Spaces and Places of Religious Knowledge Transfer in Early Modern Cities: Developing New Methods for Historical Research and Analysis

Description

This workshop aims to achieve the following goals:

1. Innovating historical research into the early modern period (c. 1400-c. 1600) by the further development of “Space and Place”, most notably “Spaces and Places of (Religious) Knowledge Transfer”, as multidisciplinary approach for historical research and analysis and by fostering an exchange between the newest perspectives in spatial theory and historical research. An essential step in this process will be the exchange with researchers specialized in digital mapping and Historical GIS as a research and teaching tool enabling to uncover the spatial and kinetic dimensions of early modern cities;
2. Based on the discussions of the colloquium, the participants will draw an innovative, multi-, interdisciplinary and transnational research agenda crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries, connecting Dutch and European historians with researchers from the fields of spatial sciences and social sciences. The research agenda will be shared with the wider research community by way of a collaborative volume or journal issue that will be edited by the organizers;
3. This research agenda will be at the basis of new European collaborative research projects, connecting the Dutch research community working on early modern history with European research groups working on “Space and Place”, “Religious Knowledge Transfer”, “Lieux de Savoir” and “Urban Socio-Spatial Dynamics”. One of the first tangible results of the workshop will be the final drafting of a bid for NWO-International Humanities (deadline March 2017). The importance of drawing a true European research agenda that is based on a solid methodological base and goes beyond traditional comparative perspective is paramount. A European approach in pre-modern research, grounded in a sound methodological discussion and in a reflection on the use of new digital research techniques, has never been more important in order to overcome barriers to cross-boundary working and to promote an open dialogue within the European scientific community at large. Based on preliminary research by the organizers and the co-organizers the chosen focus on “Space and Place” in combination with “(religious) knowledge transfer” is particularly suitable as central theme for the workshop and as basis for international collaboration as it combines a methodologically innovative potential with an intrinsic multidisciplinary approach.

Period	30 Jan 2017
Event type	Workshop
Location	Leiden, Netherlands
Degree of Recognition	International