Syracuse University will host the annual meeting of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (NEASECS) Sept. 25-27. This year’s conference is devoted to “Commemoration, Memory, and Posterity” and includes a rich array of panel discussions, paper presentation and exhibitions on the subject.
The keynote speakers are Michael Burden and Andrew Curran, professors at the University of Oxford (U.K.) and Wesleyan University, respectively.
NEASECS is a regional interdisciplinary association for the study of 18th-century history, literature, arts and culture.
Michael Burden
“This theme might be approached from at least three directions: that of 18th-century scholarship, that of larger socio-cultural institutionalizations of the period and that of 18th-century writers and thinkers concerned with the practices of commemoration and memory,” writes Professor Erin Mackie, chair of both Syracuse’s English department and the conference’s program committee.
Chair of Syracuse’s organizing committee, Amy Wyngaard is excited about Burden’s and Curran’s involvement, adding that they are at the forefront of 18th-century studies scholarship.
Burden is professor of opera studies at Oxford, where he also serves as dean of and a music fellow in the New College. Much of his research involves the history of the London stage (c. 1660-1860), with emphasis on staging techniques, processes in opera and dance performances.
At Wesleyan, Curran is professor of French, dean of arts and humanities, and director of curricular initiatives. His research covers 18th-century life sciences and medicine, with particular interest in human monstrosity and the science of French empire. Also an expert on French philosopher Denis Diderot, he is a fellow in the history of medicine at the New York Academy of Medicine.
“This conference will bring together more than a hundred scholars from throughout the United States and abroad who will present research on 18th-century literature, art, music, history and philosophy,” says Wyngaard, a faculty member of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics (LLL). “We hope students, faculty, and staff will join us for the academic sessions on Friday and Saturday [Sept. 26-27].”
Andrew Curran
The conference is co-sponsored by the offices of the Chancellor and Provost, the School of Architecture, the College of Arts and Sciences (departments of Art and Music Histories, English, LLL, and Religion; the Syracuse University Humanities Center; and the Central New York Humanities Corridor), the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (departments of Anthropology and History and the Moynihan European Research Centers), Syracuse University Libraries, and Syracuse University Press.
For more information, contact Wyngaard, professor of French and Francophone Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, at aswyngaa@syr.edu, or visit neasecs2014.syr.edu.
