‘Dare to Tell’: Silence and Saying in Ben Jonson – Call For Papers

‘Dare to Tell’: Silence and Saying in Ben Jonson
School of English, University of St Andrews
1–3 April, 2016

Conference Website

A conference in the 400th anniversary year of the publication of Jonson’s 1616 first Folio of Works.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

  • Professor Martin Butler (University of Leeds)
  • Professor Julie Sanders (University of Newcastle)

‘Our looks are called into question, and our words,
How innocent soever, are made crimes;
We shall not shortly dare to tell our dreams,
Or think, but ’twill be treason’ (Sejanus (1603), 1.1.67-70)

What does it mean to be called into question, to speak out or to stay silent, to have innocent thoughts, guilty looks, or culpable dreams? Jonson’s plays, comic and tragic, foreground the processes of imaginative interpretation that condition people’s actions, values and their very being.

On this prominent anniversary of Jonson’s publication of his 1616 first Folio of Works, this conference will explore themes of publication and performance broadly conceived to include the following themes:

  • Authority, collective imagination, individual autonomy, and conscience – including as these issues relate to legal authority and questions of freedom of speech and thought, conscience and religion in 2016
  • Self-consciousness, acting, performance, reception, re-imaginings of the canon
  • Interpretation, defamation, equivocation, censorship, satire, criminality and innocence
  • Cultural ideologies, political subversion, social transgressions

Please send your abstract of 300 words, along with a brief biography that includes your title and institutional affiliation, to jonson.conference@gmail.com no later than 26 February, 2016.

The conference will also include:

  • Professor Brean Hammond’s new play about Jonson’s walk to Scotland, Ben and Jamie, at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews
  • Special Collections viewing of Jonson’s 1616 Folio and related rare books
  • Performance of a Jonson play and a workshop on Jonson and drama (details to be confirmed)

General questions can be directed to the conference organisers Julianne Mentzer, Peter Sutton and Zoë Sutherland at jonson.conference@gmail.com.

Medieval Europe in Motion 3 – Registration Now Open

Medieval Europe in Motion 3
Portugal, Lisbon
25-27 February, 2016

Registration is now open for the international conference “Medieval Europe in Motion 3.”

The International Conference Medieval Europe in Motion 3 continues the series of scientific meetings launched in 2013 by the Institute of Medieval Studies (IMS) of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Nova University of Lisbon (FCSH/UNL) – devoted to the topic of social, cultural, and artistic mobility in Medieval Europe (https://sites.google.com/site/medievaleuropeinmotion2013/home).

In keeping thematic ally with the previous conferences, the main objective of this new event is an analysis of the mobility and circulation of people, ideas, and objects related to the study and practice of law during the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries.

Among topics addressed may be the intellectuals involved (scholars, notaries, jurists, ecclesiastics and others); the manuscripts and texts themselves; artistic models for the illumination of legal manuscripts; or the circulation of the law itself and ideas connected to its role and practice in the Medieval West. We would like to focus on studies of the southern most territories of the West: the Iberian Peninsula, Southern France, and Italy.

The conference programme is available online: http://iem.fcsh.unl.pt/imagens/files/IEMActiv_2016_MEM3_programme.pdf

Registration will be open from 20 January until 18 February. The rates:

  • General public: €40 (one day registration available for €20)
  • External Students: €30 (one day registration available for €15)
  • Students from FCSH: €15 (one day registration available for €7.50)

For full details on the conference including how to pay registration fees, please visit: http://iem.fcsh.unl.pt/section.aspx?kind=noticia&id=892

Shout Out For the Humanities Student Prize Contest – Call For Applications

4Humanities.org announces its Shout Out For the Humanities student prize contest. Prizes are offered for best undergraduate (1st prize: US $1,000 – 2nd: $700 – 3rd: $300) and best graduate student (1st prize: US $1,000 – 2nd: $700 – 3rd: $300) submissions by students from any nation, working individually or in teams, that speak up for the value of the humanities in today’s society. 4Humanities wants to showcase student ideas and voices on such questions as: * Why is studying the humanities–e.g., history, literature, languages, philosophy, art history, media history, and culture–important to you? * To society? * How would you convince your parents, an employer, a politician, or others that there is value in learning the humanities?

Submissions will be judged by an international panel of distinguished judges for message, quality, and impact no matter the medium or format. Possible submissions include: essay (less than 2,000 words), video, digital work, poster, cartoon, song, art, short story, interview. Submissions are due March 1, 2016.

Students may enter the contest as individuals or teams if they are currently enrolled in an institution of higher education or graduated no more than two years beyond the contest submission deadline.

Prize winners will and their submissions will be featured on the 4Humanities site; and 4Humanities will also showcase many other student submissions.

For full submission guidelines and to apply, please visit: http://4humanities.org/contest/kit.

The Library Company of Philadelphia Fellowships – Call For Applications

The Library Company of Philadelphia and The Historical Society of Pennsylvania will jointly award approximately twenty-five one-month fellowships for research in residence in either or both collections during the academic year 2016-2017. These two independent research libraries, adjacent to each other in Center City Philadelphia, have complementary collections capable of supporting research in a variety of fields and disciplines relating to the history of America and the Atlantic world from the 17th through the 19th centuries, as well as Mid-Atlantic regional history to the present.

The Library Company is America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution. It was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders, as it is to this day.

The Library Company of Philadelphia is an independent research library concentrating on American society and culture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Free and open to the public, the Library Company houses an extensive non-circulating collection of rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art. The mission of the Library Company is to preserve, interpret, make available, and augment the valuable materials within its care. We serve a diverse constituency throughout Philadelphia and the nation, offering comprehensive reader services, an internationally renowned fellowship program, online catalogs, and regular exhibitions and public programs. For an overview of the Library Company’s collection, please visit: http://www.librarycompany.org/collections/index.htm

For full details of all Fellowships, please visit: http://www.librarycompany.org/fellowships/american.htm

To submit your application, please visit: http://www.librarycompany.org/fellowships/coversheet.htm

The deadline for short-term and dissertation fellowships is March 1, 2016. A decision will be reached by April 15, 2016.

Dr David Andrés Fernández, The University of Sydney/Medieval and Early Modern Centre, Two Free Public Lectures

“Spanish Manuscript Processionals”, Dr David Andrés Fernández (Universidad Austral de Chile)

Date: 15 February, 2016
Time: 11am-12pm
Venue: The University of Sydney, Fisher Library, F03, Seminar Room, Level 2
More information: Dr. Jane Hardie: jane.hardie@sydney.edu.au

Come and hear Spanish scholar David Andrés Fernández discuss some of the music manuscripts held in the University of Sydney Library’s Rare Books collection. David has written extensively on processionals and will be based at Sydney for a short time as a Visiting Scholar at the Medieval and Early Modern Centre. Two of the Spanish processionals David will examine are recent acquisitions with one rumoured to be related to another manuscript already in our collection. Come along and find out whether the rumour is true.

“Plainchant for the Conception BMV: a musical journey from the Middle Ages to the Independence of Chile”, Dr David Andrés Fernández (Universidad Austral de Chile)

Date: 22 February, 2016
Time: 12:30-2:00pm.
Venue: The University of Sydney, Rogers Room (Woolley Building)

Dr. Andrés Fernández will be a Visiting Scholar in the Centre from January 25-February 24 and has been working on Liturgical Music Books in Chile.

‘Fair Padua, nursery of Arts’: Shakespeare and Padova – Call For Papers

‘Fair Padua, nursery of Arts’: Shakespeare and Padova
Università degli Studi di Padova, Archivio Antico
9-10 June, 2016

This conference proposes to investigate the relationship between William Shakespeare and ‘fair Padua, nursery of arts’, the city in which the playwright set his university comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. Padova was one of the foremost university centres in the Renaissance, and this, together with its closeness to Venice, made it a very attractive destination for travelling Englishmen. The city makes its appearance not only in Shakespeare’s comedy but also in the writings of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

In more recent times, Padova has underlined its connection with William Shakespeare by becoming one of the few cities in Europe and the only city in the Mediterranean to own a copy of the First Folio (now in the Biblioteca Universitaria).

Following these suggestions, we welcome papers addressing (but not necessarily restricted to) the following topics:

  • Englishmen abroad: Tudor students in Padova
  • The Taming of the Shrew and its background
  • Shakespeare’s Italianate comedy: a portrayal of the northern Italian city
  • The Taming of the Shrew and its afterlife
  • Shakespeare and early modern university life
  • The First Folio, in Padova and elsewhere

Papers should be twenty minutes long. Please send a 500-word abstract and brief curriculum vitae by 15 February, 2016 to Alessandra Petrina: alessandra.petrina@unipd.it.

Memory and Foresight in the Celtic World – Call For Papers

‘Memory and Foresight in the Celtic World’
The Ninth Australian Conference of Celtic Studies
University of Sydney
27-30 September, 2016

Submissions are invited for twenty-minute papers addressing any scholarly aspect of Celtic Studies, including, but not limited to, the areas of: archaeology, folklore, history (including modern diaspora history), language, literature (including literature in English) and music. Abstracts of up to 250 words should be emailed to Professor Jonathan Wooding: jonathan.wooding@sydney.edu.au.

The final date for abstracts to be received will be Monday 2 May 2016. Acceptances will be communicated on Monday 16 May 2016. Potential contributors in need of earlier acceptance (for funding applications &c.) may request it with their submissions. Potential participants are invited to have their names added to a conference database from which we will send updates and reminders of approaching deadlines.

The 2016 Australian Conference of Celtic Studies is jointly sponsored by the Foundation for Celtic Studies of the University of Sydney and the Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University. All sessions will be held on University of Sydney’s Main Campus in Camperdown, Sydney

Working with Complexity – Cal For Papers

Working with Complexity
The University of Tasmania, Hobart
20-23 June, 2016

Conference Website

The Australasian Association for Digital Humanities (aaDH) is pleased to announce its third conference ‘Working with Complexity’.

Regardless of disciplinary interests, problems and debates, one concern that humanists and creative artists share is their engagement with complexity. Using digital technologies presents technical challenges, but arguably more significant are the intellectual and conceptual complexities that realising their creative and analytical potential present. We invite proposals on all aspects of digital humanities, but encourage papers and birds of a feather sessions focusing on working with complexity.

Among the issues we would especially like to explore at DHA 2016 are:

  • Analysis: complexities in linguistic, historical, environmental and cultural scholarship
  • Visualisation: spatial-temporal analysis of complex human and environmental phenomena
  • Engagement science: public engagement with digital culture
  • Evaluation: digital humanities, institutional ambitions and research integrity
  • Disciplines: intellectual traditions and new formations in the age of research complexity
  • Infrastructure: socio-cultural complexities and informatics
  • Rights: ensuring recognition and the integrity of artistry digitised in humanities research

DHA 2016 will held in conjunction in Hobart with Digital Panopticon: Penal History in a Digital Age, 22-24 June 2016, see: http://www.digitalpanopticon.org/?p=934. This conference focuses on digital humanities and the history of prisons, the law, courts and convict transportation systems. Papers and presentations will address ways in which the data generated by criminal justice systems that is increasingly becoming available in digital form can be used to shed light on the past.

SUBMISSIONS FOR DHA 2016: Abstracts of no more than 500 words, together with a biography of no more than 100 words, should be submitted to the Program Committee by 19 February, 2016.

All submissions will be fully refereed. Submissions (i.e. abstracts) should be submitted via the online form on the conference registration and program website at: http://www.uqhistory.net/web/dha2016/index.php/dha2016/dha2016/schedConf/cfp.

Please indicate whether you are proposing a short paper (10 mins + 5 mins questions), a long paper (25 mins + 5 mins questions), a panel or forum session (60 mins), lightning talk (5 mins) or poster.

Submissions will be assessed in terms of alignment with the conference themes and the quality of research within these or related themes. Presenters will be notified of acceptance of their submission by 18 March 2016.

WORKSHOPS

We are keen to have proposals for half-day workshops. Please send expressions of interest to Paul Turnbull.

SUBMISSION TYPES:

Poster presentations

Poster presentations may include work-in-progress as well as demonstrations of computer technology, software and digital projects. A separate poster session will take place during one day of the conference, during which time presenters will need to be available to explain their work, share their ideas with other delegates, and answer questions. Presenters are encouraged to provide material and handouts with more detailed information and URLs. Poster guidelines will be posted on the conference website to help you prepare your poster.

Lightning Talks

We plan to have several sessions devoted to short 5 minute talks on any matter of relevance to Digital Humanities.

Short papers

Short papers will be allocated 10 minutes (plus 5 minutes for questions) and are suitable for describing work-in-progress and reporting on work in the early stage of development.

Long Papers

Long Papers will be allocated 25 minutes (plus 5 minutes for questions) and are intended for presenting substantial unpublished research, new digital resources or addressing broader questions of interest to digital humanists.

‘Birds of a Feather’ Sessions

‘Birds of a Feather’ sessions will be allocated 60 minutes to be used as participants decide, although ensuring that time is allocated for questions and questions. A session could take the form of a panel or an array of formats, such as lightning talks or an open mike event.

BURSARIES:

A limited number of travel bursaries (AUD $500) are available on a competitive basis for students and early career researchers whose conference paper has been accepted (lead author only). Bursaries will be awarded on the basis of merit and need, with consideration given to issues of gender equality and economic, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Applicants are requested to supply a 500 word statement of their interests in digital humanities broadly defined (apply through the online form when submitting your paper). The best student/ECR paper presented at the conference will receive the John Burrows Award, named after an Australian pioneer in computational methods in the humanities. All student papers are eligible for consideration for the award, whether they receive travel bursaries or not. For more information, see: http://aa-dh.org/conferences/john-burrows-award.

Professor Miri Rubin, Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (University of Adelaide Node) Free Public Lecture

“The Virgin Mary: a History in Matter and Emotion”, Professor Miri Rubin (Queen Mary University of London)

Date: 16 February, 2016
Time: 6:00 – 7:00pm
Venue: Napier 102, Level 1, Napier Building, The University of Adelaide
Contact: Jacquie Bennett (jacquie.bennett@adelaide.edu.au) / +61 (0)8 8313 2421

Since its emergence, the figure of the Virgin Mary has inspired a vast range of material objects as well as a great deal of music. While the themes and styles have changed over the centuries, Mary remained a prompt for experiments in visual form, material design and sound. Prayer, meditation, procession, liturgy – the many forms of religious experience – were all associated with emotional participation by individuals and groups, and facilitated by prayer beads, devotional images, dolls, religious jewellery and more. This is as true of the experience of Mary in Europe as it is of the global reception of her figure.

This lecture will offer some pathways into the rich world of religious materiality and emotional expression around the figure of the Virgin Mary. It will develop an historical arc within which these qualities can be situated, and offer it as a case for reflection on historical practices in the study of emotions and in the appreciation of historical materiality.

By Land & By Sea. Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections from 1826 to the 1960s – Now Online

The exhibition “By Land & By Sea. Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections from 1826 to the 1960s” that is currently running at the University of Otago’s Special Collections Library (until 4 March, 2016) is now available as an online exhibition:

Rich with photographs, colourful plates, scientific descriptions, anthropological and geographical observations, and general insights into expeditionary life, the Scientific Expedition Reports, housed in the University of Otago’s Special Collections, are a veritable mine of information. From the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Uganda to Patagonia, the earliest of the reports dates from D’Urville’s expedition in the Astrolabe from 1826 to 1829, published in 1832; the latest are from the University of Canterbury Snares Islands expeditions beginning in the 1960s. Men and women from New Zealand, Australia, Norway, France, Sweden, America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, China, Egypt and many more countries besides, have travelled the world by land and by sea in the name of science and exploration and have documented the results in these scientific reports. Many of the scientific observations made and specimens taken are still being researched today and despite the treacherous conditions and ever present risks, most members of these expeditionary parties returned alive. The Scientific Expedition Reports in Special Collections are a testament to and a record of humankind’s insatiable desire for knowledge.

To view the online exhibition, please visit: http://www.otago.ac.nz/library/exhibitions/scientificexpeditions.