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Annual conference
Groningen, 20-21 January 2012
Centre and periphery in the Enlightenment
In recent years, Enlightenment studies have moved away from a traditional national, most often Francocentric or Anglocentric focus toward a new view of the Enlightenment as an international process. New conceptual categories have emerged, including that of an international, transnational or Atlantic Enlightenment, while older categories such as the Republic of Letters have been revived. Yet these categories do not fully do justice to the power relations also underlying much Enlightenment debate, in the Low Countries and beyond. As attractive as the notion of a transnational Enlightenment may be, it obscures the unequal access to power of different participants in Enlightenment debate, not only in terms of geography but also related social, institutional, and gender identifications.
This conference examines the usefulness of the concepts of centre and periphery in addressing power discrepancies between participants in Enlightenment debates. In doing so, it takes up the provocative question formulated by one of the conference’s keynote speakers, Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra: ‘whose Enlightenment was it anyway?’ Who defined what the Enlightenment's central discourse and players were, and who defined its periphery? How did centre-periphery relations work horizontally, i.e. across national borders, as well as vertically, i.e. within them? And how does the existence of such relations complicate current historiography on the Enlightenment, in Europe and beyond?
Program
The full program of the conference can be found here.
The keynote speakers are:
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra (University of Texas):
‘The Enlightenment’: On Imperial Historiograpical Categories and Forgotten Epistemologies
Lissa Roberts (University of Twente):
Between construction and mapping: Centre-periphery relations in the history of science and technology
Registration
Admission fee Friday January 20, 2012: € 15,- (students and AIO € 10,-). The price includes lunch, coffee, tea and reception Groningen town hall. Admission fee Saturday January 21, 2012: € 25,- (students and AIO € 15,-).
The price includes lunch, coffee, tea.
If you wish to register, please send your name, affiliation and the day(s) of participation to:
Dr Lex Raat
penningmeester@18e-eeuw.nl
Corneillelaan 22
3533 CW Utrecht (Netherlands)
After registration, the costs of the admission fee have to be paid to the Werkgroep 18e eeuw in Utrecht: girorekening 5533514. Please mention name, day(s) of participation and ‘conference 2012’. Participants from Belgium can use Postcheque 000-1714065-75. Please mention name, day(s) of participation and ‘conference 2012’.
International payments by bank transfer: ING bank, IBAN NL09INGB0005533514 and BIC INGBNL2A. Please mention name, day(s) of participation and ‘conference 2012’.
Venue
Friday January 20, 2012:
University administration building/ Bestuursgebouw, Oude Boteringestraat 44, Grote Vergaderzaal.
Saturday January 21, 2012:
Conference centre “Het Kasteel”, Melkweg 1, Congreszaal.
Accommodation
The following sites offer reasonably-priced accommodation close to the conference venue.
University Guesthouse:
http://www.rug.nl/corporate/voorzieningen/overige/guesthouse/
Schimmelpenninckhuis:
http://www.schimmelpenninckhuys.nl/
Organising committee
Claudette Baar-de Weerd (Werkgroep 18e eeuw)
Hanco Jürgens (University of Amsterdam)
Matthijs Lok (University of Amsterdam)
Alicia Montoya (University of Groningen)
Lex Raat (Werkgroep 18e eeuw)
Sponsors
HolaPress Communicatie,Valkenswaard
Thijssen-Schoute Stichting
Jurriaanse Stichting
Van den Berch van Heemstede Stichting
Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG)
Illustrations
Jean Michel Aubert (1717-1762), Geological survey
Boelo Sepong near Maros, Celebes (Sulawesi) 1745.
Drawings Nationaal Archief The Hague.
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