The symposium aims to facilitate more nuanced and contextualised understandings of the value and limitations of networked approaches to British Imperial history, 1750-1970.
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 –
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 Durham), 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.