Cultural transfers from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries: agents, vectors, networks
In all the diverse historiographical approaches to understandings of the Enlightenment, it is generally recognised that it was the result of exchanges, interactions and movements of people, goods and texts across national, linguistic and cultural frontiers. But these exchanges and interactions had much wider implications which have not been fully investigated.
Research on this contact has, however, remained patchy and uncoordinated. The purpose of this research network is to further our knowledge of it by bringing together those who work on different aspects of this interaction in order to pool their expertise and exchange information on the results of their research. This will be done on the one hand by organising workshops and meetings and and on the other by using electronic tools.
In addition to publishing collective works, we shall create a data base providing both information on the existing research and new data resulting from the detailed study of printed and manuscript sources (archives, corrrespondence, journals, translations...).
This network originated from a partnership of French and British researchers "cultural transfers from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries : agents, vectors, networks" under the direction of Anne Thomson (Paris 8), which is founded by the ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche) and the Network for ‘Anglo-French Intellectual Exchange, 1688-1789’ which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and jointly co-ordinated by Simon Burrows (Leeds), Marian Hobson (QMUL) and Sarah Hutton (Aberystwyth - chair). The partnership was formalised at the Workshop hosted by the British group in Leeds in December 2006, in fulfilment of their joint aim of is to promote collaboration between scholars working a variety of subject areas for exploration of Franco-British intellectual and cultural relations in the Enlightenment. It is envisaged that the scope of the network will be expanded to include scholars from other countries.
The first stage of the project concerns contacts in the long 18th Century between France and Britain, including study of the countries involved in this contact, essentially the Dutch Republic, Switzerland and parts of Germany. The aspects to be studied are:
- Means of communication and the circulation of people and texts
- Science, theology and materialism
- Political ideas and ideology.
