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• 31 oct 2013

  Nanterre

  Call for papers - History

  Mediasphere, Culture, Soft Power

  In the wake of the London Olympics, which opened with a popular and populist ceremony depicting the Britain of yesteryear while celebrating the vibrancy of a modern multicultural society, it is timely to consider this deployment of soft power against the backdrop of contemporary Britain. More specifically, the aim of the conference is to explore and draw together common threads and themes – individual expression and freedom, an inherent consciousness of the past and a continuing national identity and iconoclasm – and to consider their influence in the context of broader political and social developments, including Britain’s faltering relationship with the EU, the response to the financial crisis and to Scottish devolution.

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• 31 jan 2013

  Paris | Nanterre

  Call for papers - Early modern

  Women and Curiosity in Early Modern Europe

  The multiplication of cabinets of curiosities and the obsession with novelty are evidence of the development of a “culture of curiosity” in the early modern period. If there was indeed a “rehabilitation of curiosity” in the early modern period, did it have any impact on women’s desire for knowledge? The emergence of women philosophers at the time (Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, Lady Ranelagh, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Catherine of Sweden, Damaris Masham, Catherine Trotter, etc.) may indicate that their curiosity was now considered as legitimate and morally acceptable – or at least that it was tolerated. Yet it has been suggested that the new status of curiosity in the early modern period led instead to an even stronger distrust for women, who were both prone to curiosity and curiosities themselves.

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