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Verunsicherung – Emotions of Uncertainty and Insecurity in the 18th Century
Förderpreis junge Aufklärungsforschung 2024 at IZEA – conference organized by Dr. Claudia Garcia-Minguillan and Dr. Teresa Mocharitsch (both Graz)
The Age of Enlightenment is often known as an age of reason. Among the arguments about how and why this assumption is inaccurate, ideas related to sentiments and emotions act as a complement to a full understanding of the century. Enlightenment, however, is an organic and transformative phenomenon. Any attempt to address through a simple discourse is condemned to inaccuracy and any label simultaneously restricts a thorough understanding. Reason or sentiment, universal happiness, or faith in progress, are therefore concepts that obscure a deeper comprehension, if they are guided by a polarised approach. On the contrary, a nuanced insight that motivates the study of different facets of human experience, especially at a level of insecurity and uncertainty, could be an appropriate approach, along with discussions that profoundly question the discourses about the Enlightenment.
On 26th and 27th September, the Interdisciplinary Centre for European Enlightenment Studies (IZEA) hosted the event “Verunsicherung. Emotions of Uncertainty and Insecurity in the 18th Century”, a project awarded the Förderpreis für Junge Aufklärungsforschung, which brought together an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars. The aim of the meeting was to challenge the multitudinous clichés that influence (mis)conceptions about the 18th century and to formulate productive questions that might lead to new insights. We focused on situations of uncertainty and insecurity as an état d’esprit –approached from multiple research perspectives (medical, social, political, religious, philosophical, economic, cultural)– which revealed responses encompassing avoidance, acceptance or (re)action. This provided an exciting perspective on emotions in their historical context and allowed for the examination of human experiences in the 18th century.
The idea for this interdisciplinary approach stems from both positive historical interest and contemporary concern: In the so-called postmodern era, global paradigms such as faith in technological progress have been sought, in order to transcend the great uncertainties of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, as recent years have shown, the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty have to no extent overcome. Against this background of uncertainty as a contemporary phenomenon, we turned to the Age of Enlightenment, which is seen as a time of apparent certainty, often characterised by universal ideas: such as a high esteem for reason, which was supposed to result in the happiness of citizens as a public social goal, religious tolerance and a consistent belief in progress.
The picture is far more complex than this narrative suggests, as evidenced by several well-known events that occurred during the same period, some of which were presented and discussed at the Halle meeting. Following a keynote on the mass effect of placebo and nocebo delivered by Rob Boddice, the subsequent four panels were moderated by Daniel Fulda, Sonja Koroliov, Rob Boddice and Penelope Corfield. The papers were grouped in different areas to illustrate how manifold uncertainties and insecurities have shaped and affected the human experience. These included presentations on dealing with the anxiety of influence confronted with classical authority in literary criticism (Claudia García-Minguillán), civic uncertainty in the aftermath of war and revolution, as exemplified by the necessity of school reform in the context of poverty (Gunhild Lohan), and political passions in the work of Germaine de Staël (Cathleen Mair). The meeting continued with a panel on the redefinition of masculinity and gender ‘beyond the norm’ in two cases: religious practices in private letters in a military context (Xiang Wei), as well as the phenomenon of the castrati and the uses of their bodies in interaction with opera audiences (Daniel Martín Sáez). On the final day, the global impact of European politics and the consequences that can be traced until today were addressed: the concept of the balance of sea power at the turning point after 1789 (Izidor Janžekovič) and a postcolonial case study on the correspondence of an agent of the Habsburg monarchy, who was active in South Africa (Teresa Mocharitsch).
In order to integrate such diverse perspectives and to develop a more complex understanding, the meeting concluded with a roundtable led by Rob Boddice, Sonja Koroliov and Penelope J. Corfield who encouraged a profound discussion. The nuances of uncertainty and insecurity were considered, and their potential meaning elucidated. In a broader sense, the topic of the event prompted reflections on the limitations of the notion of Enlightenment and the implicit, one-sided view often associated with public ideals about the period.
As the discussions at the meeting showed, there is great potential for further exploration of uncertainty and insecurity as concepts. The meeting on Verunsicherung: Emotions of Uncertainty and Insecurity in the 18th Century marks the beginning of future collaborations that will pursue the following outcomes to disseminate this discussion in the form of conferences, online meetings, workshops and publications, for which the IZEA event provided fertile ground.
The ‘Förderpreis Junge Aufklärungsforschung’ was kindly funded by the Dr. phil. Fritz Wiedemann Foundation.
Further Reading:
About the Förderpreis für Junge Aufklärungsforschung: https://www.izea.uni-halle.de/chancen/ausschreibung-foerderpreis.html
Website of the event: https://www.izea.uni-halle.de/veranstaltungen/detail/foerderpreis_aufklaerungsforschung_verunsicherung_2024.html