Re-inventing Early Modern Technologies

A one-day symposium

University of Michigan, 3222 Angell Hall, January 24, 2003

Conference Program

The Early Modern Colloquium at the University of Michigan invites you to the following conference, to be held in 3222 Angell Hall, January 24, 2003. The conference is free and open to the public.

9:30-10am | Opening Remarks: Sabiha Ahmad (English, U-M)

10-11am | Keynote Address: Pamela H. Smith (History, Pomona College)
"Towards a History of Vernacular Science: Early Modern Artisans, Material
Culture, and the Production of Knowledge"

11-12:30pm | Panel: Recipes and the Discourse of Practical Knowledge
Chair: Steven Mullaney (English, U-M)

Sandra Logan (English, MSU), "Vulgar Minds: Knowledge Production and the
Theory/Practice Split in Baconian Natural Philosophy"

Holly Dugan (English U-M), "'All Oiled With Ambergreece': Apothecaries,
Perfumers and Glovers in London, 1580-1630"

Enrique Garcia Santo-Tomas (RLL, U-M),"Drinking Well in Early Modern
Madrid, or the Laws of Chocolate"

12:30-2pm | Lunch

2-3:30pm | Panel: Technologies of Space and Measurement
Chair: Valerie Traub (English, U-M)

Gavin Hollis (English, U-M), "'I set a bourn how far': The Estate Map in
Antony and Cleopatra"

Henry S. Turner (English, UW-Madison), "The Inch and the Noun: Towards a
Semiotics of Mathematical Realism in The Magnificent Entertainment for
King James (1604) and Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (1610)"

Steven A. Walton (STS, Penn State), 'Better Living Through Mathematics':
Thinking About Thinking About Early Modern Artillery"

3:30-3:45pm Coffee Break

3:45-5:15pm | Panel: Technologies of Metals and Magic
Chair: Scotti Parrish (English, U-M)

Sabiha Ahmad (English, U-M), "Trials of Mettle in Frobisher's Voyages to
the Northwest Passage"

Orlando Bentancor (RLL, U-M), "The Life of Metals in Jose de Acosta's
Natural History"

Kristen Neuschel (History, Duke), "Weapons and the Decline of Magic"

5:15-5:30pm | Concluding Remarks

Conference organizer: Sabiha Ahmad. Conference Committee: Jennie Evenson, Marjorie Rubright, and Amanda Watson.

Sponsors: Horace H. Rackham Graduate School, Institute for the Humanities, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Center for European Studies, Early Modern Colloquium, Departments of English, History, German Language and Literature, and Science, Technology, and Society.

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