Naval Expertise and the Making of the Modern World

[anteros_lmc]

I've been prety good at keeping an eye out for naval history conferences recently so I'm rather gutted that this one completely slipped under my radar. The fascinating sounding Naval Expertise and the Making of the Modern World Conference organised by the Society for the Social History of Medicine is taking place at Oxford tomorrow. Blurb as follows:

This conference examines the generation of expertise in naval contexts and traces how such developments helped shape the modern world. Expertise will be considered not only as knowledge but also as methods and practices central to the evolution of modern nation-states and empires.

In the search for useful knowledge and in answering the demands of global infrastructure, navies have not only pursued military aims, but have also encouraged the formation of other areas of expertise, whether medical, technological, or bureaucratic. Recent research has identified navies as forerunners of modern scientific research, social disciplinary practices, and political economy for instance. This conference will explore such developments comparatively and consider their influence in the early modern and modern periods. By exploring how issues such as social welfare, professionalization and industrialization shaped and were shaped by naval institutions and innovations, this inter-disciplinary conference will link scholarship on naval infrastructure with research on the origins of the modern world.

The conference programme includes a truly eclectic selection of international papers featuring everything from the Amsterdam marine insurance market, to the problem of cholera, the Forth-Clyde ship canal, Japanese naval hospitals and public health, and education in the Danish peace time navy! These are the papers that really caught my eye though:

Constructing the Naval Sodomite: Shifting Perceptions of Homosexuality in Royal Navy Courts Martial for Sexual Crimes, 1690-1861, Seth Stein LeJacq (Johns Hopkins University).

‘None need apply but Seamen or Stout Hands’: The Impress Service and Manning the British Navy during the Age of Revolution, Jeremiah Dancy (University of Oxford).

Gentlemen, Seamen, and Professionals: Officer Training in the Royal Navy, 1775-1815, Evan Wilson
(University of Oxford).

I wonder If any of the delegates will be so good as to tweet from the conference? I hope so!

Comments

[esteven]

Do you think one could get summaries of those papers? I know I am shallow, but this construction of the Naval Sodomite sounds so very interesting...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The papers might be available after the conference, I'll try and find out.

know I am shallow, but this construction of the Naval Sodomite sounds so very interesting...
Ahem...I must be shallow too ;) Must admit though, "Constructing the Naval Sodomite..." sort of makes me thing of little lego builders XD

[esteven]

Et tu, Anteros?

...Or more recently of a chess play what with turning a rook into a unicorn. *snorts*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Et tu, Anteros?
Guilty as charged.

...Or more recently of a chess play what with turning a rook into a unicorn. *snorts*
Thought that rook looked a little...limp ;)

[esteven]

*g*

So it did, but the first horn was strategically placed Two horns made it look Vulcan though, if the old zine descriptions were to be believed ;)
*sniggers*

Have a good time at nodbear's :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

The 'Naval Sodomite Lego Set' (It has limited sales.)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing* That's the one! Construct your own naval sodomite!

It has limited sales.
Y'reckon? Think it might sell like hot cakes round here ;)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Simpson needed a set. Then he could have played by himself.