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Oceanic Roots of Atlantic Revolutions (ca.1760 - 1850)

What did the revolutions that surged through the Atlantic world from circa 1760 to 1850 have in common? Scholarship on the revolutionary era over the past two decades has dramatically enriched our knowledge of its geographic extent and ideological range. Yet this long-overdue widening of the revolutionary picture has also exacerbated longstanding and fundamental problems in our understanding of the era. Why did revolution become generalized in the Atlantic world during this period? How can we account not only for what these revolutions had in common, but for the ways in which they were diverse or even dissimilar? What, if anything, still makes this period analytically coherent?

This seminar is the opening event of a two-year project, funded jointly by Paris Sciences et Lettres – IRIS Études globales and the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, with additional support from the Institut d’études avancées de Paris. The program will include a second international conference scheduled to take place in 2019 in Los Angeles.

Format

The seminar will meet for five days, June 4-8 (Monday-Friday), following the same general format each day. Mornings will be devoted to synthetic presentations by senior scholars and to discussions of recent scholarship. In the afternoon, doctoral and post-doctoral scholars will give short presentations of a work in progress, each of which will be discussed by a senior scholar and opened to a general discussion. Seminar members are expected to attend all sessions. All presentations will be in English, but the discussion may be conducted in any of the four principal languages of the seminar (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese).
We seek applications from advanced doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers whose research focuses on one of the above topics: republicanism, sociability, visual and material culture. We encourage applications from researchers based in any discipline, including but not limited to history, art history, area or regional studies, literature, politics or political theory, and historical anthropology.

Financial support and practical considerations

The seminar will offer up to 15 scholarships for graduate and postdoctoral students who wish to participate. These scholarships will cover the costs of the participant’s housing in Paris during the week of the seminar, as well as some meals. There are no tuition or other fees associated with participation.
In general, participants will be responsible for transportation costs to and from Paris. We are glad to provide a letter of invitation for those who need one in order to secure funds from a home institution. However, the seminar will contribute to the travel costs of doctoral and postdoctoral students who are not able to secure home institution funding for their travel. Participants who wish to be considered for such assistance should attach (in addition to the other application materials) a brief explanation of funding secured, a travel budget, and the total amount requested from the seminar. The seminar cannot guarantee full funding of these requests, but every effort will be made to provide the necessary assistance.

Application and evaluation process

Candidates should send their dossier via email by noon CET on April 10, 2018 to Nathan Perl-Rosenthal and Clément Thibaud at oceanicrootsproject@gmail.com.
 
The application should be in the form of a single pdf including the following:

1. A cover letter describing a) the candidate’s overall research interests, b) the specific work in progress being submitted, and c) the relationship of both (a) and (b) to one or more of the conference themes
2. A short CV (three pages maximum), indicating language skills and any publications
3. The current text of a work in progress of roughly 20-35 pages (thesis chapter, article draft, etc.), in one of the seminar’s four languages, which will form the basis for their contribution to the seminar. This need not be a final version.
4. If requesting travel funding ONLY: a brief summary of funding secured, a travel budget, and total amount requested from the seminar

In addition to these materials, applicants must request that a letter of recommendation from an advisor or senior colleague be sent to oceanicrootsproject@gmail.com, also by April 10, 2018.
 
Candidates will be selected based on the quality of the work they submit and its suitability to the themes of the summer seminar. Notifications to all candidates will be sent by April 25, 2018, at which time candidates requesting financial aid will also be informed of the financial aid that they can expect. Successful candidates will then be expected to submit a final text of the work in progress for discussion at the seminar by May 15, 2018.