Davis Center Seminar
Revolutionary Change
The Shelby Cullom Davis Center Seminars present weekly programming on a variety of topics related to the Center's current theme. Visiting Fellows from academic institutions near and far help to create a rich understanding of the topic from diverse yet overlapping perspectives. The theme for the academic years 2020-21 and 2021-22 is “Revolutionary Change.”
This spring, because of the pandemic, seminars meet online via Zoom from 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (USA), and are open to all Princeton University affiliates. The papers are pre-circulated and can be accessed beginning one week before the date of the seminar. The seminar starts with a brief comment by an invited commentator, and a response from the author, after which the floor is open for questions from attendees. You may access the papers here (Princeton University credentials required).
The seminar is held on Zoom. To join the session you will need the password provided in the paper itself.
February 5
Paul Friedland, Cornell University
“Space, Time, Narrative, Language: Conceptualizing the Colonial-Metropolitan Relationship in the Revolutionary French Atlantic”
Commentator: Laurent Dubois, Duke University
February 12
Larry Principe, Johns Hopkins University
“Weighty Matters: The ‘Chemical Revolution’ of Lavoisier and its Medieval Origins
Commentator: Didier Kahn, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
February 19
Cristina Soriano, Davis Center Fellow and Villanova University
“Disrupted Colony: The Impact of the French Revolution on Spanish Trinidad"
Commentator: Ernesto Bassi, Cornell University
February 26
Sophie Ambler, University of Lancaster
“The Ending of the First English Revolution: The Battle of Evesham (1265) and Its Aftermath”
Commentator: Robert Stacey, University of Washington
February 26, 27, & 28
Inqilab: Revolution, Rebellion, and Realignments in Eighteenth-Century South Asia
Organizer: Divya Cherian
March 5
No Seminar this Week.
March 12
Polly Ha, University of East Anglia
“Coping with Change: Novelty and Innovation in the English Revolution”
Commentator: Nigel Smith, Princeton University
March 19
History of Science Workshop
“ATTENTION: History, Philosophy, Science”
Hosted by Graham Burnett, Princeton University and Justin E.H. Smith, University of Paris
March 26
Anjali Arondekar, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Making a Scene: Sexuality’s Historiography”
Commentator: Regina Kunzel, Princeton University
April 2
Zara Anishanslin, Davis Center Fellow and University of Delaware
“London Patriots: Transatlantic Politics, Material Culture, and the American Revolution, 1769-1793."
Commentator: Sarah Knott, Indiana University
April 9
Boris Kolonitskii, European University at Saint-Petersburg
“Palaces and Traitors. Conspiracy Theories in Russia at 1917”
Commentator: Faith Hillis, University of Chicago
April 16
Holly Case, Brown University
“Revolution from Above: World War II Aerial Bombing from Paranoia to Metanoia”
Commentator: Dagmar Herzog, City University of New York
April 23
Dan Edelstein, Stanford University
"Enlightenment Revolutions"
Commentator: Sophia Rosenfeld, University of Pennsylvania
April 30
Joan Scott, Institute for Advanced Study
“Sexual Revolution and Political Revolution: Charles Fourier’s Nouveau monde amoureux”
Commentator: Judith Surkis, Rutgers University
Image credit: French Revolutionary Poster, 1794: "Unity and Indivisibility of the Republic. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death."