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
- 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)