UPDATE: The Netherlandish Seventeenth Century And Its Afterlives (11/30/06; 3/3/07)
We have extended the deadline for submissions to November 30, 2006.
THE NETHERLANDISH SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND ITS AFTERLIVES
DUKE UNIVERSITY
MARCH 3, 2007
Keynote Speaker: Nigel Smith
Plenary Speakers: Kenneth Surin, Manuel Herrero S=E1nchez, Hans J Van =20=
Miegroet
Please submit abstracts (500 words) via email to rjl11_at_duke.edu =20
(place "Netherlands Conference Abstract" in the subject line) by =20
November 30, 2006.
Recent work in the history of early modernity highlights the =20
geopolitical contours of cultural production and the transnational =20
nature of polities prefiguring the idea of "Europe." Much dwells in =20
particular upon the Spanish and British Empires and their attendant =20
literary controversies -writing the New World through religious and =20
political administration and economic adventure. Yet the Greater =20
Netherlandish context of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries =20=
(histories and literatures in Dutch) is persistently excluded or =20
obscured by the familiar institutional determinations of national =20
literatures and histories. Netherlandish history is seldom placed in =20=
conversation with English, Spanish, or French situations, nor is it =20
admitted into the afterlives of the Reformation or the register of =20
colonial/imperial competition. Despite notable contributions =20
foregrounding the importance of the Dutch context in intellectual =20
history and theology - on Spinoza's circle in particular - =20
insufficient attention has been paid more generally to the crucial =20
role the Dutch played in brokering a significant change in the =20
dynamics of power and cultural production in the Atlantic world.
Following the Revolt of the Netherlands against Spanish control, =20
Spanish imperial might was notably eclipsed by British and French =20
powers. In the Atlantic world, a dense history of conflicting =20
Reformations and Counter-Reformations, confessional practices and =20
disputed national characters ensued, from Huguenot poetry and praxis =20
to Spanish Reformation movements (such as Valdesian thought). The =20
economic and political power shift further determined subsequent =20
development in the Americas as much as in Europe. A renewed =20
attention to the import of Netherlandish contexts ought to reshape =20
our understanding of the period and its controversies.
This one-day symposium aims to recuperate the Netherlandish context =20
in order to strengthen and complicate our understanding of =20
philosophy, religion, language, literature, art, history, and =20
political economy - the geopolitical shape of early modernity - with =20
specific reference to the transformations of the United Provinces and =20=
attendant territories, in Europe and beyond. The symposium will =20
examine the import of the Netherlands in a moment of greatly =20
significant circum-Atlantic change - a moment which indeed set many =20
of the parameters for culture and politics still with us today.
Against a backdrop of shifting Imperial and European powers, in what =20
ways did the Dutch Golden Age mark a critical moment of transition =20
between Spanish and British imperial dominance, as well as a shift in =20=
sovereignty in France? How does an investigation of the =20
Netherlandish context shape or reshape our understanding of the =20
religious or philosophical controversies of the period, from =20
Reformation and Counter-Reformation policies to the familiar =20
institutional narratives of the Enlightenment and the Scientific =20
Revolution? How might one account for the importance of the Dutch =20
context, or its historical elision? We welcome submissions from a =20
number of disciplines on related topics, which may, but need not, =20
discuss related themes such as:
-The emergence of a modern market economy
-The Dutch Revolt and its iterations in other situations (for =20
instance, in English Republican thought)
-The identification of a "Dutch" cycle of capital accumulation
-Remembering the Netherlandish context across a variety of =20
disciplines (New Amsterdam in American Studies; the Dutch in the East =20=
Asian Studies; The Dutch roots of Arminianism, etc.)
-The post-Republic identification of the Dutch with (proto-national) =20
liberation movements against dynastic rule
-The disparities between emergent French Absolutism and Dutch =20
sovereignty
-Publishing and circulation of texts in the Netherlands, or Dutch =20
cultural production and its impact in other European situations
-Netherlandish visual culture and the production and consumption of =20
art; art as cultural identity, or explorations of notions of taste =20
through imagery and economics
-The Revolt of the Netherlands in Spanish literature: (e.g. Lope de =20
Vega's Los Espa=F1oles en Flandes; El Assalto de Mastrique por el =20
Principe de Parma; Pobreza no es Vileza, etc. )
-The history of philosophy, including Spinozism, in the Netherlands =20
and beyond
-The Dutch slave trade in light of the Spanish, French and British =20
trades
-The place of the Netherlands in British perpetuations of the Black =20
Legend
-Anglo-Dutch; Spanish-Dutch; Franco-Dutch rivalry in the New World
-Netherlandish humanism
Russ Leo
PhD Candidate / The Program in Literature at Duke University
919.308.7947
My paper is done; when you haue read it I pray burne it as that which
(thowgh it muste & will be done) better fitts to the nexte age, &
(whensoeuer) better done then written.
- Sir Cheney Culpeper, 16 May 1644
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Received on Fri Nov 03 2006 - 18:09:16 EST