Political Thought in Times of Crisis, 1640-1660

Political Thought in Times of Crisis, 1640-1660

A Folger Institute Center for the History of British Political Thought Symposium

Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday

1 – 3 December 2016

Board Room, Folger Shakespeare Library


Was the mid-seventeenth-century crisis in Britain and Ireland essentially one aspect of a broader “global” crisis? How might scholars theorize the relationships between political thought and other verbal and non-verbal expressions of change and instability (political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental)? Extending its recent investigations of the discursive and spatial boundaries of political thinking in the early modern period, the Folger Institute Center for the History of British Political Thought will offer a distinctive symposium that demonstrates the continuing value of the study of political thought, not least in showing the relevance of early modern thought to the concerns of our own world. The symposium considers political thought as it crosses language and geo-political domains beyond Britain and Ireland. The geographical range includes the pan-European world in the culmination and aftermath of the Thirty Years War as well as such global contexts as the colonial Americas and Asia.

Final Schedule

Unless otherwise specified, all sessions take place in the Folger Board Room

Thursday evening, 1 December 2016

4:30 pm

Welcome
Owen Williams, Folger Institute
Political Thought in Times of Crisis, 1640-1660
Chair: Nigel Smith, Princeton University
Michael Braddick, University of Sheffield
Richard Tuck, Harvard University

6:30-7:30 Opening Reception (Founders Room)


Friday, 2 December 2016

9:00 am

Coffee and pastries (Tea Room, which is adjacent to the Board Room)

9:25

Call to Order
Owen Williams, Folger Institute

9:30

Opinion and Motivation
Chair: Julia Rudolph, North Carolina State University
Ann Hughes, Keele University
Joad Raymond, Queen Mary University of London

11:00

Coffee Break

11:30

Civil Wars
Chair: David Armitage, Harvard University
David Cressy, The Ohio State University (emeritus)
Nicholas McDowell, University of Exeter
David Norbrook, Merton College, Oxford

1:00

Lunch (provided in the Foulke Conference Room, 301 East Capitol Street, SE)

2:30

European Connections
Chair: Nigel Smith, Princeton University
Helmer Helmers, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Gaby Mahlberg, Berlin

4:00

Break

4:15-5:45

Gender and the Family
Chair: Linda Levy Peck, The George Washington University
Sharon Achinstein, The Johns Hopkins University
Laura Lunger Knoppers, University of Notre Dame


Saturday, 3 December 2016

9:00 am

Coffee and Pastries

9:30

Environments
Chair: David Armitage, Harvard University
Ariel Hessayon, Goldsmiths, University of London
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University
Ted McCormick, Concordia University, Montreal

11:00

Coffee Break


11:30

Slavery, Property, and Rights
Chair: Julia Rudolph, North Carolina State University
Carla Pestana, UCLA
Martin Dzelzainis, University of Leicester

1:00

Lunch on your own (suggestions provided in folders)

2:30

Sovereignty, Authority, and Scripture
Chair: Gordon J. Schochet, Rutgers University
Cesare Cuttica, Université Paris 8
Jeffrey Collins, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Rachel Hammersley, Newcastle University

4:00

Break

4:15

Reflections

5:30-7:00

Closing Reception (Founders Room)