Romantic Making and Unmaking: BARS 2024 International Conference
The British Association for Romantic Studies 2024 International Conference
Romantic Making and Unmaking
In Person: University of Glasgow, Tuesday 23rd - Thursday 25th July 2024
Online: Thursday 1st - Friday 2nd August 2024
Plenary Speakers
John Gardner (Anglia Ruskin University)
Michelle Levy (Simon Fraser University)
Fiona Stafford (University of Oxford)
Textual Editing Plenary Roundtable: Elizabeth Edwards (University of Wales); Tim Fulford (De Montfort University); Craig Lamont (University of Glasgow); Alison Lumsden (University of Aberdeen)
Online Plenary: TBA
In Scots, the term ‘Makar’ means poet, but can also refer more widely to ‘[o]ne who fashions, constructs, produces, prepares, etc.’ (Dictionaries of the Scots Language). The British Association for Romantic Studies’ 2024 International Conference draws upon this plethora of meanings, inviting contributions that explore the cultural, social, political and artistic implications of making and unmaking.
The ways in which texts and artworks are constructed, framed, assembled and promoted preoccupied many Romantic-period creators, and Romanticism has long been at the forefront of editorial projects devoted to establishing, embedding or reimagining literary canons and canonicity. More broadly, in the wake of Enlightenment projects like the French Encyclopédie with its emphasis on craft, technical progress and artisanal knowledge, the industrial innovations of the Romantic period were fueled by a host of ‘makers’. These included artisans of scientific instruments, machines and processes, as well as the publishers, engravers, typesetters and printers who supported the burgeoning trade in books. The tension between mechanisation and artisanal skill was crucial in discussions of progress and protest, informing a tangle of discourses of improvement and decline that extend to the ecological thinking threaded through Romantic-period culture. We invite contributions on all these issues and on any work in Romantic studies that intersects with making and unmaking.
Topics that papers might address could include (but are not limited to):
● Processes of artistic creation (drafting, revision, collaboration, manufacture)
● Self-fashioning and the making and breaking of reputations
● Editing, anthologising and reviewing
● The negotiation of social value (including feuds, contentions and controversies)
● Craft practices, industrialisation and mass production
● Making and unmaking nations, regions and polities
● (Re)conceptualisations of canons, taste and aesthetics
● Making and unmaking genres
● ‘Maker's knowledge’ and Romantic science
● Constructions and despoilations of the natural world
● Modern processes of scholarly making (including editions and digital resources)
The conference invites both in person and online participation. The synchronous elements will consist of a three-day in-person event at the University of Glasgow, with a two-day digital event the following week. The in-person conference will not be streamed, but in-person participants will be encouraged to upload recordings of their papers, which will be made available in a digital archive accessible to both in-person and online participants for a limited time.
We invite two kinds of proposal: individual papers and full sessions. We are also happy to facilitate session calls.
Session Calls: To propose a potential session you would like to assemble, please email us directly with a description by Friday December 15th (using BARSConf2024@gmail.com). Specify whether your proposal is for an in-person or an online session. We will post accepted proposals on the conference website; potential participants can then get in touch with you directly so that you can submit full details ahead of the deadline using the session proposal form.
Individual Papers: To submit a proposal for a 20-minute paper, please fill in either the in person or online proposal form as appropriate. Both forms ask for a 250-word abstract, a biographical note of up to 100 words and contact details. The forms also have dedicated questions covering accessibility; food and accommodation for Glasgow; and time zones for the online days.
Glasgow paper proposals (in person): https://forms.gle/AWzhKxQtZHZh2jCJ9
Online paper proposals: https://forms.gle/aJQXR7wDmSkcnpKL8
Session Proposals: To submit a proposal for a full session, please fill in either the in person or online session proposal form as appropriate. The form asks for a session title, details of the theme, a description, and a list of the participants and their email addresses. We ask that each participant in a proposed session also submit an individual form using the appropriate link above - this is so we have their individual preferences and accessibility information.
Glasgow session proposals (in person): https://forms.gle/kVmqQjbhSM2yGwQm6
Online session proposals: https://forms.gle/FgnAZzoberGYqvcJ7
The deadline for submissions for full panels and individual papers is Friday 19th January 2024.
Enquiries may be directed to the conference email account: BARSConf2024@gmail.com. For information and updates, please visit https://bars.ac.uk/conference2024/. See also the BARS website and download the CFP.
