Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 14:41:48 +1000
From: Gillian Russell <Gillian.Russell@anu.edu.au>
The Xth David Nichol Smith Seminar: "Margins and Metropolis: Literature,
Culture and Science, 1660-1830"
2-5 July 1996, National Library, Canberra, Australia
In 1996, after an absence of 13 years, the David Nichol Smith Memorial
Seminar will return to Canberra under the auspices of the Australasian and
Pacific Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (APSECS).
The theme of the seminar, "Margins and Metropolis: Literature, Culture and
Science, 1660-1830' takes its inspiration from John Brewer's recent
contention that whilst the effects of the core on the periphery or of
metropole on empire are much discussed, we know little of how imperial and
other cultural "margins" influenced "the formation of identities and the
ways in which the national, regional, linguistic, ethnic and religious
allegiances came to clash or converge". Science, as well as literature,
was a key site of this cultural interaction.
In addition to leading scholars from Australia and New Zealand, speakers at
the conference will include Felicity Baker, Marilyn Butler, Brean Hammond,
Jerome McGann, Robert Markley, Claude Rawson and Simon Schaffer.
Proposals for papers addressing the theme of "Margins and Metropolis" are
invited from scholars working in English Literature, Gender and Women's
Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, Art History, Social, Economic
and Cultural History and other relevant disciplines. Especially welcome
will be papers which are a) interdisciplinary in scope b) focus on the
relationship between science and culture and c) refer to the Australian and
Pacific contexts.
As it is envisaged that part of the conference will be devoted to a
consideration of the future of the teaching of eighteenth-century studies,
we also invite papers that address pedagogical issues or the impact of
technology on research and learning.
Proposals of papers (of 25 minutes reading time) should consist of a 300
word abstract. Deadline for submission is 30 November 1995.
Reply to: Dr. Gillian Russell, Department of English, Faculties, Australian
National University, ACT 0200, Australia. Gillian.Russell@anu.edu.au