CFP: 'The Modern Invention of Dynasty: A Global Intellectual History, 1500–2000', September 2017

MILINDA BANERJEE Discussion

Call for Papers: The Modern Invention of Dynasty: A Global Intellectual History, 1500–2000

21–23 September 2017; Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures (Sponsor)

Organisers: Ilya Afanasyev (BRIHC) and Milinda Banerjee (Presidency University, Kolkata)

 

What is dynasty? Historians rarely ask this question. The term is taken for granted to such an extent that although there are hundreds of publications with ‘dynasty’ or ‘dynastic’ in their titles, which offer histories of dynasties from around the world, almost none of them provide any conceptually rigorous definition of ‘dynasty’. It is automatically assumed that the word corresponds to some really existing institution(s) that played an extremely important role in pre-modern politics. At this conference, we intend to overturn this uncritical assumption, and, instead, interrogate ‘dynasty’ as a modern conceptual construct, which has been projected onto both the past and the present. The conference invites paper proposals from prospective speakers who bring specific case studies from around the world (focusing on the period of ca. 1500-2000) into dialogue with these broader theoretical questions. In line with recent discussions about global intellectual history, we welcome papers that explore issues of multi-scalarity, bringing regional scales of transformation into conversation with translocal shifts in regimes of power. We are especially looking for papers that use intellectual history as a vantage point to tackle broader questions of material and ideological power and see transformations in concepts as not just rarefied academic shifts, but as the result of changes in political economies (including relating to colonialism), arrangements in gender relations, religious and cultural formations, and in the (often, revolutionary) reorganization of political/state power. The conference seeks to understand how the globalized construction of the concept of ‘dynasty’ was ultimately a matter of importance not just for scholars, or even for ruling elites, but for wider publics as well, including for various subaltern actors and groups: issues of class, gender, or race which structured conceptual formations lie at the heart of our investigation.

  • Keynote lectures at the conference will be delivered by Julia Adams (Yale), Pamela Crossley (Dartmouth College), Faisal Devji (Oxford), and Richard Wortman (Columbia).
  • Prospective speakers are invited to submit abstracts of approximately 300 words. Submissions should include name, affiliation, and contact details. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 30 January 2017. For more information about the conference, or to submit an abstract, please email the organising committee at I.Afanasyev@bham.ac.uk and milindabanerjee1@gmail.com.