of the new journal. Digital Philology is intended as a scholarly venue where “global and interdisciplinary perspective pushes traditional national and temporal boundaries” and which represents the “first such publication linking peer-reviewed research and scholarship with digital libraries of medieval manuscripts”. Digital Philology will be published twice a year and is intended to include “scholarly essays, manuscript studies, and reviews of relevant resources such as websites, digital projects, and books.”

The journal’s website is: http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/digital_philology/