Centre for the Study of Global Empires Launch Symposium - After Networks: New Approaches to British Imperial History, c.1750-1970

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Centre for the Study of Global Empires Launch Symposium - After Networks: New Approaches to British Imperial History, c.1750-1970
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This is a past event

After Networks: New Approaches to British Imperial History, c.1750-1970

A one and a half day Symposium to launch the Centre for the Study of Global Empires hosted by the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy

After Networks: New Approaches to British Imperial History, c.1750-1970

 A 1 ½ day Symposium to launch the Centre for the Study of Global Empires hosted by the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy 

Co-hosted by the Centre for Global Governance and Security, the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and the Research Post-Graduate Project on ‘The Ideas, Practices, and Effects of Global Empires’.

Humanity Manse and 52 College Bounds, University of Aberdeen, Friday 19-Saturday 20 April, 2013

The event begins at 1:00pm on the Friday and ends 3:30pm on the Saturday

Speakers include: Dr John Darwin (University of Oxford), Prof. Marjory Harper (University of Aberdeen), Prof. Hilary Carey (University of Newcastle), and Prof. Stephen Constantine (University of Lancaster).

External Attendees will be required to pay a small registration fee to cover costs. To register go to: http://tinyurl.com/bygxnd7

All Enquiries should be directed to: a.dilley@abdn.ac.uk or glen.a.wilson@abdn.ac.uk

 

 

Intellectual Rationale:

 

In recent years, the study of the British empire has increasingly been driven by a focus on networks. Scholars have devoted considerable attention to reconstructing and conceptualising the various ‘imperial networks’, circuits, and circulations of people, ideas, and (to a lesser extent) resources that permeated the empire. The network turn has coincided with broader anti-structuralist trends and a resultant diffusion of network theory, transnational approaches, and attention to the study of globalisation across the humanities and social sciences. The turn has generated many fruits, highlighting the complex interconnections throughout the empire (and among colonies as well as between colony and metropole). Yet while the necessity of the network concept is well established, doubts are surfacing as to its sufficiency as a mode of analysis:

 

  •  How and why do networks form and evolve?  
  • Are some places more densely connected than others and if so why?
  • How do networks interact with institutions?
  • Should an attention to connectivity be tempered through a consideration of disconnection and dislocation?

 

 The symposium aims to facilitate more nuanced and contextualised understandings of the value and limitations of networked approaches. It will do so by bringing togetherspeakers to offer papers (and ample time allocated for discussion) reflecting on networked approaches to the history of global empire, drawing perspectives from their own research. 

Speaker
Various, including Dr John Darwin (University of Oxford), Prof. Marjory Harper (University of Aberdeen), Prof. Hilary Carey (University of Newcastle), and Prof. Stephen Constantine (University of Lancaster).
Hosted by
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
Venue
Humanity Manse and 50/52 College Bounds, University of Aberdeen