[Englecturers] Fwd: Early Cultures CFP

[John Ganim]

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>>The Group for the Study of Early Cultures
>>at the University of California, Irvine
>>announces its
>>First Annual Graduate Student Conference
>>
>>FRIENDS, FELLOWS, AND FORMS OF FREEDOM:
>>PREMODERN CIVIL SOCIETIES
>>
>>Friday, November 21st, 2008, at UC Irvine
>>Abstract Deadline: September 1st, 2008
>>
>>"Civil society" refers to the system of voluntary civic and social 
>>networks that stand against the formality and force-backed 
>>structure of the state. It includes such institutions and 
>>formations as the press, guilds and unions, religious communities, 
>>friendships, the theatre, schools and universities, and many other 
>>groups whose members share interests and activities. In the 
>>seventeenth century, the phrase "civil society" was still 
>>synonymous with political life as such; by the end of the 
>>eighteenth century, the phrase had come to designate all those 
>>forms of social life that are not the state. To pursue the shapes 
>>and origins of civil society before modernity, then, is to attend 
>>to the process by which "politics" and "society" separated from 
>>each other as distinct spheres of human association and to imagine 
>>different forms their relationship to each other might take.
>>
>>This conference will attempt to discover the outlines, origins, or 
>>equivalents of "civil society" in the ancient, medieval, and 
>>Renaissance periods, in Europe and globally. Were earlier 
>>civilizations freer to imagine more egalitarian and less restricted 
>>social relationships in the absence of a codified civil/political 
>>distinction? At any particular moment, is civil society 
>>characterized more by unity or by diversity? Order or freedom? 
>>Hierarchy or equality? What effects did civil society have on 
>>literature and art, or vice versa, and what genres (the letter, the 
>>essay, the proverb, the comedy, the symposium, and the dialogue, as 
>>well as guides to comportment and "civil conversation") were 
>>specific to it? What role did religion play in establishing 
>>networks of social relationship? What historical events and 
>>pressures led to the separation of civil society from the state? 
>>What role did the incorporated structure of the medieval city play 
>>in establishing the localized economic basis of modern citizenship, 
>>and how did the forms of "civil" citizenship interact or compete 
>>with "political" citizenship? How did forms of education dictate 
>>membership, participation, and modes of communication in civil 
>>societies, and in what ways were these forms continuous or not 
>>through periods of social, political, and religious change? How did 
>>the institutions and iconographies of gender, marriage, friendship, 
>>family, hospitality, gift-giving, love, labor, race, class, and 
>>nationality help establish pre-modern civil societies or their equivalents?
>>
>>CALL FOR PAPERS:
>>We invite all interested graduate students from any university in 
>>any discipline to submit a one-page abstract on any topic dealing 
>>with premodern civil societies. Please send abstracts as word 
>>documents attached to e-mails to BOTH conference organizers, Jacob 
>>McDonie (<mailto:rmcdonie at uci.edu>rmcdonie at uci.edu) and Jesse 
>>Weiner (<mailto:weinerj at uci.edu>weinerj at uci.edu), by September 1st, 
>>2008. We will notify all applicants of our decisions by September 
>>21st, 2008. We will try to provide out-of-town participants with 
>>housing with UCI graduate students. Please direct all inquiries to 
>>the conference organizers.
>>
>>
>>--
>>R. Jacob McDonie
>>Department of English
>>University of California, Irvine
>>
>>Magnarum rerum, ut ait quidam, etiam ipse conatus magnus est.
>>--Aelred of Rievaulx
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