RESTORATIONS

The Birkbeck Early Modern Society’s Fourth Student Conference

Saturday 3 July 2010, 10.00-16.30, Birkbeck College, Malet Street

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Birkbeck Early Modern Society is pleased to announce our fourth annual student conference. We aim to provide a safe and constructive space for students to present their research and exchange ideas with peers from a range of disciplines. The day promises to be an ideal forum to showcase research and will also provide opportunities to practice presentation skills.
Our theme this year is ‘Restorations’.
A restoration is a process or a series of events that results in something such as a person, system, or idea being returned to its former state. We are looking for a diverse collection of papers based on subjects that can be connected to our conference theme. We define the early modern period as being roughly 1500-1800.
Here are some points which you may wish to consider:
• This year, 2010, is the 350th anniversary of the restoration of the British Monarchy after the British Civil Wars of the 1640s and the Interregnum of the 1650s. This is an example of a political system being restored.
• 2010 is also the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society, one of the key events of the Restoration.
• The Restoration is now defined as the period 1660-88: in what ways was this era different to the first half of the seventeenth century?
• Restoration may be interpreted as a process of renovations or repairs such as those carried out on furniture, books, paintings, printed images, household goods, tools etc.
• When something is restored, it necessarily displaces the previous state. Is this always an improvement?
• Political, social, cultural and intellectual restorations can be met with resistance from those who are unlikely to gain from the new state of affairs. How does this resistance manifest itself? How is it met?
You are invited to submit a proposal of 250 words maximum for a paper lasting 20 minutes (approximately 2,000 words) to
The deadline for proposals is Monday 31st May 2010.
Please submit proposals to the Conference Organiser, Robin Rowles at r_rowles@hotmail.com