I know that I should not but, for an immensely funny book review, go to the Institute of Historical Research’s website and seek out the review by Danuta Shanzer on Valerie Allen’s book, On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages.
http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/shanzerd.html
Ian MacInnes lives in Albion, Michigan, U.S.A. and has a blog entitled Sabbatical Snippets. The contents of his post below will come as a considerable surprise to all those Marxists who have sought the origins of capitalism in the early modern period.
The early modern critique of capitalism
I’ve been reading Hawkes’ Idols of the Marketplace, and he’s making a lot of things very clear. His introduction does a great job of exploring the driving forces behind the so-called “new economic criticism,” of explaining why Marxist economic critics have ignored the early modern period, and of articulating the reasons why we need to pay attention to the early modern critique of emergent capitalism:
The cumulative effect of Saussurean linguistics, Foucauldian historiography, and Derridean philosophy has been to launch a massive, sustained, and largely successful assault on teleology, logocentrism, and totalization. What the postmodern era conspicuously lacks, however, is any ethical criteria for evaluating either the decline of such modes of thought or the emergence of autonomous, fetishized representation as their heir.
This is why it is salutary to consider the alarm, fury, and righteous indignation with which the people of the early modern era viewed the germinal stages of these phenomena. (22)
At the same time, I happened to be reviewing a proposal for an Honors course on capitalism (Jim McCarley is returning part time from retirement to do it). Since I’ve been wading around in various early modern evidence of emergent capitalism, I was puzzled to see that he locates the beginning of capitalism in 18th century Scotland. Hawkes helps me understand the issues involved, and since I know Jim is interested in critiques of capitalism, I’m eager to see what he thinks of Hawkes’ claims.
Of course, I’m also thinking about how concepts of risk fit into this broad history. I’d very much like to think it’s more complex than I have so far argued. I’ll save that discussion for later.
Hawkes, David. Idols of the Marketplace: Idolatry and Commodity Fetishism in English Literature, 1580-1680. 1st ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.
I have been looking for photographs of A.D.Lublinskaya, the student of seventeenth-century France, on the internet. This is the only one I have found so far but I am doubtful whether it is her. If anyone knows where an authentic photograph may be found, please let me know.
England in the Age of the Black Death
Conference Programme (provisional)
Saturday 8 August, 2009
2.00-3.30: TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Richard Britnell, “The bishop of Durham’s revenues from coal mining, 1400-1500″
3.30-4.00 COFFEE
4.00-5.30: MARKETS AND FAIRS
Introduction and then discussion of two pre-circulated papers:
James Davies, “Selling food and drink in the aftermath of the Black Death”
John Lee: “Fairs in late medieval England”
6.00-7.30 Evening meal: those attending the conference can make their own arrangement to obtain their Saturday evening meal in a local pub or restaurant.
7.30-9.00: AGRICULTURE
Bruce Campbell, “Crop yields on English demesnes after the Black Death”
Sunday 9 August
BREAKFAST
10-11.30: AGRICULTURE:
Introduction and then discussion of two pre-circulated papers:
Phillipp Schofield, “The Arundell estates in fifteenth-century Cornwall”.
Martin Stephenson, “Risk and capital formation on the great estates”.
11.30-12.00: COFFEE
12.00-1.00: MANORIAL SOURCES
Erin McGibbon Smith, “Reflections of reality in the manor court: Sutton in the Isle, 1308-91″.
1.00-2.00 LUNCH
2.00-4.00: THE BRENNER DEBATE
Robert Brenner, “The Brenner debate, thirty years on”.
4.00-5.30: ECONOMIC RESPONSES TO THE BLACK DEATH
David Stone: “The Black Death and its aftermath: Hinderclay, 1348-64″.
6.00: Offical Conference Dinner at Corpus Christ College.
Monday 10 August
10.00-12.00: DEMOGRAPHY
Introduction and discussion of three pre-circulated papers:
Ole Benedictow, “New perspectives in medieval demography”
Maryanne Kowaleski, “The demography of coastal communities in medieval England”
Richard Smith, “Putting Benedictine monks in context: mortality in England, 1349-1540″
12.00: COFFEE
12.30: VISIT TO PARKER LIBRARY
CONFERENCE CLOSES
The H-Albion site currently has a number of posts discussing the status of independent scholars, mainly in Australia, and the problems they face in conducting their research and in securing publication. It seems to me that independent scholars have certain specific needs, namely, access to specialist (usually university or copyright) libraries; contacts with academic historians in their own fields; and the ability to publish their findings whether in academic journals or in book form. I do not regard independent scholars as less meritorious than university teachers – one can do too much teaching – but, like almost everyone else, they have to earn a living. Let us hope that universities’ history departments and libraries go on being generous even in these straitened times to independent scholars.
The student of peasant uprisings in 17th-century France who subsequently became an expert on ‘Almas’, i.e. on the survival of hominid creatures like ‘Bigfoot’.
History News Network has recently had some comments from David Stone on the relative value of British and American doctoral degrees. I tried but did not succeed in posting a rebuttal. My response is below.
“I am afraid that David Stone’s remarks are seriously mistaken. Generally speaking, the standards required to gain a Doctorate in history in the U.K. are much higher than those applied in the U.S.A. There are exceptions but any American University with an applicant holding a D.Phil. or Ph.D. from a U.K. university is in a fortunate position. British postgraduates inevitably gain teaching experience before they are awarded their advanced degrees. The balance of advantage lies on this side of the Atlantic.”
