PROPOSALS
FOR PANELS: SSPHS 2008 CONFERENCE
The following proposals have been submitted for panels at the 39th
Annual SSPHS conference (Fort Worth, April 3-6, 2008). If you
would like to submit a paper proposal for one of these panels, please
contact the organizer directly.
PROPOSED PAPERS/PANELS
MEDIEVAL
-Maya Soifer, Postdoctoral teaching fellow, Stanford University,
"Communities of Negotiation"
Send abstracts for this panel to: Maya Soifer
Panel proposal: Conflicts between communities over territory,
privileges and other thorny issues were ubiquitous in medieval
Iberia. And so, it seems, were the attempts to hammer out
differences by engaging in prolonged and often contentious
negotiations. Whether they eventually landed in royal court, or
produced resolutions somewhere along the way, these negotiations could
shape social relations and affect distribution of power, often in
profound ways. This panel would explore the process of
negotiating agreements by various types of communities: monastic
houses, mendicant orders, urban consejos, and religious minorities, to
name a few. Among the questions to consider: How successful were
these negotiations? Did they relieve or exacerbate
tensions? Did they follow special protocols, or involve
distinctive methods and rituals? Did royal power take advantage of
these negotiations to curb local privileges? I invite proposals on all
geographic regions of pre-modern Iberia (colonial examples are also
welcome).
Abstract of paper (Maya Soifer): When it comes to analyses of social
and economic interactions between Jews and Christians in medieval
Iberian towns, rarely do scholars deviate from their focus on
individuals to include interfaith relations that were specific to the
level of a group or a community. The only type of inter-communal
relations to receive attention in scholarly literature is religious
violence directed at the Jews. And yet, inter-communal contacts,
especially negotiation of agreements (official and informal), intended
to anticipate or smooth over friction and conflicts, were an integral
part of the convivencia, with violence being only the most extreme
expression of unresolved or irresoluble tensions. These
negotiations were a source of constant preoccupation for both Jews and
Christians, especially in the latter part of the thirteenth century,
when disputes over taxation, judicial autonomy, and especially
moneylending increased in both frequency and intensity. The paper will
highlight several examples of such inter-communal negotiations in
Northern Castilian towns.
-Nancy F. Marino, Department of
Spanish
and Portuguese, Michigan State University. "The Death of Jorge
Manrique: History, Legend, and Ballad"
If you would like to propose a paper to complete a panel,
contact: Nancy F. Marino
Abstract of paper: The name "Jorge Manrique" brings to mind the
celebrated "coplas" that
he composed on the death of his father, Rodrigo. But not long after he
wrote this famous work, Jorge Manrique met his own death on the
battlefield in the Spring of 1479. He died defending the castle of
Garicmuñoz against the military forces of Diego López
Pacheco, II Marqués de Villena, who was in the final throes of
his resistance against the Catholic Monarchs. Contemporary chroniclers
such as Alonso Palencia recount the battle and Don Jorge's death,
offering some of the reactions to his demise. Nevertheless the people
of Garcimuñoz and neighboring towns kept the story alive well
into the sixteenth century, embellishing it with details not included
in the usual historical accounts. These include the punishment meted
out to Villena's men for having killed the illustrious Manrique: six
were chosen to be hanged. One of the condemned was a family man whose
single brother offered his own life in his place. The story is
recounted several times in the Relaciones topográficas de Felipe
II, compiled in 1583, and is the subject of a ballad apparently written
some time earlier.
-Philip J. Guilbeau, Ph.D. candidate,
history of art, University of Michigan, "Monastic Filiation in Spanish
Houses, 1100-1500"
The session would concentrate on the subject of monastic filiation --
understood in its fullest sense as the provision of both personnel and
capital by one house to another. Although my interest in these
"mother-daughter" establishments is chiefly art-historical, I would
welcome papers from a variety of disciplines.
If you are interested in contributing a 20-minute paper, please send a
200-word abstract and a one-page curriculum vitae to Philip J. Guilbeau.
-Moisés Orfali, Bar-Ilan
University, “Judíos y conversos en la predicación
española medieval.”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Moisés Orfali
El sermón, disfruta un lugar
doblemente importante en la cultura de los reinos hispánicos,
por su propia valía y trascendencia literarias y en tanto espejo
de la vida, el pensamiento y el sentimiento popular de la Edad Media
peninsular.
Julio Valdeón Baruque, reflexionando sobre la
cultura popular en la Edad Media presenta un panorama
esquemático de las formas de vivir la religiosidad en el que
acentua la natural tendencia del pueblo a la exageración y a la
caricaturización. No es de extrañar pues que los
predicadores y apologetas cristianos se refieran a los judíos al
abordar cuestiones doctrinales e icorporaran exempla para ilustrar y
amenizar los sermones. Estas referencias pertenecían a un
conjunto de ideas, o una forma de conciencia popular, en la que fueron
lugares comunes exagerados mitos y la caricaturización de un
pueblo acusado de no encuadrar en la sociedad cristiana y de poner en
peligro la pureza de sus creencias.
Al respecto hay que tener en cuenta que
además de los sermones ordinarios, hubo campañas u
ofensivas de predicaciones, o una actividad proselitista especial de
cara a los judíos y a los conversos por parte de determinados
eclesiásticos. Las predicaciones iban dirigidas sobre todo a
cristianos, aunque desde el siglo XIII se podia exigir coactivamente
que los judíos asistieran a ellas. Formaba parte, pues, de la
estrategia de la Iglesia el adiestramiento de buenos predicadores
eruditos y preparados teológicamente, para polemizar y
convencer, así como para fortificar la fe de los ya convertidos.
El concilio de Basilea de 1434 aún exhortaba a las autoridades
diocesanas a cumplir esta tarea. De modo que la predicación de
masas, así como las controversias, pueden valorarse como una
medida dentro del plan oficial de la Iglesia. Puede decirse que las
predicaciones formaban parte de una ofensiva intelectual y doctrinal.
Ahora bien, para cumplir sus propósitos eficazmente tuvieron que
adaptar su discurso y los recursos comunicativos al tipo de auditorio
al que los predicadores, normalmente frailes, se dirigían: las
masas populares urbanas.
En nuestra exposición se trataran algunos
sermones de san Vicente Ferrer, que es un professional de la
comunicación de masas, como lo eran Juan Huss, Bernardino de
Siena y Girolamo de Savonarola. Se prestara atención al valor
que tienen sus sermones como estrategias de persuasión y se
tratara de comprender mejor el porqué de la efectividad
vicentina destacando además del estilo, el aprovechamiento de
las citas bíblicas para introducir argumentos negativos contra
los judíos, la creación ficticia del diálogo entre
el auditorio y el predicador y el recurso al miedo.
Junto a la creación de un ambiente hostil
hacia lo judío se daba a veces en las predicaciones un tono
humano poco menos que extraordinario. Como ejemplo se recordará
al gran filosofo y escritor mallorquín Ramón Lull, cuya
obra el Libre del Gentil e los tres savis es un noble trestimonio del
deseo y esfuerzo intelectual cristiano por comprender el alma
judía.
EARLY MODERN/MODERN
-"Controlling Health: Medicine and
Society in Early Modern Spain" (One
more paper needed)
We invite a third contributor to explore notions of medicine and
health, broadly construed, in early modern Spain. In particular, the
panel will address the history of medicine (development, exchange or
application of medical ideas) within the socio-cultural history of
early modern Spain. Michele Clouse's paper will focus on changes in
medical training and education at the university and will explore
notions of power/authority/social responsibility as university faculty,
primarily physicians, and the crown negotiated control over medical
education as a public health concern in the late sixteenth century.
The paper by Kristy Wilson Bowers (Assistant Professor of History,
Northern Illinois University) reexamines the traditionally accepted
relationship between plague and poverty in sixteenth-century Sevilla
and explores the socio-medical significance of plague and poor relief
measures within the context of public health concerns.
Interested parties should contact Michele
Clouse (Assistant Professor of History, Ohio University)
-"Reclaiming Female Agency in Modern
Spain"
Send abstracts to Nichole
Prescott or Michelle
Swindell
This panel seeks papers that address women's creative circumvention of
the Institution in order to assert their own voice. These
institutions can include the legal system, the Church, politics,
academy, and the art and literary markets. We are
interested in either individual case studies or groups of women from
the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries who have formally or
informally challenged these or other traditionally male-dominated
establishments. Studies from all disciplines are welcome.
-Silvia Mitchell, Ph.D. student,
Department of History, University of Miami. “Testing the Limits
of Queenship: Etiquette and Ceremonial Politics during the Regency of
Mariana of Austria (1665-1676).”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Silvia Mitchell
Mariana of Austria (1635-1696) ruled for her son Charles II (r.
1665-1700), in what constituted the sole royal minority of Habsburg
Spain (1665-1676). This paper analyzes etiquette conflicts that emerged
during the regency. These conflicts help us understand Mariana’s
position in the political structure of the Spanish court, a position
that was clearly ambivalent in spite of her legal sovereignty. Although
the disputes seemingly resulted from lack of precedents for
accommodating a queen “tutor and governor” in royal etiquette and
ceremonial, they mask the dilemmas presented by the presence of a
“minor king and a reigning queen” (rey pupilo y reina reinante).
I argue, therefore, that because political rituals are forms of
cultural exchanges, the act of solving the rules of etiquette in this
particular situation can be interpreted as a a way of negotiating
political power. Political rituals are embedded in the broader context
of court culture, which, as José Martínez Millán
points out, also functions as a “process of articulation of power.”
Therefore in solving issues of etiquette, Mariana and her
contemporaries unwillingly (or perhaps willingly) debated how to
establish, define, and test the limits or boundaries of her power. The
paper is based on documents from the Archivo Histórico Nacional
and the Archivo General de Palacio.
-Marta Vicente, Assistant Professor,
Women’s Studies Program and History
Department, University of Kansas. “Sex as Imitation: Lessons on
Sexual Identity from the Age of the Enlightenment”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Marta Vicente
In explaining their sexuality, early modern Spaniards did not always
have a clear cut, universal definition, of what a woman and a man
were. Although most people saw sexuality as the product of
nature, lawyers, scholars, clergymen, and ordinary men and women
recognized other circumstances could shape a person’s sex. In
fact, early modern discussions of sex tended to center on two basic
concepts: nature, which allowed for divine intervention, and culture,
which comprises human activities ranging from the raising and education
of children, to activities of adult life. Family upbringing, education,
work, and lifestyle could make men effeminate and women masculine; in
rare cases, they might even alter nature, making men into women, and
women into men. This paper will examine how writers explored the
possibility that education within the family could shape an
individual’s sexuality. At the core of the learning process in the
family was imitation. In manuals and treatises intended to guide
parents in the upbringing of their children these writers discussed
whether the imitation of a mistaken behavior could alter an
individual’s innate traits—such as gender and sexuality.
-Jesús Cruz, Department of
History, University of Delaware. “Symbols of Modernity: The
Forgotten History of the Jardines de Recreo in 19th Century Spain.”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Jesús Cruz
Beginning in 1821 a number of commercial parks for public entertainment
known as Jardines de Recreo were opened in Madrid and Barcelona. These
Jardines were the Spanish equivalent of the English Pleasure Gardens
and the French Jardins de Loisir, both considered the forerunners of
the modern amusement park. The history of these commercial enterprises
is linked to the origins of modern consumerism, the commercialization
of leisure, and bourgeois sociability; it even involves the making of
national identities. The story of these early entertainment parks is a
significant and barely known aspect of the incorporation of Spain to
modernity. My paper will discuss the origins and evolution of these
Jardines de Recreo between 1821 and 1888.
TWENTIETH CENTURY
"Spain and Portugal in the Context
of the World Wars"
If you would like to join the panel, contact: David A. Messenger, Assistant
Professor of History, University of Wyoming
My paper examines Spanish Foreign Ministry interpretations of Spanish
neutrality in WWII during the years 1945-7 with reference to Spanish
responsibilities for German assets in Spain and Spanish claims against
Allied states for damage done in bombing to Spanish properties in
Germany. Any papers looking at Spain and/or Portugal in WWII or in the
immediate aftermath of the war with reference to foreign or economic
policy or
general papers about Iberian neutrality in WWI or WWII would work.
Jody Brotherston, Architecture,
Louisiana Tech University. “Arthur Byne: Architect, Author,
or Entrepreneur in Spain?”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Jody Brotherston
Arthur Byne (1884-1935), an American architect, author, and art
collector, moved to Spain in 1914, where he studied Spanish
architecture and design ultimately publishing 12 co-authored books with
his wife on Spanish architecture, interiors, furniture, and design and
numerous articles in scholarly journals. In 1931, Byne purchased
a mansion in Madrid which he renovated and furnished for both his home
and salon for showing antiques and artifacts to wealthy American
collectors. During the early years of 1900, Byne supplied vast
amounts of Spanish antique furnishings and architectural artifacts
including complete buildings to American collectors, with the greatest
amount of shipments going to Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst’s
construction of San Simeon in California.
Byne’s literary contributions of unique Spanish design published in the
early 1900s are excellent historical resources; however they are all
out of print and considered collectors’ items. Very few
university libraries have copies for circulation. This
presentation will illustrate examples from several of his books, and
examine specific art forms from Spain that are unique in the
world. The question remains: was Arthur Byne an author or
entrepreneur?
Patrick Zimmerman, Ph.D. student,
Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University. “The Conceyu
Bable, Asturian Regionalism, and Language Politics during the Spanish
Transition, 1974-1985.”
If you would to propose a paper to complete a panel contact: Patrick Zimmerman
This paper will discuss the role played by the Asturian regionalist
group, the Conceyu Bable, a political, cultural, and linguistic
association around which regionalism coalesced during the
Transition. It promoted increased political and economic autonomy
for Asturias, particularly focusing on the re-establishment of the
Asturian language as a key to forging a regional identity.
Asturian regionalists firmly believed that minority language use was an
inherently political act and that the expression of cultural uniqueness
was inseparable from the politics of autonomy and the construction of a
new, decentralized Spain. However, the Conceyu Bable was fraught
with internal divisions and was unable to gain significant access to
the mass media. While the regionalist movement led by the Conceyu
Bable fragmented, it did achieve some important gains. It
successfully campaigned for an Autonomy Statute in 1981 that included
the “protection” of the Asturian language, although it did not gain
official status. It also played a major role in pressuring the
local government to establish an Academy of the Asturian language and
to teach Asturian in the region’s schools. While other regions
developed nationalist movements that achieved concrete political gains,
Asturias is especially interesting because of its failure to do
so.
The deadline for organizers to submit their complete panels to Jodi
Campbell (with a 200-word abstract for each paper; a one-page
curriculum vitae for each participant, including chairs and
commentators; contact information for each participant, including
e-mail, snail-mail address,
and phone number; and any requests for audio/visual equipment
or other special requirements) is DECEMBER
14.
Revised Dec. 10, 2007