Other Events

The Science Caucus of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) has organized a new working group at the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine on “Science Studies in the Long Eighteenth Century.”

Conveners are Al Coppola, Kristin Girten, Anita Guerrini, and Emily West. 

The working group, like ASECS, is interdisciplinary, and the organizers welcome participation from people working in history, literature, art history, and other disciplines.

It will meet online on the fourth Thursday of the month at 1PM Eastern, beginning September 24. 

You can sign up at chstm.org/groups.

Enlightenment civilization placed great value on pleasures. Whilst it is often
associated with the 18th-century taste for libertinage, the promotion of the idea of
pleasure at that time nevertheless had a dimension that was, first and foremost,
controversial and philosophical, as it expressed a rejection of all the rigid moral codes
inherited from the 17th century. These generally considered that the pursuit of pleasure
was dictated by the depraved passions of a human nature deemed selfish and predatory.
In this sense, throughout the 18th century, celebrating pleasures was a fundamental act of
civilization. It served to rehabilitate human sensibility, whether under the form of body or
of emotions, of sensations or of affects, or even of what the French novelist Crébillon the
Younger wittily termed the ‘sentiments of the body’ (Tanzaï and Néadarné, 1734).

From now on, the pleasure and attraction it exerts are conceived as a ‘law of nature’
which ‘is of such authority that we cannot help but obey it’ (Fréret, Letter from Thrasybulus
to Leucippus). For Voltaire, this is, moreover, a property of matter in the same way as
gravitational attraction is. Thus, just as the laws of gravity govern the motion of the planets, so too do we see that ‘it is through pleasure’ that nature ‘guides human beings’ (On the Nature of Pleasure, 1737). But this thesis does not merely invite us to consider that the whole of an individual’s life is organized around the distinction between pleasure and
displeasure, conceived ‘as the two driving forces that set all our faculties in motion’
(Lévesque de Pouilly, The Theory of agreeable Sensations, 1749). As a fundamental
principle of one’s relationship with oneself, pleasure becomes an equally essential
dimension of one’s relationship toward others.

Thus, for the Scottish philosopher David Hume, the very principle of intersubjectivity
is inseparable from the emotional exchanges that take place between the members of a
society (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739). The same holds true for French philosophers
such as Sophie de Grouchy, for whom the bonds uniting each individual with others
‘derive from the nature of the sensations that pleasure and pain cause us to experience’,
so that ‘it is first and foremost as sentient beings that we are capable of sympathy’; this is,
moreover, the reason why, for example, ‘the mere pleasure of loving and being loved is,
for us, a source of happiness’ (Letters on Sympathy, 1798). As a natural and spontaneous
impulse, pleasure contributes, in all cases, to the formation of social bonds, since it
compels each individual to recognize oneself as a member of a community of sentient
beings. In this sense, whilst the pursuit of pleasure is the principal driving force behind
human behavior, this principle further and above all requires that we define the individual
as a being who is first and foremost relational, i.e., whose actions are determined by one’s
bonds with others.

It is therefore in this capacity that pleasure and sociability formed, throughout the Age
of Enlightenment, a conceptual pairing whose fates were intertwined, and which were to
be portrayed, celebrated or scrutinized across all spheres of the intellectual and artistic
production of the period. The forthcoming CSECS conference therefore invites
participants to explore the various issues and facets involved in the eventful history of this
pairing, which constituted one of the focal points of cultural and philosophical life in the
18th century. By way of illustration, here are some of the themes that could form the subject of a paper and which are of interest as much to philosophy, political science, the history of mentalities and material culture, as to art history, literary history and the history of language in the ‘classical age’ in the broadest sense (papers on the 17th century in relation to the Enlightenment are also welcome):

o The various forms of pleasure (sensual pleasures, pleasures of imagination, etc.)
and their hierarchy

o Ancient Epicureanism and modern materialisms

o Pleasure and the philosophy of the Enlightenment: the role of pleasure in debates
on the genealogy of ideas, the origin of language, anatomy and nerve fibers, the
properties of sensible matter, etc.

o Pleasure and the anthropology of the Enlightenment: the diversity of pleasures
and cultural differences (ancient civilizations, non-European worlds), etc.

o The pleasures of fiction: tragic pleasure as a paradoxical pleasure, the pleasures of
reading, etc.

o Aesthetic pleasure: pleasure as a criterion of aesthetic judgement, the role of taste,
the question of color in painting, pleasure in music theory, etc.

o The pedagogy of the smile: the place of pleasure in the educational relationship,
pleasure and learning, etc.

o The rhetoric and poetics of delectare (the demand for variety, short forms and
minor genres, satire, witticisms and wordplay, men and women of wit, the art of
conversation, epidictic speeches and ceremonial oratory, eloquence and the
festive rituals of the indigenous peoples of the New World, etc.)

o The pursuit of pleasure or comfort and the transformations in material culture: furniture, culinary recipes and the art of the table, architecture, decorative arts and
interior design (the boudoir), the history of publishing (illustrations and
engravings, page layout, formats), etc.

o The pleasure of being together: salons, cafés, social circles, parks and places to
walk, etc.

o The pleasure and sense of nature: a shared appreciation of nature’s spectacle, the
art of gardening, etc.

o Libertine behavior, free-thinking and self-care

o Forbidden pleasures and the pleasures of the forbidden: obscene literary and
artistic genres, sexual practices that are marginal or condemned by Christian
morality, etc.

o Gendered destinies of pleasure: female pleasures, male pleasures, etc.

o Pleasure and the culture of gallantry: the codification of romantic life, the art of
pleasing and its rules, fashion and high society, gallantry and libertinage, etc.

o Pleasure and moral discourse: natural morality and the ‘society of hearts’
(sympathy and a sense of shared identity with others), ethics of desire, modern
reinterpretations of ancient wisdom, etc.

Finally, pleasure is a subject of great contemporary interest, as demonstrated, among
other things, by the exhibition organized in 2026–2027 by the Musée de la Civilisation
(Québec) entitled Pleasures. A feel-good exhibition!

see https://mcq.org/en/discover/exhibitions/pleasures/.

We therefore also encourage proposals for papers that focus on the legacy of the Enlightenment in contemporary conceptions of pleasure.

THREE PLENARY LECTURES

The conference will have the honor of welcoming the following three plenary speakers:

o Jean-Louis Haquette, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne

o Marie-Christine Pioffet, Research Chair in Franco-Indigenous Relations in the
Americas, Glendon College, York University (Toronto)

o Lisa Shapiro, McGill University

o Caroline Warman, University of Oxford


FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL EVENTS

To illustrate the conference theme, four major cultural events are planned to coincide with
the conference:

1. Pleasures and Sociability on Screens in the Eighteenth Century, Manoir Boucher de
Niverville, Trois-Rivières (Quebec). Exhibition organized in collaboration with Culture
3R, the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and the Centre for the Study of French
Language and Literature (CNRS and Sorbonne Université).

2. A performance of Le Concert ridicule, a one-act comedy by Jean de Palaprat, first
staged in Paris in 1689 and revived by students in the rhetoric class at the Séminaire
de Québec in 1777. The performance will be preceded by a baroque music concert.

3. Literary culture and shared knowledge. The historic library of the Ursulines of Trois-
Rivières, Musée des Ursulines.

4. Guided tours offering an insight into 18th-century Trois-Rivières.


GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING A WORKSHOP PROPOSAL OR AN INDIVIDUAL
PAPER

If submitting a proposal for an individual paper, please include:

− Your name, your affiliated institution and your email address;
− A brief biographical and bibliographical note (100 to 150 words);
− The title of your paper and an abstract (100 to 150 words).

In the case of a workshop proposal, this must include:

− The topic and the names of the speakers (a workshop must have a minimum of
three participants);
− For each speaker, please provide:
o their name, their affiliated institution and their email address;
o a brief biographical and bibliographical note (100 to 150 words);
o the title of their presentation and an abstract (100 to 150 words).

Open calls for papers and workshops

In keeping with the tradition of the CSECS, workshops and papers on other topics relating
to the 18th century are also welcome.

Further details

Participants may present their papers in English or French. Lumen, the Society’s journal,
will publish a selection of essays based on the papers presented at this conference.
Finally, all participants must have paid their CSECS membership fees in order to attend
the conference.

DEADLINE

Proposals for workshops or individual papers must be submitted by 11 January 2027 at
the latest to scedhs2027@uqtr.ca

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Speakers who register before 15, June 2027 will benefit from a preferential registration
fee:

− Before 15 June: $250 for tenured lecturers;
o After 15 June: $300 for tenured academics;
− Before 15 June: $100 for students and independent researchers;
o After 15 June: $150 for students and independent researchers.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Marc André Bernier (UQTR), Syliane Malinowski-Charles (UQTR) and Charlène Deharbe
(UQTR).

For further information, please visit our website: tr2027.csecs.ca

Natural Histories. Genesis and Transformations of a Philosophical Method Lo Sguardo, no. 45 Edited by Matteo Marcheschi, Laura Nicolì and Paola Rumore

Submission deadline: May 30, 2027

The special issue explores the transformations of natural history from the early modern period to contemporary thought. The eighteenth century occupies a central place in the call, particularly through Buffon and the development of natural-historical and conjectural methods in the sciences of nature and humanity.

The full Call For Papers is available here: https://www.losguardo.net/en/cfp-natural-histories/

We are seeking contributions from any historical period for an edited volume on “Music, Sound, and Domestic Spaces.”

In this volume, we hope to explore music-making within the spatial and sonic context of the home. We aim to deepen our understanding of the domestic space by researching the musical and aural nature of these sites. We invite contributions that explore domestic music-making from any geographical region and time period. The vast range of domestic sites across these contexts offers a rich avenue for considering the spatial and sonic properties of homes, and how these contexts influence behavior, agency, creativity, and the private/public characteristics of at-home music-making. Furthermore, we are interested in contributions that position music and sound in dialogue with one another within the domestic space.

In this edited volume, we seek to better understand how the physical and aural properties of homes shape individuals’ musical experiences and activities therein by engaging an interdisciplinary array of scholars in discussion. Themes include but are not limited to:

• music and domestic soundscapes or acoustics,
• architecture, decor, and material culture (furniture, musical instruments, lighting, etc.),
• agency or access through sound/music (and correlations to gender, class, religion, etc.),
• intimacy, isolation, and/or community though domestic music,
• visual, musical, and literary representations of domestic spaces, and
• displacement or migration and domestic music/sounds. 

We aim to publish this volume through Indiana University Press. 

Please send chapter proposals (300–500 words) and a biography (150 words) to Emily Eubanks (emily.eubanks@uta.edu) by August 1, 2026.

Notification of acceptance will be given in November 2026. The language of the publication is English.  Provisional schedule: August 2026 – submission of chapter proposals  November 2026 – notification of acceptance and initial feedback

• Abstracts are subject to review by editors and accepted versions will be included in a full proposal to go to the editors and publishers in January 2027.

January 2027 –full proposal (with abstracts) submitted to Indiana University Press March 2027 – submission of chapter drafts (5,000 words including footnotes and works cited)

• After approval from the press, authors will be asked to provide a chapter draft in March 2027, with peer review process to follow and target publication in 2028.

Co-editors:  Emily Eubanks (University of Texas at Arlington) Sarah Koval (University of Mississippi)

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING A WORKSHOP PROPOSAL OR AN INDIVIDUAL PAPER

If submitting a proposal for an individual paper, please include:

− Your name, your affiliated institution and your email address;
− A brief biographical and bibliographical note (100 to 150 words);
− The title of your paper and an abstract (100 to 150 words).

In the case of a workshop proposal, this must include:

− The topic and the names of the speakers (a workshop must have a minimum of three participants);

For each speaker, please provide:

o their name, their affiliated institution and their email address;

o a brief biographical and bibliographical note (100 to 150 words);

o the title of their presentation and an abstract (100 to 150 words).

Open calls for papers and workshops

In keeping with the tradition of the CSECS, workshops and papers on other topics relating to the 18th century are also welcome.

Further details:

Participants may present their papers in English or French. Lumen, the Society’s journal, will publish a selection of essays based on the papers presented at this conference. Finally, all participants must have paid their CSECS membership fees in order to attend
the conference.

DEADLINE

Proposals for workshops or individual papers must be submitted by 11 January 2027 at the latest to scedhs2027@uqtr.ca

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Speakers who register before 15 June 2027 will benefit from a preferential registration fee:

Before 15 June: $250 for tenured lecturers;
After 15 June: $300 for tenured academics;

Before 15 June: $100 for students and independent researchers;
After 15 June: $150 for students and independent researchers.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Marc André Bernier (UQTR), Syliane Malinowski-Charles (UQTR) and Charlène Deharbe
(UQTR).

For further information, please visit our website:

tr2027.csecs.ca

José López de Sedano, Cerco y ruina de Numancia. Comedia nueva con música de Blas de Laserna (1776).Edición crítica e introducción de Ana Rueda y Moisés R. Castillo.  Anejo 9 de DIECIOCHO Hispanic Enlightenment(Primavera 2026). The University of Virginia. 223 pp.

Access it by visiting: https://dieciocho.org/issues.html

More information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20057255/science-and-society-age-revolutions-september-25-26-2025

 17–20 June 2025 — University of Stirling: “Scots and the Environment” Call for Papers CfP deadline: 15th November 2024

24-25 June 2025 — “Scots and the Environment” an online complement to the University of Stirling conference. Call for papers CfP deadline: 15th February 2025

“Eighteenth-Century Afterlives”

CfP due Jan. 21, 2025.

More information: Annual Workshop

https://voltaire.indiana.edu/workshop-cfp-c18-afterlives.pdf

Slavery and Early Modern Philosophy

June 16 – July 4, 2025

Information about the conference and the prizes that SEASECS sponsors can be found here. 

A number of graduate student travel stipends will be available. Submission details will be updated on our website.

Join ASECS President Paola Bertucci on Monday, November 25, 2-3pm ET, for informal office hours. Please join if you want to share ideas, suggestions, or concerns – or even just to say hi! Registration is required

Meet ASECS Treasurer Joseph Bartolomeo and incoming Treasurer Michael Lynn! Registration required.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqdOChpzgtE9UcMFDV0Ef5BQkGLgzm2-QH

San Antonio, Texas. Information here:

https://www.goethesociety.org/2024-conference-overview

Lost and Found in the Long Eighteenth Century

The South-Central Society for Eighteenth Century Studies and the James Smith Noel Collection invite you to present papers and organize conference panels on being lost and found in the long eighteenth century.  Whether one is lost at sea or lost in thought, finding one’s bearings can bring about new insights and inspirations.  Discovering the answers to the mysteries of existence has led to whole new understandings of the world around and within us — and whole new speculations about the unseen and unknown.  We look forward to hearing your guiding perspectives.

Please submit ideas for panels by October 1, 2024.  Notification of accepted panels will be November 1, 2024.  Paper proposals will be accepted until December 1, 2024.  Proposals should be 250-500 words and individual presentations should be 15-20 minutes in length.  Please submit proposals to SCSECS in care of martha.lawler@lsus.edu.

Panel proposals accepted so far include:

Lost (or Found) at Sea: Lessons from Maritime Trade, Leisure, and Exploration in the 18th century.  Panel Chair: Susan Spencer, University of Central Oklahoma (Emerita)

Found, Lost, and Found Again: Discovery, Rediscovery, and Recovery in All Aspects of the Long Eighteenth-Century Experience. Panel Chair:  Kevin L. Cope, Louisiana State University

Some untitled panel proposals consider travels to, from, and within unfamiliar lands and spaces and travel literature as related to Fanny Burney and Jane Austen.  A special panel on eighteenth-century music is being developed in memory of Dr. Gloria Eive, who passed away earlier this year.  Paper proposals have included an examination of the effects of losing one’s vanity and, perhaps therefore, one’s sense of self and finding a lost ancestor among a collection of family papers.

The conference will be held February 6-8, 2025 at the Hilton Shreveport Convention Center Hotel, 104 Market Street, Shreveport, LA.  Registration will be $149.  The conference rate for rooms at the Hilton will be $139 for rooms with 2 queen beds and $149 for rooms with one king bed.

Please note that there will be a tour of the James Smith Noel Collection at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, which is a private collection that contains over 3,000 items produced before 1850.  Conference attendees are encouraged to make use of the collection while they are here, perhaps by spending a day or two before or after the conference.  We look forward to seeing you.

Conflicts and Transitions in the Global Eighteenth Century, October 31 – November 2, 2024

Estimados socios,
Es un placer invitarles a la tercera sesión de Coloquios del Hispanismo 2024-25. En esta sesión, cuatro socios nos hablarán de sus libros recientes:
Álvaro Vargas Díaz de Toldeo, Cervantes y su entorno portugués (Madrid, Guillermo Escolar Editor, 2024).
Catherine M. Jaffe y Karen Stolley (eds.), The Black Legend of Spain and its Atlantic Empire in the Eighteenth Century. Constructing National Identities (Oxford University Studies in the
Enlightenment/Liverpool University Press, 2024).
Antonella Gallo (traducción y notas), La Rampa / Il piano inclinato de Carmen de
Burgos,‘Colombine’ (Florencia, ‘Le Lettere’, 2024).
Viernes, 26 de julio de 2024
18:00 horas (hora de Madrid)
Para determinar la hora donde se encuentra:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
Los Coloquios son gratis y abiertos al público. No es necesario ser socio de la AIH para asistir.
Favor de difundir la información en sus redes sociales.
Madeline Sutherland-Meier is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Coloquios del Hispanismo: Presentación de Libros
Time: Jul 26, 2024 11:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/4530146450?omn=93034544838
Meeting ID: 453 014 6450

The 2023 National Humanities Conference will include virtual programming on October 18 & 19 and an in-person conference in Indianapolis. The NHC is produced by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the National Humanities Alliance and hosted by Indiana Humanities.

Do you have questions about submitting a proposal for the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, April 4-6, 2024, in Toronto? Join the Program Committee in a virtual info session on Monday, June 19, 2023, 9am Pacific Time/noon Eastern Time. Registration required.

From 15-17 March, historians of art, architecture, science, and the environment will gather at the Hertziana alongside local chefs, activists, and artists. Together, we will consider acts of disposal, displacement, removal, and abeyance – in short, the getting rid of unwanted things — and the consequences these carry for the study of early modern material culture, from stale bread erasers to dyehouse effluents.

https://www.societastoriadellascienza.it/index.php/it/component/jevents/dettaglievento/192/-/wastework?Itemid=1