Dance Disguised & Obscured: A Dance Study Forum

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March 2015
Organised by the Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society at Goldsmith’s, London.

Two contrasting topics are explored by specialists in their field, sharing new understanding and sources in dance history. Delegates are welcome to attend either as participants in practical exploration or as observers and commentators on the dance and performance under discussion.

Saturday’s topic concerns baroque theatre dance in Spain, France and Germany.

Sunday’s topic concerns morris, mumming, disguising and folk dance.

For full details and booking form go to http://www.dhds.org.uk/conference/year/2015



CALL FOR PAPERS: Othello's Island 2015

The Annual Conference of the Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance Periods and their legacies in art, culture, history, literature, etc.

3rd Annual Conference 20-22 March 2015, at the Severis Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus, (with additional day trip on 23 March)

Convenors:
Emeritus Professor James Fitzmaurice, Northern Arizona University (USA)
Professor Lisa Hopkins, Sheffield Hallam University (UK)
Dr Sarah James, University of Kent at Canterbury (UK)
Dr Michael Paraskos, Cyprus College of Art
Benedict Read FSA, University of Leeds (UK)

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Dr Roger Christofides, University of Huddersfield (UK)
Dr Chris Laoutaris, University of Birmingham (UK)

​We invite initial expressions of interest from academics, independent scholars, members of the public and learned societies in the third European conference on medieval and renaissance cultural and historical studies, Othello's Island. This is being held at the Costas and Rita Severis Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus, from the 20th to the 22nd March 2015.

​The conference, now in its third year, is developing into an interesting and unique event in the medieval and renaissance studies calendar, combining fascinating academic debate with time spent discovering and exploring the remarkable Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is always worth remembering that Cyprus was one of the richest kingdoms in the medieval world, being ruled by French and Venetian monarchs and generals for almost 400 years.

The conference Othello's Island has an inevitable bias towards the Mediterranean and Levant simply because of our location. However this is a result of self selection by potential speakers and we are in truth interested in hearing papers on all aspects of medieval and renaissance culture and history.

The conference will take place at the Severis Foundation in the historic old town area of Nicosia from 20 to 22 March 2015, and there will be an optional trip to see the stunning painted churches of the Troodhos mountains on 23 March. These churches are UNESCO protected (for more details click here).

Possible topics for the conference could include:
  • Diverse aspects of medieval and/or renaissance historical and/or cultural studies
  • Aspects of Byzantine historical and/or cultural studies
  • Aspects of Ottoman or other Muslim states historical and/or cultural studies
  • Art, literature and other aspects of culture from the medieval and renaissance periods
  • Connections between late Antiquity and the medieval period
  • Christian and muslim interactions and/or comparative studies
  • The Mediterranean as a factor in medieval and renaissance history and/or culture
  • Shakespeare and/or other writers of the medieval and/or renaissance periods
  • Continuing legacies of the medieval and renaissance culture in the modern period
  • The West, the Mediterranean and the Levant
  • Other aspects of the medieval and/or renaissance periods.

However, at this stage the aim is not to be prescriptive, and so we are open to all suggestions for sessions that explore the medieval and renaissance worlds, or subsequent legacies of those worlds (for example the rise of neo-medievalism in nineteenth-century Europe).

Possible Session (Strand) Organisers
(please note early deadline for strand organisers)

We invite expressions of interest from individuals, groups or organisations interested in convening specific strands within the conference.

Sessions are defined as comprising at least three papers on a common theme. Once your theme and session title is agreed we will advertise it with a Call for Papers specific to your session strand, but the decision on whether to admit any papers submitted to your strand will remain with you. We also ask that where possible you canvas your contacts to submit paper proposals for your session.

If you are interested in proposing a session or strand please contact Dr Michael Paraskos at michael@artcyprus.org before 30 September 2014.

Call for Papers from Individuals
(later deadline for individuals - but we advise early submission)

If you are interested in giving a talk at the conference please submit a proposal for a paper. Standard papers are 20 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes for questions.

​We are very open minded on the topic of papers, so if you have an idea for a presentation that is not covered by the suggestions given above please feel free to submit a proposal, or contact us first to discuss the idea.

Proposals for papers should comprise a cover sheet showing:

1. Your title (eg. Mr, Ms, Dr, Prof. etc.) and full name
2. Your institutional affiliation (if any)
3. Your postal address, e'mail address and telephone number
4. The title of your proposed paper

With this you should send a proposal/abstract for your paper of no more than 300 words and a copy of your CV/resume to mparaskos@mac.com with the subject line OTHELLO 2015.

All papers must be delivered in English.

The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2015. Early submission is strongly advised. We aim to have a decision on the acceptance of papers within four weeks of submission.


The Royal Society - Publish or Perish? Scientific periodicals from 1665 to the present

19-21 March 2015, The Royal Society, London

To celebrate the anniversary of the Philosophical Transactions, the world’s oldest scientific journal, the Royal Society will be hosting a major conference in spring 2015. At a time when the future of scientific publishing is in flux, this conference will take the long perspective by examining the transformations and challenges in the publishing of scientific journals over the last three and a half centuries, and into the future. We seek offers of papers, or proposals for three- or four-paper panels, which engage with any aspect of the commercial, editorial and distribution practices of scientific journal publishing, in any period since 1665, preferably with a comparative or longue durée perspective.

Papers or panels might address:
  • The processes of printing, publishing or illustrating scientific journals
  • The commercial practices of journal publishing
  • The development of editorial and refereeing processes
  • Distribution networks and marketing – regional, national and international
  • Issues concerning the status, reputation and reception of competing journals
Offers of papers, including a 250-word abstract, should be sent to publishorperish@royalsociety.org by the 30th of November 2013.

Participants must be willing and able to prepare their paper for speedy publication in autumn 2015.

Philosophical Transactions at 350

The Philosophical Transactions turns 350 on March the 6th, 2015. To celebrate this milestone in the history of science communication, a programme of events and activities is being planned for the Anniversary year. In addition, a major AHRC-funded research project, led by Dr Aileen Fyfe at the University of St Andrews in partnership with the Royal Society, is already under way, which will produce the first full history of the Philosophical Transactions.

www.royalsociety.org
https://arts.st.andrews.ac.uk/philosophicaltransactions/

Dr Noah Moxham
School of History, University of St Andrews
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

The Marginalisation of Astrology

Utrecht, 19-20 March 2015; Deadline 30 September 2014






The Descartes Centrum for history of science of the University of Utrecht, in collaboaration with the department of philosophy of the Radboud University at Nijmegen, will host an international conference on the problem of the marginalization of astrology in the early modern period.

Astrology has been a well-established and respected part of scholarship for centuries, practiced in many cultural and geographical settings. However, in the modern world, astrology, though still very much present, has lost its scientific status and is relegated to the fringes of serious learning. In the history of the sciences, this must be regarded as a momentous shift. The definite step in the “marginalization” of astrology appears to have been taken in the seventeenth century and should therefore be regarded as an important element (rather than as a consequence) of the so-called Scientific Revolution.

The reasons for this development are far from clear. Actually, even the development itself (when, where and by whom did astrology become disavowed) has so far been only poorly documented. The conference therefore aims at bringing together specialists from various fields to throw light on this intruiging question.

It is the aim of the conference to study the subject from various different angles:

· History of astrology. Although the project is about people NOT practising astrology rather than about astrologers, the history of astrology proper remains of course central. At the very least, an attempt should be made to compare differences in astrological practice (and their marginalization) between various local, cultural and religious contexts. Other relevant questions concern criticisms and apologies of astrology and attempts at astrological reform.

· History of science. The idea that astrology was discredited directly because of new scientific discoveries is no longer regarded as credible; on the other hand, it does not appears believable that there was no connection at all. The dismissal of astrology implied a transformation of the work and the identity of astronomers. In natural philosophy, it implied a rejection of the idea of celestial influence, which had become an integral part of scholastic philosophy.

· History of medicine. Medicine was a major application of astrology. Medieval physicians would routinely cast horoscopes for diagnostic and other purposes. The question is when and how this changed. Obviously, both the supply and the demand sides have to be taken into account.

· Court culture. Important on the side of demand were princely and noble courts. In the sixteenth century, princes would regularly employ court mathematicians/astronomers, whose task it was to cast horoscopes. In the seventeenth century, on the other hand, Louis XIV spent a fortune on the Paris Observatory, while casting horoscopes was not among the tasks of this institution. Again, the reasons behind this change are not clear.

· Print culture. Almanacs, ephemerides, and prognostics, in conjunction with information on their makers, editions, and distribution, should enable us (at least) to get some idea of the popularity, or lack of popularity, of astrological ideas and practices. This is a field wherein some work has already been done.

· History of religion. The era of the Reformation and Counter Reformation saw important developments in the field of theology, Church discipline and organization, which may have affected the status of astrology. One should also look to what one might call religious anthropology: shifting attitudes toward the supernatural and a changing definition of “superstition”, more or less identifiable with Weber’s “disenchantment of the world”. It is not clear to what extent astrology (as a learned practice) was placed in the same category as other superstitions, but the question should be asked.

· Finally, the question to what extent this development remained limited to Western Europe, and whether similar things happened elsewhere (and when), should not be forgotten, even if it is probably hard to answer at this stage.

People who are interested to give a paper at this conference are invited to send a title and abstract (300 words maximum) by the end of September to the organizers:

· Rienk Vermij, history of science, University of Oklahoma (rienk.vermij@ou.edu)

· Hiro Hirai, department of philosophy, University of Nijmegen (hhirai2@gmail.com)

For all other information, please also contact the organizers mentioned above.

Magic and Intellectual History – York CREMS (Updated)

Thursday 5th March 2015, Treehouse, Humanities Research Centre, University of York, 9.30-5.30

Keynote Speaker: Stephen Clucas (Birkbeck)

Open to all – entrance free and no registration required

10.00-11.30 - Natural Magic
Rinotas Athanasios (Athens), Compatibility between Philosophy and Magic in the Work of Albertus Magnus
Ovanes Akopyan (Warwick), From Marsilio Ficino to the Bible: Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and his circle on magic, prisca theologia and Aristotle
Allison Kavey (CUNY), Agrippa's Magical Cosmology

Coffee 11.30-12.00

12.00-1.00- Magicians? John Dee and Kenelm Digby
Todd Borlik (Huddersfield), Magic as Technological Dominion: John Dee and the Draining of the English Fens
Mark A. Waddell (Michigan State), Sympathy and Lies: Plausibility, Credibility, and the Weapon Salve in Early Modern England

Lunch, 1.00-2.00

2.00-3.00 - Reformation, Religion and Magic
Frank Klaassen (Saskatchewan) Magic and the English Reformation: A reconsideration
Francis Young (Ely) Liturgical Change and Ceremonial Magic in Reformation England

Coffee, 3.00-3.15

3.15-4.45 - Magicians: Napier(s)? Campanella?
Alex Corrigan (Edinburgh), Was John Napier of Merchiston a Magician?
Ofer Hadass (Haifa), "An Angell's Sight": Religion and Magic in Richard Napier’s Medical Practice
Jean-Paul De Lucca (University of Malta), Tommaso Campanella between Renaissance Magic and Modern Science

5.00: Keynote
Stephen Clucas (Birbeck, University of London), Magic and intellectual history: the problem of transgression

Details and directions at: http://www.york.ac.uk/crems/
Contact: kevin.killeen@york.ac.uk

Magic and Intellectual History

Thursday 5th March 2015 - CREMS, University of York

A day symposium – Keynote speaker: Dr Stephen Clucas (Birkbeck)

This symposium will explore the place of magic in the intellectual culture of early modern England and Europe. It will focus on how magic was perceived and understood in philosophical, religious and scientific thought, and the ambivalence that surrounded it as topics of scholarship.

Papers might attend to the following:
  • How did early modern thought accommodate magic into its disciplines?
  • Why was magic the object of so much ‘elite’ scientific and philosophical thought?
  • Magic and the study of nature
  • Magic and the ineffable
  • Redefining the parameters of magic
  • Magic and religion.
  • The occult and hidden operations of nature
  • Scepticism and magical thought
  • Magic and language / magic and metaphor
  • Literature and the portrayal of magic
  • Magic and the devil
  • Magicians and their day-jobs.

Call for Papers: Abstracts by 15th October (c. 250 words)

Contact: Kevin Killeen, kevin.killeen@york.ac.uk

This symposium is part of a diffuse and ongoing Thomas Browne Seminar that has digressed quite far: http://www.york.ac.uk/english/news-events/browne/


Overview

The Thomas Browne Seminar is a forum for exploring the intellectual history of the seventeenth century, the relations between its apparently incompatible disciplines and the social, scientific and political contexts in which they arose. It is not, by any means, restricted to Thomas Browne himself, but also examines more broadly the intellectual culture in the mid-seventeenth century.

Papers are invited on any aspect of mid-century culture, the history of science and scholarship, religious and antiquarian thought, natural history, politics and the history of trivia, in particular, but not restricted to, those related to Browne. As the seminar will involve an ongoing series of meetings, ideas for future seminars are also invited.

The TBS is run jointly by the Department of English and Related Literature and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies. Thomas Browne was a significant figure in the scholarly and scientific community of the seventeenth century, who nevertheless defies categorisation and whose blend of humanism, scholasticism and natural philosophy is testament to the intellectual flux of the period.