BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Monarchy and Modernity since 1500 - Speaker to be confirmed DTSTART:20190109T090000Z DTEND:20190109T060000Z UID:TALK106531@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Carolina Armenteros DESCRIPTION:Monarchy and Modernity since 1500\nUniversity of Cambridge\n8- 9 January 2019\n\nEurope’s past is overwhelmingly monarchical\, yet the monarchies that remain in place today hardly resemble those that governed Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. Modernity has transformed monarchy f rom a matter of unquestioned and often sacred fact to a matter of largely secular and usually democratic choice. If the words remain the same – al ong with many of the families\, their titles\, properties and places of re sidence – their meaning has changed profoundly over time and across coun tries\, so much so that\, along the centuries\, the working mechanisms\, f unctions and powers of European monarchy have been transformed. The academ ic literature\, however\, seldom measures this distance between monarchy ’s various historical meanings and its surprisingly frequent manifestati ons today.\n\nIn theoretical and speculative disciplines\, the lack of inq uiry into monarchy’s significance is due partly to disciplinary division s. Political theorists and intellectual historians rarely delve into the s ubject of monarchy\, while historians of monarchy tend to focus on chronol ogy rather than concepts. Monarchy’s own nature has helped determine the se divisions. With its providentialist\, semi-magic and mysterious foundat ions in the divine right of kings\, monarchism is a double paradox\, a for m of political theory that is at once anti-political and anti-theoretical. Innovatively\, this conference seeks to break disciplinary barriers by co mbining the outlooks of monarchical specialists on the one hand\, and of s ocial\, cultural\, and political theorists on the other.\nProceeding from the premise that the nature of things is best known\, and their developmen t most determined\, during critical times\, this conference centers on thr ee (long) key moments in the history of modern European monarchy: the Engl ish Revolution\, the French Revolution\, and the mainstreaming of republic anism during the first half of the twentieth century. These moments\, howe ver\, are only referential\, and presentations studying the reinvention\, representation and conceptualisation of monarchy during other modern perio ds\, from 1500 to the present\, are also welcome\, with Renaissance subjec ts possibly serving as introits and contemporary ones as epilogues to the conference.\n\nThe main lines of inquiry are twofold\, one directed at mon archy’s political significance\, and the other at its socio-cultural\, p sychological\, religious and spiritual roles. The political-conceptual lin e of inquiry can include – without being limited to – European monarch y’s historical relationship to legislation and the administration of jus tice\, as well as democratic\, republican\, and aristocratic traditions. T he theological/sociological/anthropological perspective is instead concern ed with monarchy as a series of rituals\, processions\, celebrations and f ormal procedures that represent sovereignty\, organise time and relationsh ips\, lend nations a sense of identity\, and connect individuals emotional ly with sacred spaces and powers\, especially as represented by the Cathol ic and Protestant religions.\n\nStudies of non-European monarchical tradit ions are likewise accepted\, preferably with reference to European ones.\n \nContributions may address one or more of the following themes but are no t limited to them:\n\n Monarchy in political thought \n The relation ship between spiritual and temporal powers\n Royalism vs. monarchism\n  National and sovereign representation\n Monarchy in its relation wi th religion\, theology and spirituality \n The royal imaginary\n Mon archy and property\n Monarchy and material culture: art\, fashion and t he built environment\n Royal feasts\, rituals\, processions and celebra tions\n Women and monarchy\n Non-European monarchical traditions\, p referably with reference to European ones.\n\nWe invite proposals for 20-m inute presentations\, which will be revised subsequently for publication i n a peer-reviewed collective volume. Graduate students are welcome to part icipate\, and papers in Dutch\, English\, French\, German\, Italian\, Port uguese and Spanish are accepted\, although English is encouraged to facili tate communication. The conference will be held at the University of Cambr idge on 8-9 January 2019. Please email a 200-word abstract and one-page CV to Carolina Armenteros (cra22@cam.ac.uk) by 1 July 2018. LOCATION:Faculty of Law END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR