Our topic for 2006 is “Lines of Amity, Lines of Enmity: War and Peace in the Eighteenth Century”. What defines a “state of war” or “state of peace” in this period? Are they opposed or complementary? Indeed, are they even definable, stable states? By making visible practical as well as theoretical lines of enmity and amity in the period, we aim to discern the critical range of these terms, but also locate where and how peace and war happened, and to whom. Attending to the questions raised by peace and war, we also hope to put in question such influential critical models as the rise of civil society and the public (and private) sphere; modernity’s growing focus on “governmentality” and the life -- as opposed to the death -- of the citizen; enlightenment ideals of perpetual peace, cosmopolitanism and humanitarianism. The 2006 Workshop encourages papers that reconsider the meaning, theory, practice, and discursive force of peace and war in this period.

The workshop format, which has proven to be extraordinarily fruitful, will consist of intense discussion of 4-6 pre-circulated papers a day, amidst socializing and refreshment. The workshop will draw both on the wide community of eighteenth-century scholars and on the large and growing group of scholars in this field at Indiana University-Bloomington. Papers will be selected by an interdisciplinary committee. The workshop will cover most expenses of those scholars chosen to present their work: accommodations, travel (up to a certain limit) and most meals.

We are asking for applications to be sent to us by the 5th of January 2006. The application consists of a two-page description of the proposed paper as well as a current CV. Please email or send your application to Dr. Barbara Truesdell, Weatherly Hall North, Room 122, Bloomington, IN 47405, Telephone 812/855-2856, email voltaire@indiana.edu.

For further information please contact Dror Wahrman, Dept. of History, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, e-mail dwahrman@indiana.edu.