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.

Provisional 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 Geoffrey Parker, The Ohio State 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 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)