CFP

Enemies in the Early Modern World 1453-1789: Conflict,

Editor's note:

Live from the University of Edinburgh, 27-28, 2020

Please note that due to the ongoing Pandemic this conference will be entirely online on a platform to be determined.

March 27, 2021

Enemies in the Early Modern World
1453-1789: Conflict, Culture and Control,
Live From The University of Edinburgh,

27-28th March 2021.

 

From Luther’s insistence that the Pope is the antichrist, to Cortes’s
justification of the conquest of Mexico on the grounds of Aztec human
sacrifice, from the expulsion of Jewish people from the Iberian peninsula
following the Reconquista to the subjugation and enslavement of human
lives to fuel the trans-Atlantic slave trade, from Dutch trials for
homosexuality in the 1730s, to accusations of witchcraft during the
British Civil Wars, the conflicts and exploitations of the Early Modern
World were often fueled and ‘justified’ by a belief in an enemy. Such
belief systems would inspire textual, visual and auditory polemic, and
propel physical action, thereby ‘othering’ people of a different religion,
ethnicity, culture, dynastic allegiance, gender and sexuality into
imagined enemies, justifying the need to control and inflict violence
upon them. This conference, open to researchers of history, literature,
visual culture, politics, theology, philosophy and archaeology etc, will
explore the processes by which individuals, communities, and countries
were fashioned into the role of the enemy, as well as the dreadful
consequences, such as war and persecution. By moving from the local to
the national, from the national to the global, and through an
interdisciplinary vantage point, we aim to reconstruct the construction
of enemies in the Early Modern World. We invite papers from
researchers at every stage of their academic journeys, and PhD students
and Early Career Researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic this conference will be completely online

via a TBD conferencing platform.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Prof Jyotsna Singh (Michigan State University)

Dr Helmer Helmers (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences)
Prof Diane Purkiss (Keble College, University of Oxford)
Prof Adrian Streete (Glasgow University)
Prof Ania Loomba (University of Pennsylvania)

With Plenary Talks From Dr Matthew Rowley (University of Leicester)

and Dr Min Wild (University of Plymouth)

Papers might explore

Rivalries between Europe’s dynastic states

Confessional Conflict

Justifications for, and arguments against processes of colonization
Representations of different ethnicities and nationalities
Scapegoating of the ‘Other’ and minority groups.
Discourses on non-heteronormative relationships
Encounters during exploration and globalization

War and its representations

The status, and treatment of refugees and prisoners
Justifications for Persecution

Archetypes of evil in literature and visual culture.
Political polemic and propaganda
Debates surrounding Toleration
Economic and familial rivalries
Rebellion against perceived tyranny

As we at the University of Edinburgh are a Scottish University, we will
be creating special panels on the broad theme ‘The Creation of the
Enemy in Early Modern Scotland’. These might explore for example,
religion and witchcraft as well as political loyally/disloyalty. Please
indicate in your application if you wish to be part of the ‘The Creation of
the Enemy in Early Modern Scotland’ panels.
Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words to
[email protected] along with a brief bio of circa 100
words addressed to Thom Pritchard and Eleonora Calviello by the 30th
September 2020.

 

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