Bayreuth 2012

Empire and Imagination in Early America and the Atlantic World (15th-19th centuries)

13-15 December 2012 Universität Bayreuth and Bayreuth Institute for American Studies (BIFAS)

Historians and specialists of art history, literature, music and theatre met in Bayreuth for a trans-disciplinary reconsideration of “empire” in North America and the Caribbean. Key questions of the conference were the role of representation and vision in the construction of empire, alternative visions of empire by politicians, authors and artists, metropolitan conceptions of empire, and native conceptions of newcomers.

Keynote lectures:

Hermann Wellenreuther (Groningen): “Interdependency, Interaction and Communication as Key Terms of Atlantic History”

François Brunet (Paris Diderot): “Projecting the ‘Empire of Freedom’ on European Stages: Performances of American Ingenuity in France and England, 1757-1867”

Organising committee: Prof. Dr. Susanne Lachenicht, Prof. Dr. Sylvia Mayer, and Prof. Dr. Jeanne Cortiel.