Archives: Events

Architecture’s Mannerisms, or the Modern Path of an Unstylish Style

The department of Architecture and Urban Planning is hosting a lecture by Andrew Leach (University of Sydney) on the notion of mannerisms in 20^th century architectural culture. This talk reports on a book begun at Harvard’s Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti. It reflects on the work done by a modern and evolving concept of architectural mannerism for architecture itself. How has mannerism, it asks, shaped architectural values—directly and obliquely? What does it tell us about modern architecture’s relationship with history? Tracking the ebbs and flows of mannerism’s presence in architectural debate offers a way to think about the construction of architecture as a field apart, and as a profession subject to corruption.

Middle East Studies Research Seminar Series – with Prof. Dr. Nir Shafir (UC – San Diego)

In the seventeenth century, Muslims in the Ottoman Empire became embroiled in a polarizing cultural war over the permissibility of everyday practices like worshipping at saints’ graves, smoking tobacco, and an odd medical procedure called “chickpea cauterization.” This talk traces this widespread religious and political polarization to the rise of a new “communication order,” focusing, in particular, on the advent of “pamphlets”: short, mobile, and polemical tracts, all copied by hand. The talk paints a new picture of the entire ecosystem of books in the manuscript culture of the early modern Ottoman Empire and how it fell into supposed disorder as middling readers stoked polemics, falsified authorship, and fashioned new reading publics.

contact: middleeast@ugent.be

GEMS is organising a feedback session for FWO-applicants in the field of early modern studies*.

In this session, MA students applying in March 2025 to the FWO (or in the subsequent year, but who have already completed their application) will share their application with the attendees: PhD and senior researchers in the field of early modern studies, and other students. They will also briefly present their research in a 5-minute presentation (in English), followed by ample time for feedback and discussion.

The goal of this session is for students to receive useful feedback on their research and application from different experienced researchers to finetune their project before applying to the FWO.

The session will take place on the 14th of February from 2pm.

Student can register via this form or the QR-code.
If you have any questions, please contact Eru.Fevery@UGent.be or Joris.Verschelde@UGent.be

*Researchers focusing on adjacent time periods are also welcome!

GEMS (Group for Early Modern Studies) is organising a work-in-progress session for MA students working in early modern (broadly defined) studies. We want to create a low threshold and open setting for students to present their work and receive useful feedback.

In this session, students will give a poster presentation (in English) on their current research. The presentation aims to help students fine-tune their research and is a great opportunity to get feedback from your peers and experienced researchers in the field of early modern cultural history and literature. The presentation can be about a specific chapter or your research methodology, or an outline of your thesis. We don’t expect your research to be in a finalised stage: feel free to come with drafts and invite your peers to think along with you!

The seminar will take place on Wednesday 23 April 2025 from 3pm. We aim for seven-minute presentations with ample time for questions. GEMS will finance the print costs for the posters. Refreshments will be provided.

Register for the Young Researchers Day via this form.

If you have any further questions, please contact Caroline.Baetens@UGent.be or Eru.Fevery@UGent.be.

Medieval and Early Modern Studies Spring School: History of Emotions – Groningen, 24-28 March 2025

This Spring School is organised by the University of Groningen, Ghent University, the Huizinga Institute and the Dutch Research School for Medieval Studies to stimulate contacts and exchange between PhD candidates and ReMa students in the field of the history of emotions, a flourishing research field that connects different disciplines within the humanities, as well as between SSH and the (neuro)sciences. At least six of these disciplines will be represented in this course: cultural history, neurosciences, literary studies, art history, creative writing and musicology. The aim of the course is not to provide an introduction in the field but to deepen the participants’ knowledge of four topical angles through which emotions in history can be studied. The course will mainly focus on the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, but students working on Antiquity or the Modern Period can attend as well.

Topic

The history of emotions is a scholarly field that came into existence almost 20 years ago and since then has realised major breakthroughs, most notably because of its interdisciplinary character. Unsurprisingly, also among young scholars in the field of medieval and early modern history there is a renewed interest in the history of emotions and its theoretical and methodological framework. The focus of scholars in the field has long been on the investigation of emotional norms, regimes, and communities, with the pioneering work of scholars such as Barbara Rosenwein and William Reddy. Monique Scheer introduced the idea of ‘doing emotions’, paying more attention to the performative aspect of emotional language, as well as cognitive processes and the idea of ​​embodied knowledge. Other scholars focused explicitly on the role of emotions in processes of knowledge acquisition, ecological change and in ‘affective economies’. Many doctoral students interested in the field will be familiar with at least some of these approaches. This Spring School will provide them the opportunity to deepen this knowledge and to get familiar with topical debates in the field. Special attention will be given to digital methods, postcolonial approaches and the ´´´´´´relevance of neuroscience for historical research.

Approaches

This course takes four recent lines of research and the concepts associated with them as a starting point: digital approaches, rhetoric, well-being & art and decolonialty. Nine specialists will reflect from their scholarly background (cultural history, medieval history, literary studies, creative writing, art history, musicology, digital humanities and neurosciences) on how they define and apply the above-mentioned concepts in their own research. An accompanying reading list underpins further reflection and discussion with the participants. This will offer students a stepping stone to think these concepts in relation to their own work. Through short pitches the attending PhD students will concretely reflect on the possibilities and difficulties of working with the same concepts in their own research projects. More informal talks about the history of emotions will be possible during a thematic walk through Groningen and a workshop in creative writing and emotions. The Spring School will also provide a workshop on digital approaches of emotions in history.

Programme

Session I: Walk through Groningen: Revolution and Emotions – guide/lecturer: Renée Vulto (Utrecht)

Session II & III: Methodology and Digital Approaches – lecturers: Francesco Buscemi (Groningen) and Lucas van der Deijl (Groningen)

Session IV & V: Emotions and Rhetoric – lecturers: Janne Lindqvist (Uppsala) and Steven Vanderputten (Ghent)

Session VI & VII : Art, Mind and Well-being – lecturers: Jacomien Prins (Utrecht), Nicole Ruta (Leuven) and Gemma Schino (Groningen)

Session VIII & IX:  Writing, Emotion, and Decoloniality – lecturers: Marrigje Paijmans (Amsterdam) and Femke Kramer (Groningen)

Registration

PhD students and ReMa students are invited to register for this course before 10 January 2025 through the link. Please note that there is a limited number of places available for this course.  After your registration you will soon receive more information about whether your registration can be confirmed or not. Some of the participating graduate/doctoral schools will cover tuition and lodging for their participating members (please wait for more information after your registration).

Organising institutions and partners

This Spring School is organised by Ghent University (Doctoral Schools), the University of Groningen, the Huizinga Institute and the Research School for Medieval Studies in cooperation with the following research groups: the Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), the Group for Early Modern Studies (UGent), the Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies (UGent), the Amsterdam Centre for Studies in Early Modernity (UvA), Amsterdam Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Emotion and Sensory Studies (VU A’dam), the Amsterdam Centre for Studies in Early Modernity (UvA), the Institute for Early Modern History (UGent-VUB) and the Onderzoeksgroep Nieuwe Tijd (KU Leuven).

Organising committee

Estel van den Berg, MA (UGent, Group for Early Modern Studies), Dr. Femke Kramer (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Research Institute for the Study of Culture), Dr. Stefan Meysman (UGent, Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies), Prof. Bart Ramakers (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Research Institute for the Study of Culture), Dr. Lucas van der Deijl (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Research Institute for the Study of Culture), Dr. Lies Verbaere (UGent, Group for Early Modern Studies) and Prof. Kornee van der Haven (UGent, Group for Early Modern Studies)

Boekvoorstelling biografie door Marita Mathijsen en panelgesprek met Annelies Verbeke en Tom Verschaffel

Registreren voor 22-11 via: https://event.ugent.be/registration/wolff 

Dit najaar verschijnt Een vrije geest: Het uitzonderlijke leven van Betje Wolff bij Uitgeverij Balans. Elizabeth (Betje) Wolff schreef samen met Agatha Deken de roman Sara Burgerhart die in Nederland onderdeel is van de historische canon. Met dit boek krijgt Elizabeth Wolff haar eerste solo-biografie. Marita Mathijsen komt naar De Krook om er deze biografie voor te stellen en in te gaan op het turbulente leven van de schrijfster. Daarna zal zij in gesprek te gaan met Annelies Verbeke en Tom Verschaffel, over de positie van vrouwelijke auteurs in de achttiende eeuw en nu. Waarom wordt het werk van getalenteerde schrijfsters zo weinig gelezen? Waarom ontbreekt de Verlichting in de Vlaamse literaire canon? En waarom is het voor vrouwelijke auteurs nog steeds lastig om een plek in die canon te krijgen? Moderator: Kornee van der Haven.

Over Elizabeth Wolff

Het leven van de achttiende-eeuwse schrijfster Elizabeth (of Betje) Wolff is ongekend opwindend en haar schrijverschap is meesterlijk. Geen vrouw wist ooit zo spottend tegen het orthodoxe geloof te schrijven. Ze nam ferm stelling tegen de onderdrukking van vrouwen, tegen de slavernij, tegen dierenmishandeling, vóór natuurwaardering, vóór democratisch bestuur. Dat maakt haar uniek, niet alleen toen, maar ook nu nog. Ze stond al in heel letterenland bekend als schrijfster toen ze Agatha (of Aagje) Deken leerde kennen, die nog geen naam had. Samen schreven ze het succesboek Historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart. Op haar vijftigste vluchtte ze vanwege de politiek met Aagje naar Frankrijk. Negen jaar later kwamen ze gedesillusioneerd terug. Hun succesjaren waren toen voorbij. In 1802 overleden de twee vriendinnen, kort na elkaar.

Marita Mathijsen

Marita Mathijsen is cultuurhistorica en emeritus hoogleraar Nederlandse literatuur aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Ze is bekend om haar werken over vooral de negentiende eeuw: De geest van de dichter, De gemaskerde eeuw, Historiezucht, L: de lezer van de 19^de eeuw en haar veelgeprezen biografie Jacob van Lennep: Een bezielde schavuit. Haar werk verscheen op de short lists van de geschiedenisprijs en de biografieprijs.

Annelies Verbeke

Annelies Verbeke schrijft vooral proza en theaterteksten. Ze schreef ondermeer de romans Slaap! (2003), Reus (2006), Vissen redden (2009) en Dertig dagen (2015), de verhalenbundels Groener gras (2007), Veronderstellingen (2012), Halleluja (2017) en Treinen en Kamers (2021). Ze is betrokken geweest bij een podcastreeks van het feministische schrijverscollectief Fixdit over in de vergetelheid geraakte schrijvende vrouwen doorheen de geschiedenis van de Nederlandstalige literatuur (te beluisteren via https://www.de-gids.nl/podcasts/fixdit ).

Tom Verschaffel

Tom Verschaffel is hoogleraar cultuurgeschiedenis vanaf 1750 aan de KU Leuven. Hij is de auteur van De weg naar het binnenland (2017), het deel over de literatuur van de Zuidelijke Nederlanden in de 18^de eeuw in de Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Literatuur. Zijn onderzoek betreft de historiografie en de brede historische cultuur van de achttiende, negentiende en twintigste eeuw, publieksgeschiedenis en de visuele voorstelling van het verleden, cultureel nationalisme, de culturele uitwisseling tussen België en zijn buurlanden, en de cultuurgeschiedenis van migratie.

Organisatie: Bibliotheek De Krook & Universiteit Gent (Vakgroep letterkunde, Humanities Academie, Group for Early Modern Studies) m.m.v. Koninklijke Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde (KANTL)

Talk by Prof. Dr. Allan Potofsky: The Origins of “Greater Paris?” Delimiting, appropriating, and reforming the stone quarries in the outer boundaries of Paris in the eighteenth-century.

Organization by Teodoro Katinis (Dep. of Literary Studies – GEMS) and Elizabeth Merrill (Dep. of Architecture – Sarton Center for the History of Science)

In the years leading to this summer’s Olympics, Parisian and the Île de France regional authorities wielded broad municipal authority to redeploy the Seine for ceremonial and sporting events as well as post-industrial quarters in the outer suburbs for housing and transport. Starting in the eighteenth century, urban reform featured a similar restructuring of the capital city’s core and periphery. Eighteenth-century Paris was a time and a place where urban space was deftly reassigned from historically determined spaces where specific trades had traditionally gravitated:  displaced activities included market spaces (increasingly confined to Les Halles) and the leatherwork and chemical works (moved from the Seine to la Bièvre). What a later generation would call zoning, the geographic fixing of life and work to demarcated areas, was practiced in an embryonic form during the ancien régime.

However, some industries were clearly not transplantable. In his paper, Allan Potofsky examines the reforms of the end of the ancien régime that sought to limit the risk presented by an archetypically unmovable industrial site: the stone quarries situated in much of the outer zones of the capital, particularly, in the areas of Montmartre, Belleville, and Ménilmontant in the North and Northeast of Paris. Collapsing buildings and industrial accidents alerted authorities to the hazards of open stone quarries in proximity to encroaching residential areas, rapidly expanding as the overpopulated city grew desperate for livable space. The porousness of Paris and its outer perimeters first posed the challenge of the limitless city, well before the contemporary idea of a Greater Paris was born.

Allan Potofsky (PhD Columbia University, 1993) is an urban historian who specializes in the history of planning and construction of early modern Paris. He is particularly interested in the relationship between social and architectural history, political economy, and intellectual history. He is currently Professeur des universités and was previously Maître de conferences at the Université Paris-8. As a sequel to his Constructing Paris in the Age of Revolution (NY: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2012), his current book project is entitled Paris is the World: the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. It focuses on the politics of urban reform, techniques of organization and construction, and the material culture (particularly, the interplay of property right, labor, and resources) that shaped the city in the century before Haussmannisation.

Group for Early Modern Studies, Sarton Centre for History of Science and UGent Doctoral School are organising a seminar by Prof. Dr. Paola Ugolini (University at Buffalo, USA).

The seminar will take place on the 3rd of September at 11am in room Camelot, Campus Boekentoren.

Prof. Dr. Paola Ugolini will present her paper ‘“A Woman Dressed in Gold (…) Holding Out Her Heart.” Sincerity in Early Modern Italy.’, followed by a 10-minutes response given by Prof. Dr. Katinis (director of GEMS). The last 40 minutes will be reserved for open debate with the participants.

Early modern culture is known for devoting a unique amount of attention to accessing and revealing one’s interiority. Poets dreamed of a “crystal heart” that would show the authenticity of their feelings. Authors of physiognomic manuals explained how physical features could help understand a person’s moral character. In medical texts, dissected bodies were portrayed as lifting their skin, disclosing the secrets of human anatomy. Studies such as Lionel Trilling’s Sincerity and Authenticity and John J. Martin’s “Inventing Sincerity, Refashioning Prudence” have formulated the assumption that the notion of sincerity as a moral value is a creation of the Renaissance, while in earlier societies the term “sincere” was used exclusively to refer to a substance or an object that was pure or unadulterated. Prof. Dr. Paola Ugolini intends to put this assumption to the test, while also trying to identify the reasons that could have prompted such a change. Furthermore, she plans to investigate the contrast between the urge for sincerity and the need for simulation and dissimulation that characterized early modern society. In her research, she also explores the claims of sincerity expressed by the authors of early modern scientific texts, and how this intersects with the idea of accessing the secrets of Nature

Prof. Ugolini holds a doctorate from New York University. Since 2020 she has been an associate professor at the University at Buffalo, where she teaches Italian and Global Gender and Sexuality Studies. She has also been a visiting professor at the University of Bologna in 2021, and has been invited to give lectures at universities across North America and Europe. She has published on a wide array of Renaissance Italian writers, including Pietro Aretino (on which she also co-edited a volume; (2021)), Ludovico Ariosto (2017; 2022; 2024), Veronica Franco (2024), Veronica Gambara (whose poems she edited and translated; (2014)), and Gaspara Stampa (2024). She is currently co-editing a volume titled Women Warriors in the Early Modern World (under contract with Amsterdam University Press) and working on a book project on the history of sincerity in early modern Italy.