Britaix XVII-XVIII is a research programme on the 17th and 18th centuries of the Research Centre on the Anglophone World at Aix-Marseille University. It offers research and postgraduate seminars throughout the academic year, on a given biannual theme (see ‘Past Programmes’). In addition, the seminar supports three research groups: ‘Jonathan Swift and Modernity’ (convener: Jean Viviès), ‘Lived Religion’ (conveners: Anne Page and Laurence Sterritt) and ‘Texts and their afterlives’ (conveners: Gérard Hugues and Ruth Menzies). Each year, the Seminar welcomes students enrolled in the M.Phil in English Studies as well as doctoral students. Over time, we have developed collaborations with other research centres at Aix-Marseille especially TELEMME, as well as national bodies such as the GIS Institut du Genre and international networks such as EMoDIR and QMCRLE.
The seminar’s aims are threefold:
– training in research by means of research, systematically bringing together M.Phil and doctoral students, young researchers and more experience academics;
– internationalising research by inviting researchers from overseas and creating international projects, particularly through the organising of research events;
– valorising and promoting awareness of research on the Anglophone world by posting the findings of our research on line, available freely to all, and depositing our own research in the French repository HAL-SHS.
The seminar is not merely a locus for presenting the outcome of our research but also aims to propose new, jointly-elaborated ideas about access to knowledge and to promote pluridisciplinary exchange within the field of English Studies, by comparing and combining methods used in literature, history, cultural studies, musicology, art history and theatre studies.
Occasional free sessions, with no guiding theme, may be organised in order to reflect the research carried out by members and to allow guest speakers from other institutions to present their findings.
Our approach has been inspired by a desire to reinforce, valorise and promote research in modern languages, increasing its visibility and encouraging the exchange, sharing and accessibility of the seminar’s work and output online.
