University of Minnesota
Theorizing Early Modern Studies
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Schedule for 2009 - 2010


Beyond the Eye

Fall Semester 2009

Thursday, September 17 – Opening Reception, 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235.

Thursday, October 1 – Reading Group: Martin Heidegger, "The Age of the World Picture." 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235.

Friday, October 9 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama (the English translation of Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, 1928), “Epistemo-Critical Prologue (pp. 27-56 in the Verso Osborne translation).” 12:15 – 2:00 PM, Nolte 335.  In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

Friday, October 9 – Lecture: "Trying Galileo," Thomas Mayer, History, Augustana College. 3:30 – 5:00 PM, Tate Physics 131. In conjunction with the University of Minnesota Center for Early Modern History and the University of Minnesota Program in the History of Science and Technology.

Thursday, October 22 – Lab Session: "Albrecht Dürer's Melancholy Mathematician," J.B. Shank, History, University of Minnesota. 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235. In conjunction with the Visualizing Evidence Research Partnership.

Thursday, November 5 – Work in Progress Session: “The Art of Listening: Audiences and the Proliferation of Meaning,” Nancy Luxon, Political Science, University of Minnesota. 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235.

Friday, November 13 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama (the English translation of Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, 1928). “Trauerspiel and Tragedy (pp. 57-158 in the Verso Osborne translation).” 12:15 – 2:00 PM, Nolte 335. In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

THANKSGIVING – November 26

Friday, December 11 – Work in Progress Session: “Les Noces Chinoises:  An Eighteenth-century French View of a Chinese Wedding Procession,” Ann Waltner, History, University of Minnesota. 12 – 1:30 PM, Heller 1210.

Friday, December 18 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama (the English translation of Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, 1928). “Allegory and Trauerspiel" (pp. 159-235 in the Verso Osborne translation).” 12:15 – 2:00 PM, Nolte 335. In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

Spring Semester 2010

Thursday, January 28 – Work in Progress Session: “Speaking Images: Picturing Native American Dance 1592/1894," Michael Gaudio, Art History, University of Minnesota. 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235.

Thursday, February 11 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, "Essays on Politics and Geschichtsphilosophie." 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 335. (Readings available at the TEMS website: 1. "Critique of Violence;" 2. "Capitalism as Religion;" 3. "On the Concept of History;" 4. "Theologico-Political Fragment;" 5. "Edward Fuchs, Collector & Historian.") In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

Thursday, February 18 –  Work in Progress Session: “Facing Blindness.” Bronwen Wilson, Art History, University of British Columbia. To download a Powerpoint file with the figures for Wilson's paper, go to http://bronwenwilson.com/ and click on "Facing Blindness." 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235. In conjunction with the Department of Art History and the Center for Early Modern History.

Friday, February 19 – Lecture: “Inscription and the Horizon in Melchior Lorck's View of Constantinople.” Bronwen Wilson, Art History, University of British Columbia. 12:00 – 1:30 p.m., Heller Hall 1210. In conjunction with the Department of Art History and the Center for Early Modern History.

Thursday, February 25 – Book Discussion, Orientalism in Louis XIV's France (Oxford, 2009). Nick Dew, History, McGill University, Montreal.
5:00 - 6:30 p.m., Nolte 235. In conjunction with the Program in the History of Science and Technology, the Center for Early Modern History, and the French History Lecture Series of the European Studies Consortium.

Friday, February 26 – Lecture: "The Pendulum in the Tropics: the Académie des Sciences and the globalization of science, c. 1670-c. 1740." Nick Dew, History, McGill University. 3:30 - 5:00 p.m., Tate Physics 131. In conjunction with the Program in the History of Science and Technology, the Center for Early Modern History, and the French History Lecture Series of the European Studies Consortium.

Thursday, March 11 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, "Essays on Language, Narrative, and Temporality." 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 335. (Readings available at the TEMS website: 1. "The Storyteller;" 2. "Language as Such and the Language of Man;" 3. "The Task of the Translator;" 4. "Unpacking My Library.") In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

SPRING BREAK – March 15-19

Thursday, March 25 – Lecture: “Rethinking 1633: Writing the Life of Galileo after the Trial,” Paula Findlen, History, Stanford University. Thursdays at 4 presentation at the Institute for Advanced Study. 4:00 – 5:30 PM, Nolte 125. Cosponsored by the Center for Early Modern History.

Friday, March 26 – Work in Progress Seminar: “Agostino Scilla, a Baroque Painter in Pursuit of Nature." Paula Findlen, History, Stanford University. 12:15 - 1:30 PM, 1210 Heller Hall. Cosponsored by the Center for Early Modern History.

Thursday, April 8 -- Work in Progress Session: “Skin and Skill: Surface Selves and the Art of Knowledge.” Juliette Cherbuliez, French and Italian, University of Minnesota. 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235.

Thursday, April 15 – Lecture: “Living With the Classical Canon,” Tom Conley, French, Harvard University. Thursdays at 4 presentation at the Institute for Advanced Study. 4:00 – 5:30 PM, Nolte 125.

Friday, April 16 – Work in Progress Session: “Il nous faudroit des topographes: Montaigne among his Cannibals,” Tom Conley, French, Harvard University. Time, Location TBA

Thursday, April 22 – Reading Group: Walter Benjamin, "Essays on Media and Aura." 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 335. (Readings available at the TEMS website: 1. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (version 1 and version 2);" 2. "Short History of Photography;" 3. "On Semblance;" 4. "On the Mimetic Faculty.") In conjunction with the Dialectics and Society Research Group.

Thursday, April 29 – 7th Annual Graduate Student Roundtable. 5:00 – 6:30 PM, Nolte 235. All three papers can be downloaded here as a single .pdf file.

Molly Leonard, Spanish and Portuguese. "Quantification in the Early Modern World: The Necessity of Numbers."
Justin Biel, History. "'A well-timed toleration in matters of religion': Colonial and anti-colonial secularisms in India, Ireland, and Britain, 1775-1835."
Pat Baehler, English. "John Bunyan and the Progress of Knowledge."

PAPERS WILL CIRCULATE IN ADVANCE. Readings for each session will be available as .pdf files on the TEMS website http://tems.umn.edu/, and in hard copy in Heller Hall 338 and Folwell Hall 255.