Producing knowledge during a time of crisis. Reflections on the Wars of Religion in 16th century France 
Oury Goldman (Université de Lyon)

6 March 2023
2PM
Room B202, Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica

Discussant:
Albert Wu
(IHP, Academia Sinica)

Why engage in scholarly activity in a time of crisis? What impact do confrontations have on the production of knowledge? While proposing a transversal epistemological reflection on the link between conflicts and knowledge, we will take the field of the Wars of Religion in France, which took place in the second half of the 16th century, to understand how these civil and religious wars have weighed on the materiality of scholarly work, on the literate sociabilities and the trajectories of scholars, and have shaped the orientation and the scope of this knowledge. In this, it is a matter of recognizing that far from being mere obstacles to scientific practice, conflicts are often an essential component of the economy of knowledge.

Oury Goldman has completed his PhD in History at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Université de Lyon. His research focuses on the history of knowledge in early modern Europe, with particular attention to the mechanisms of circulation and appropriation to which it is subject. He is now working on the production of knowledge in times of civil and confessional conflicts in 16th century France.