8-10 January 2020 at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom
18 July 2020 marks the tercentenary of the birth of Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne (1789), the bestselling account of the flora and fauna of his Hampshire parish. White encouraged a new way of looking at the environment, inspiring his readers to record the timings and interactions of plants and animals on their local patch. For that reason, he is sometimes called ‘the first ecologist’. But White was also a clergyman who administered the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, and who also took an interest in the folklore and beliefs current in his parish. For White, like many ‘natural-‘ or ‘physico-theologians’ of the period, the natural and the supernatural were inextricably entwined. Presenters at the 49th BSECS conference are therefore encouraged (but not required) to engage with any aspect of the theme of ‘Natural, Unnatural and Supernatural’ in the long, global eighteenth century.
Plenary speakers:
Donna Landry (University of Kent at Canterbury): ‘In one red burial blent’: The Natural, the Unnatural, and the Animal at Waterloo
Hannah Williams (QMUL): ‘The Religion Problem’
To submit a proposal, please visit https://www.bsecs.org.uk/conferences/annual-conference/submit-a-proposal/
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 1 NOVEMBER 2019
All enquiries regarding the academic programme of the conference should be addressed to Dr Helen Williams via the BSECS email address: conference.academic@bsecs.org.uk
