"Making Knowledge" Medieval and Early Modern Grad Conference at University of North Carolina. Abstract Deadline December 1, 2014.
“Making Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Literary Culture” The literature and culture of the late medieval and early modern periods were profoundly affected by the expansion of new artisanal and scientific technologies—innovations and ideas that would lead to the production and consumption of new forms of knowledge. In both periods, knowledge was conceptualized across a range of intersecting disciplines, including natural philosophy, astrology, mathematics, medicine, art, mechanics, and cartography, among others. Literature embraced, criticized, or participated in these fields in diverse ways, often examining how these new forms or categories of knowledge influenced the locus and ontology of the individual and social self. Collectively, we will investigate the ways in which medieval and early modern literature engages with scientific, technological and textual processes of making and disseminating knowledge. In addition, we are interested in discussing the...