NEER Research Cluster

Early Modern Women Writers

MEMBERS:

Dr Rosalind Smith (Newcastle) - Coordinator
Dr Patricia Pender (ECR, Newcastle) - Coordinator
Dr Diana Barnes (Tasmania)
Louisa Connors (Postgraduate, Newcastle)
Dr Kate Lilley (Sydney)
Associate Professor Marea Mitchell (Macquarie)
Kate Mould (Postgraduate, Sydney)
Dr Dianne Osland (ECR, Newcastle)
Dr Nicola Parsons (Sydney)
Dr Sarah Ross (ECR, Massey, NZ)
Associate Professor Paul Salzman (La Trobe)
Professor Susan Wiseman (Birkbeck College, London, UK)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The Early Modern Women Writers Research Cluster gathers together twelve national and international scholars working in the rapidly expanding cross-disciplinary field of early modern women's writing. Identifying and linking existing areas of research strength in this area across a range of institutions, the group aims to enhance Australia's already strong research reputation in this field by encouraging sustained collaboration between its members, nationally, internationally and across differing levels of experience. The organizing principle and strength of the group is a shared interest in early modern women's textual practice. However, its individual members work across a range of disciplines within English, including textual, historical and cultural studies, the history of the book, the new bibliography and electronic textual analysis.

EVENTS (INCLUDING MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS)

1. Research Cluster Meeting: January 28, 2008.
The first meeting of the Early Modern Women Writers Research Cluster took place following the Women Writing 1550-1750 Revisited conference in Melbourne. Discussions at the first meeting included:
a. Roundtable discussion of future plans for research, publications and grant applications
b. Coordination of proposed research, identifying areas of convergence and connection, as a preliminary step towards developing collaborative research groupings and projects
c. Discussion of national and international opportunities for external grant funding in the field
d. Review of successful collaborative grant applications in national and international fields of early modern studies
e. Discussion of use of Confluence as mode of communication for group and use of Network's research repository PioNEER to archive substantive documents such as keynote addresses and other outputs from the activities of the cluster
f. Discussion of group membership and future group activities, coordination of meeting times, proposed agendas and activities.

2. Research Cluster meeting: December 6, 2008
An informal drinks event was held at The Quarry, Hobart on the concluding night of the ANZAMEMS conference for cluster members and other scholars working in the field of medieval and early modern women's writing. The event facilitated networking between geographically distant cluster members, as well as others in the scholarly community.

3. Research Cluster Workshop: December 7, 2008
A half-day workshop was held following the ANZAMEMS conference in Hobart. Discussions included:

a. Review of membership of group, resulting in expansion of cluster to include Dr Sarah Ross (Massey), Dr Marea Mitchell (Macquarie), Dr Dianne Osland (Newcastle) and Dr Diana Barnes (Tasmania)
b. Discussion of immediate individual research plans
c. Roundtable discussion of proposed activities for 2009/10, including:
- Special refereed journal issue of selected papers on early modern women�s writing presented at ANZAMEMS 2008
- NEER Early Modern Women Writers/London Renaissance Seminar Conference: Early Modern Women's Poetry at Birkbeck College, University of London, July 17-18 2009; edited collection of selected conference papers
- Proposed symposium: Early modern crime, scandal and speculation, University of Sydney, July 2010; edited collection of selected papers
- Proposed collaborative ARC Discovery grant application, 2010: Electronic editions of early modern women's writing

4. Discussion of use of Confluence to profile members and workshop papers

Conferences and symposia:

1. Women Writing 1550-1750 Revisited
La Trobe University, 26-27 January, 2008
Organizer: Associate-Professor Paul Salzman, La Trobe University

In 1999 scholars from Australia, New Zealand, and further afield gathered together in Melbourne for a two day conference devoted to writing by early modern women. This second conference on the same theme offered a chance to reassess the field almost a decade later, and to celebrate the significant and growing body of scholarship devoted to early modern women�s writing. The conference covered contributions from all fields of study, including papers and round table proposals. Keynote speakers were Professor Marion Wynne-Davies and Professor Elaine Hobby. It was held in Melbourne, at the city campus of La Trobe University, on Saturday and Sunday, 26-27 January, 2008.

2. Series of panels on early modern women's writing presented at ANZAMEMS: Alter Orbis
University of Tasmania, 2-6 December, 2008
Organizers: Dr Rosalind Smith and Dr Patricia Pender

In 2008 the cluster sponsored a series of consecutive panels on new directions in the field of early modern women�s writing at the 7th Biennial International ANZAMEMS (Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies) conference. Eight members of the cluster presented papers, together with other scholars in the field who responded to our international call for papers. The panels identified key areas of research convergence within the cluster: including scandal and crime, analyses of reading, and coterie practices.

3. Early Modern Women's Poetry Symposium
Birkbeck College, University of London, 17-18 July 2009
Organizing committee (July 2008 to present): Professor Susan Wiseman, Associate-Professor Paul Salzman, Dr Rosalind Smith and Dr Patricia Pender.

Jointly sponsored by the London Renaissance Seminar and the NEER Early Modern Women Writers Research Cluster, this two-day symposium will focus on new developments in the field of early modern women's poetry; abstracts currently being received.

PUBLICATIONS

Salzman, Paul, ed. Expanding the Canon: Early Modern Women's Writing 1550-1750 (Aldershot: Ashgate, forthcoming): Two collections of essays from the Women Writing 1550-1750 Revisited conference.

GRANTS APPLIED FOR

Cluster members Patricia Pender and Susan Wiseman have jointly applied for a British Academy Travelling Fellowship for 2009, which will consolidate collaboration between these scholars and between the NEER Research Cluster and the London Renaissance Seminar. If awarded, the fellowship will support the preparation necessary for the July 2009 Early Modern Women's Poetry conference at Birkbeck College, University of London, which is co-hosted by the cluster.

GRANTS ACHIEVED

1. Dr Rosalind Smith and Dr Patricia Pender, NEER Discretionary Funding 2008: $2000
2. Cluster members Dianne Osland, Marea Mitchell and Patricia Pender have successfully applied for 2009 Non-Stipendiary Visiting Research Fellowships at the Institute for English Studies, University of London. These fellowships will be taken in the period April-July 2009 and will facilitate links between the cluster and vibrant academic communities surrounding the Institute for English Studies.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

1. ARC Linkage International: In 2009, members of the research cluster will collaborate on developing a grant proposal for the ARC's Linkage International scheme. Linkage International Awards are designed to foster collaboration and networking between Australia-based and overseas researchers. The aims of our Linkage International proposal will be to:
- build collaborations among existing members of the research cluster in Australia and overseas, particularly by expanding into Europe following connections consolidated at the Birkbeck conference in London
- generate opportunities for Australian researchers to participate in leading-edge international research networks and strengthen their international research experience

2. ARC Discovery Projects: For 2010, members of the research cluster plan to collaborate on developing a large grant proposal for the ARC's Discovery Projects scheme. The details of this proposal will be developed in the cluster's meetings at the Melbourne, Tasmania and London conferences and focus on Early Modern Women's Editing. The aims of the Discovery project will be to:
- capitalize on existing individual research strengths in order to undertake a large scale collaborative project of Early Modern Women's Editing
- foster the international competitiveness of Australian research through outcomes including a high quality publication and an international symposium
- encourage research training for existing and future postgraduate members of the research cluster
- consolidate Australia's already significant reputation for excellence in the field of early modern women's writing.