has great pleasure in inviting you to a

Book Launch

to mark the publication of

The Turn of the Soul:

Representations of Religious Conversion 

in Early Modern Art and Literature

Edited by
Lieke Stelling, Harald Hendrix, and Todd Richardson

Tuesday 21 February, 17.00

P.N. van Eyckhof 3

Drinks and snacks will be served

All welcome!

The religious upheavals of the early modern period and the fierce debate they unleashed about true devotion gave conversion an unprecedented urgency. With their richvariety of emotive, aesthetic and rhetoric means of expression, literature and the visual arts proved particularly well-adapted means to address, explore and represent the complex nature of conversion. At the same time, many artists and authors experimented with the notion that the expressive character of their work could cultivate a sensory experience for the viewer that enacted conversion. Indeed, focusing on conversion as one of early modern Europe’s most pressing religious issues, The Turn of the Soul demonstrates that conversion cannot be separated from the creative and spiritual ways in which it was given meaning.

Contributors include Mathilde Bernard, John R. Decker, Xander van Eck, Shulamit Furstenberg-Levi, Lise Gosseye, Chloë Houston, Philip Major, Walter Melion, Bart Ramakers, E. Natalie Rothman, Alison Searle, Lieke Stelling, Jayme Yeo and Federico Zuliani.

]]> http://emotionsandsenses.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/book-launch-the-turn-of-the-soul/feed/ 0 emotionsandsenses http://emotionsandsenses.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/moral-emotions-and-risk-politics-conference/ http://emotionsandsenses.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/moral-emotions-and-risk-politics-conference/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:05:44 +0000 emotionsandsenses http://emotionsandsenses.wordpress.com/?p=311 Continue reading →]]> Moral Emotions and Risk Politics

Emotions in History: Lost and Found

A lecture by Prof. dr. Ute Frevert
Director of the Center for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institut, Berlin

ACCESS, VU University Amsterdam, 22 March 2012, 16.00 hrs, room 12A-00

Please register here to attend.

Emotions are historically informed. Even though men and women may have always felt and shown emotions, those have differed in style, object, intensity, and valence. While certain emotions got lost in history, other ones rose to prominence, depending on political incentives, social challenges, and cultural choices. For instance, in European societies, honour and shame practices have fundamentally changed over the course of modernity, gradually losing their grip on people’s self-perceptions and attitudes. At the same time, compassion and empathy have become crucial components of the modern ‘emotional self’. Although they have motivated a plethora of humanitarian activities and institutions, they have also been hampered by severe obstacles and seen periods of dramatic decline.

Ute Frevert is one of the most outstanding European historians of our time. Famous for her research on gender and on honour and shame, winner in 1998 of the prestigious Leibniz Prize, and having taught at the universities of Berlin, Konstanz, Bielefeld and Yale, she is now Director of the Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.

If you wish to attend this lecture, please register by completing this form before 15 March 2012.

***

In het kader van het NWO VICI-onderzoeksprogramma “Moving the language user: affect and perspective in discourse processing” is bij het onderzoeksinstituut UiL OTS plaats voor

Twee Assistenten-In-Opleiding voor onderzoek naar de rol van gevoel in tekstbegrip op het gebied van de synchrone en diachrone FA Affectieve factoren in taalbegrip

startdatum 1-5-2012

In het VICI-programma onderzoeken we de relaties tussen taalbegrip en affect (gevoel, emotie), met inachtneming van het gegeven dat in talige communicatie doorgaans meerdere perspectieven een rol spelen (bijv lezer, auteur, personages). Met behulp van methoden uit de experimentele psycholinguïstiek en de cognitieve neurowetenschappen, stellen we in vier projecten belangrijke vragen over de relatie tussen affect en taalbegrip: (1) Hoe wordt, tijdens het lezen van een simpele zin, de woord-voor-woord opgebouwde talige representatie gekoppeld aan affect? (2) Hoe gaan lezers tijdens de verwerking van een zin of tekst om met het affectieve perspectief van de auteur? (3) Hoe wegen lezers tijdens het lezen van fictie hun eigen gevoel, en het waardesysteem eronder, t.o.v. dat van de personages in het zich ontvouwende verhaal? (4) Welke ingrediënten in persuasieve communicatie zorgen voor meer betrokkenheid, en hoe kunnen we de kennis daarover in de praktijk inzetten (bijv. voor het mobiliseren van empathie bij de ontvanger van de boodschap)? De twee AiOs zullen werkzaam zijn op het 3^e en 4^e project, in een team met 2 postdocs en de programmaleider (Jos van Berkum).

Het doel van de AiO-aanstelling is dat je een opleiding volgt tot wetenschappelijk onderzoeker die uitmondt in een dissertatie binnen een periode van 3,5 jaar (bij 1,0 FTE; 4 jaar bij 0,8 FTE). Als onderdeel van je opleiding word je in de gelegenheid gesteld onderwijs te volgen binnen de Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap.

Functie-eisen
Wij zoeken afgestudeerden in de communicatiekunde, taal- of literatuurwetenschap, sociale, affectieve of cognitieve neurowetenschappen, experimentele psychologie, of een vergelijkbare richting. Als je zeer binnenkort afstudeert kan je ook solliciteren.

Daarnaast zoeken we in kandidaten een voor het beoogde project goede mix van eigenschappen en vaardigheden, waaronder:

- passie voor het algemene thema, de relatie tussen taal en gevoel

- aantoonbare belangstelling voor taal en communicatie

- grote nieuwsgierigheid en creativiteit

- goede analytische vaardigheden

- wetenschappelijke integriteit

- de bereidheid om in een team intensief samen te werken

- goede ‘zelf-organisatorische’ vaardigheden (bijv. planning)

- goede communicatieve vaardigheden, in Nederlands en Engels, mondeling en schriftelijk

- Nederlands als moedertaal

Tot aanbeveling strekt:

- ervaring met experimenteel gedragswetenschappelijk of neurocognitief onderzoek

- programmeerervaring

Arbeidsvoorwaarden
Wij bieden een aanstelling als AiO voor de duur van 18 maanden per 1 mei 2012 met, na evaluatie, de mogelijkheid tot verlenging met nog eens 2 jaar (bij 1,0 FTE; aanstelling voor 80 of 90% behoort tot de mogelijkheden). Je salaris bedraagt bij voltijds aanstelling in het eerste jaar € 2.042,- bruto per maand en loopt op tot € 2.612,- bruto per maand in het vierde jaar (volgens de CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten).

Binnen de aanstelling kan je rekenen op goede secundaire arbeidsvoorwaarden. Verder word je in de gelegenheid gesteld om je binnen een stimulerende en innovatieve onderzoeksomgeving met veel internationale contacten wetenschappelijk breed te ontwikkelen. Je volgt colleges van experts uit binnen- en buitenland en er zijn uitstekende mogelijkheden voor congresbezoek. Tevens zijn er ruime experimentele en informatiseringsvoorzieningen. Je werkplek bevindt zich in het historische centrum van Utrecht.

Als AiO ben je niet alleen werkzaam in het onderzoeksinstituut UiL OTS, maar ook in het Departement Nederlandse Taal en Cultuur, een departement met een breed profiel: letterkunde (middeleeuws, vroegmodern, modern), taalkunde, en – de afdeling waarbinnen je specifiek werkzaam zult zijn – taalbeheersing/communicatiekunde. Binnen deze laatste afdeling zal je ook ervaring met onderwijs kunnen opdoen.

Inlichtingen
Heb je belangstelling? Dan kan je voor nadere inlichtingen contact opnemen met de programma-leider Prof. dr. Jos van Berkum via j.vanberkum at uu.nl. Diens oratie, direct relevant voor dit programma, kan worden ingezien via

http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Actueel/Agenda/Pages/20110930-32-61-71-553-oratie-van-berkum.aspx

Voor algemene informatie over de AiO-posities, en voor het opvragen van een volledige beschrijving van het VICI project, kan je contact opnemen met de AiO-coördinator dr. Maaike Schoorlemmer, telefoon (030) 253 6183, e-mail m.schoorlemmer at uu.nl. Je kunt ook onze websites bezoeken:

UiL OTS: http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/en/research/researchinstitutes/uilots

Dept Nederlands: http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Organisatie/departementen/departementnederlands

Solliciteren

Je sollicitatie o.v.v. het project waar je belangstelling naar uit gaat (project 3, 4, of allebei), voorzien van je motivatiebrief, een uitgebreid curriculum vitae, een officiële lijst van gevolgde cursussen en behaalde resultaten, een afstudeerwerkstuk/scriptie in digitale vorm, en de namen en emailadressen van twee referenten, kun je versturen via de vacaturesite van de Universiteit Utrecht. Vermeld in de documentsnaam van elke bijlage je naam.

Je sollicitatie moet uiterlijk 1 maart 2012 om 9:00 ‘s ochtends bij ons binnen zijn.

Sollicitatiegesprekken staan gepland op 19 en 20 maart.

Geen acquisitie naar aanleiding van deze advertentie.

Whereas often perceived as ‘natural’ due to their physiological component, emotions have, in recent years, increasingly been put in historical perspective. Focus is now also on their socio-cultural component. Historians emphasize that emotions, whether or not perceived as ‘legitimate’ within their specific historical contexts, are changeable and can be cultivated (e.g. feelings of shame), or repressed.

Within gender history, emotions have most often been addressed within the standard dichotomy of the ‘emotional’ woman versus the ‘rational man’, an ideological bifurcation that blended out also historical interest in ‘men’s’ emotions. Nonetheless, they are making a come-back in studies such as Die Präsenz der Gefühle. Männlichkeit und Emotion in der Moderne (eds. Borutta, Verheyen, 2010).

In this master class we follow this lead in examining the emotional component of the various gender constructions (including the potential suppression of emotions) as well as differing context in which emotions (and their – learned – corporality) could be felt, expressed, communicated or even fail to materialize.

Program (13.00-17.30)

13.00-13.30: coffee/tea + welcome

13.30-14.30:

Prof. Dr. Monique Scheer (Universität Tübingen), ‘The practice of feeling: emotions, the body, and gender’

14.30-15.45:

Tom Bervoets, ‘Joys and sorrows in the rectory. Clerical concubinage in the early modern Archbishopric of Mechelen’

Nina Lamal (KUL), ‘Writing with indignation? Franciscans on the Dutch revolt’

Lode Lauwaert (HIW, Leuven),  ‘Marquis de Sade and emotions. How to understand apathetic enjoyment?

15.45-16.15: Break

16.15-17.05:

Marleen Brock (KUL), ‘Students on a sentimental journey. The experience of nature around 1800’

Tine Van Osselaer (KUL): ‘Sensitive but sane. Male visionaries and their emotional display in interwar Belgium.’

17.05-17.30:  Drinks

Participation is free but we invite you to register by email at avg[dot]carhif[at]amazone.be. Final date of registration is Friday 24 February 2012. 

Friday 10 February 2012, 12.30-17.30 hrs
VU University Amsterdam, Aurorazaal

‘The business of understanding the transmission of affect, in terms of theory, science, and practice, has barely begun’
- Teresa Brennan, The Transmission of Affect (2004)

How and why do we sense and share the emotions of others? The question of how we are moved by the feelings of others has long remained largely unexplored in psychology, neurology, and language research. It is only recently that various disciplines have begun to unravel the mechanisms of empathy, emotional contagion, and the operations of affect in watching a film or reading a novel.

This interdisciplinary symposium brings together three scientists who explore the transmission of emotions from different disciplinary perspectives: neurology, social psychology and psycholinguistics. Their lectures will introduce current knowledge of the transmission of emotion in these three fields. The symposium seeks to encourage interdisciplinary exchange on this broad-ranging topic so fundamental to understanding human interaction.

The speakers:

Christian Keysers (neurology): The emphatic brain

Agneta Fischer (social psychology): The regulation of social relations through emotional mimicry

Jos van Berkum (psycholinguistics): So what about emotion in language?

Registration closed on 25 January 2012

This event is organized by the Amsterdam Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Emotion and Sensory Studies, sponsored by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the Faculty of Arts, VU University.

10 February 2012, VU University

This symposium at the Vrije Universiteit brings together three scholars from different disciplines, who will each give an accessible
introduction to the present state of knowledge about the transmission of emotions in their field.

Agneta Fischer, professor in Social
Psychology at the University of Amsterdam will speak on emotional contagion;

Christian Keysers, Professor for the Social
Brain at the medical faculty of the University Medical Center Groningen and the
Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience will speak on empathy and mirror neurons;

Jos van Berkum, professor in Discourse,
Cognition & Communication at Utrecht University will speak on language and emotion.

What do we know about the role of language in the  emotional effects that a book has on its reader? How does an audience get
‘infected’ with the emotions of a speaker? And what is the role of mirror  neurones in the transmission of emotions? With three lectures and ample room  for discussion, this symposium aims to stimulate (further) interaction between  different academic disciplines.

Organisation:

Kristine Steenbergh, Amsterdam Centre for  Cross-Disciplinary Study of the Emotions and the Senses, VU University Amsterdam. This interdisciplinary seminar is sponsored by the Faculty of Arts of VU University and an NWO VENI grant.

Registration closed on 25 January 2012.

The Amsterdam Centre for Cross-disciplinary Emotion and Sensory Studies (ACCESS) will officially present itself at the conference Cool, Calm and Collected: The Dutch and Their Emotions on Friday 4 November.

Cool, Calm and Collected
The Dutch and their Emotions in Pre-Modern Times

Koninklijke Bibliotheek Den Haag
4 November 2011Registration by way of an e-mail to: info@knhg.nl, or by telephone: +31 (0)70 3140363 

The conference ‘Cool, Calm and Collected’ aims to enhance the burgeoning History of Emotions in the Netherlands. Speakers at the conference will present their current research, integrating the study of emotional standards in advice literature with the study of actual emotional practices in ego documents, chronicles and archival sources. The fields covered will range from politics, philosophy and the urban feud to religion, the stage and the visual arts. The conference will not only be of interest to specialists in the history of emotions but also to the greater historical community.

Although the history of emotions was already suggested as an interesting topic by Lucien Febvre and Johan Huizinga it has been taken up seriously as a subject of historical study only fairly recently. Initially, historians limited themselves largely to the study of documents that prescribed emotional ideals and standards. Researchers are now going beyond such texts. They are currently identifying transformations in emotional ‘communities’ and ‘styles’ on the basis of letters, autobiographies and memoirs, as well as a variety of narrative, archival and visual sources. Historians are also emphasising performativity, i.e. what emotions actuallydo. At the institutional level, in Europe two important research centres have been started: in London the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions (Thomas Dixon, director); in Berlin the ‘Forschungsbereich Geschichte der Gefühle’ (Ute Frevert, director). This conference seeks to establish a more solid footing for the history of emotions in the Netherlands and join in with these international trends.

The speakers at the conference will discuss the emotional styles of the Modern Devouts and the cult of pugnacity in Late Medieval feuds. Focusing on the seventeenth century, they will reconsider the performativity accorded to the emotions in painting, the theater, and pietist religious movements. For the eighteenth century, speakers will analyse the Dutch ‘cult of sensibility’, the contemporary appreciation and navigation of the sentiments. The day will be closed with a lecture by Dorothee Sturkenboom. She is a pioneer in the study of emotions in the Netherlands and will relate the emotional history of the Dutch to contemporary and more recent views on their ‘national character’.

The conference’s keynote lecturer, the well-known British historian Thomas Dixon, will discuss the latest developments in the field.

The organisers: Wessel Krul, Herman Roodenburg, and Catrien Santing.

The conference will take place in the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) in The Hague.

The conference fee is € 30,- (€ 25,- for members of the KNHG and € 15,- for students and PhD students) and includes lunch. The conference fee should be transferred to account number 6934391 (IBAN: NL25 INGB 0006 9343 91, BIC: INGBNL2A) of Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap in The Hague.

Registration by way of an e-mail to: info@knhg.nl, or by telephone: +31 (0)70 3140363.

Programme

09.45 – 10.00 Welcome Catrien Santing (University of Groningen), chair
10.00 – 10.15 Introduction Herman Roodenburg (Meertens Institute – KNAW)
10.15 – 11.00 Keynote lecture Thomas Dixon (Queen Mary, University of London)History in British Tears: Some Reflections on the Anatomy of Modern Emotions

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee and tea

11.15 – 11.45 Mathilde van Dijk (University of Groningen) ‘Just some silly Beguine’: being pious and showing it in the Devotio Moderna
11.45 – 12.15 Matthijs Gerrits (Leiden University – Fryske Akademy) Anger and Feuding in the Late Medieval Northern Low Countries

12.15 – 13.30 Lunch

13.00 – 13.30 Annual Meeting Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap

13.30 – 14.00 Kristine Steenbergh (VU University) Vondel and the Role of Emotions in the Public Sphere
14.00 – 14.30 Eric Jan Sluijter (University of Amsterdam) The Changing Representation of the Passions in History Paintings by Rembrandt and his Amsterdam Colleagues
14.30 – 15.00 Fred van Lieburg (VU University) The Use of Emotions by the Hotter Sort of Protestant

15.00 – 15.15 Coffee and tea

15.15 – 15.45 Wessel Krul (University of Groningen) Phlegmatic Excitement. The Dutch and the Discovery of the Emotions in the 18th Century
15.45 – 16.15 Edwina Hagen (VU University) The Passionate Politics of Rutger Jan and Catharina Schimmelpenninck: Dialogue between the Head and the Heart
16.15 – 16.45 Dorothée Sturkenboom (independent scholar) The Dutch Temperament: An Enigma to be Explained…

16.45 – 17.30 Reflections by Dixon, Roodenburg and Santing, followed by Plenary Discussion

17.30 – 18.00 Drinks

Conférencière invitée : Monique Scheer (Research centre for ‘The History of Emotions’, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin)

Organisé par Tine Van Osselaer, Josephine Hoegaerts, Jan Bleyen (KULeuven)

VU Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, room 1G10

Lecture Monique Scheer

The Sacralization of Feeling

Religious Emotion as a Cultural Practice among German Methodists in the 19th Century

Monique Scheer is Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and the Center for the History of Emotions, Berlin.

In her lecture, Monique Scheer will explore an understanding of emotions as cultural practices using the example of Methodist worship among Germans in Württemberg (Germany) and the Ohio River valley (USA), for whom emotions were integral to their religious practice. An understanding of emotions as cultural practices is slowly evolving: If we conceive of feelings as learned and cultivated, then it becomes clear that they are to be viewed as a form of bodily as well as conceptual knowledge transmitted in specific cultural contexts. For the role of emotions in religion, this perspective means that we can take them seriously as an integral part of practice, not simply as its effect. Sources for this kind of analysis can and should be not only what people say they feel, but also what they do in order to feel a certain way.

The lecture starts at 16.00h. Lecture and discussion are followed by a reception around 17.15h.

Methodist camp meeting. Alexander Rider/Hugh Bridport, Kennedy & Lucas lithograph, ca. 1829 (Library of Congress Digital Collections)