Call for Papers: Emotions in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America November 7-10, 2002 Junior and senior scholars are invited to submit paper proposals for a conference entitled "Emotions in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North A

Call for Papers:

Emotions in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America

November 7-10, 2002

Junior and senior scholars are invited to submit paper proposals for a conference entitled "Emotions in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America," to be held at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., USA, on November 7-10, 2002.

"Interest in 'the emotional' has burgeoned in the last decade, not only in anthropology, but in psychology, sociology, philosophy, history and feminist studies" Catherine Lutz and Geoffrey White wrote in 1986. They could have made the same statement with even more justification in 2002: The interest in emotions has increased sharply in recent years, and a new understanding of what emotions are and their historical importance has begun to gain wide acceptance. Some, like Michelle Z. Rosaldo, view emotions as "embodied thoughts," while others, like Alice M. Isen and Gregory Andrade Diamond liken them to "overlearned cognitive habits." Not all would go that far, but the cognitive element - emotion as the expression of judgement - is increasingly emphasized nowadays. Moreover there is little doubt that emotions, though a bodily state, have a cultural dimension. As the cognitive and cultural elements in emotions are recognized, history is given broader scope for investigation. When Lutz and White wrote the statement quoted above, the only historical work they could draw on was by Lawrence Stone, who included sentiments in his study of the history of the family. Since then the study of emotions in history has made progress. Peter Stearns, for example, has stressed the role of normative systems regulating the display of emotions and how they change. Historical research in the emotions has concentrated so far on the medieval era and the eighteenth century onward; research on the early modern period however has lagged behind, though a theory of emotional change for that period was proposed long ago by Norbert Elias. The aim of this conference is to redress this imbalance by bringing together scholars who focus on the early modern period in Europe and colonial North America.
Themes for exploration may include (but are not limited to):

- Theoretical approaches, problems of definition and research
- Emotions in different spheres of early modern life (in politics, in the legal and economic realm,
in religious life, in private)
- Early modern discourses on emotions
- Emotions and events (war, revolution, natural disasters etc.)
- Emotions and gender, race, and class
- Emotions and social control/social discipline (shame, guilt, embarrassment)
- Historical change in the experience and perception of particular emotions (e.g. envy, grief, love)
- Emotions and the body

Those invited to participate in the conference will be asked to submit a paper of approximately 25 double-spaced pages by September 30, 2002 for pre-circulation. The conference language will be English. The conference committee plans to edit the conference papers and publish them in a volume of essays. Lodging will be provided and limited travel support will be available for conference participants.

Please send a brief curriculum vitae including address and e-mail, a ca. 500-1000 word description of the proposed paper that explains the main arguments, the sources to be used, and the topic`s relationship to the theme of the conference, and indicate if you need funds for travel.

For further information please contact Otto Ulbricht, e-mail: oulbricht@email.uni-kiel.de or Vera Lind, e-mail: lind@ghi-dc.org.

Application materials should reach the conference committee via mail, fax, or e-mail by March 1, 2002.

Vera Lind
German Historical Institute
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington D.C. 20009
USA
Telephone: (202) 387-3355 ex. 140
Fax: (202) 483-3430
E-mail: lind@ghi-dc.org

Otto Ulbricht
Historisches Seminar
Christian-Albrecht-Universit=E4t zu Kiel
Olshausenstr. 40
24098 Kiel
GERMANY
Telephone: 0431-8803199
Fax: 0431-8801524
E-mail: oulbricht@email.uni-kiel.de