Details:
Guest presenter:
Dr Nicole Hochner (Hebrew University of
Jerusalem)
Paper Title:
(E)motions and Humours or Anxiety about Motion in
late Fifteenth-Century Political Thought.
Event Information:
Dr Hochner is currently an Early Career Visiting Fellow at the ARC
Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, Perth node.
This presentation is part of her visting fellowship
program.
Time and Date:
6.15pm on Wednesday 8th August
Venue:
North Lecture Theatre, Level 2, Old Arts, The University of
Melbourne
Nicole Hocher (Melb) Flyer
Further inquiries:
Jessica Scott
Email: jessica.scott@unimelb.edu.au
ph: +61 3 8344 5152
Paper Abstract:
Many definitions have been given to the word emotion, though its
etymology is certain. The word itself is thought not to have
existed before the sixteenth century. Dictionaries place its first
usage in 1534 in France. It came from the Latin roots: 'to move
out'. It originally referred to the fluctuation of the humours of
ancient medical theory.
Humours engaged not only our bodies but also our minds; and
therefore blood pressure was not a medical matter alone but an
inclination to feelings such as anger, anxiety, or love. But in the
sixteenth century 'emotion' referred to popular motion in the
political sphere, not to a variation of mood or character. It
designated popular movement or popular rebellion, rather than its
present meaning of feeling or sentiment. It referred to a moving
and disturbing humour in the body politic.
The lecture will argue that changes in attitude towards motion in
the late fifteenth century support the argument that the word
emotion expressed anxiety about political disarray, leading to a
new vision of nobility constructed on race and blood.
Nichole Hochner Biography:
Nicole Hochner is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political
Science and Head of the Program in Cultural Studies at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on early modern
France, and more specifically on the years 1480-1520.
Her publications include Louis XII: Les dérèglements de l'image
royale (Seyssel, Paris 2006) and a co-edited volume with Thomas
Gaehtgens L'Image du roi de Francois Ier à Louis XIV (Paris,
2006).
Her many articles have covered topics such as the emblem of the
porcupine, the figuration of the biblical Esther, the notion of
propaganda, the display of tears in official pageants, and the
political thought of political thinkers such as Guillaume Budé,
Pierre Gringore, Claude de Seyssel and Niccolò Machiavelli.
Her current projects include a study of social mobility in early
modern France, which emphasizes the 'birth' of the word emotion and
the importance of the medical gaze; a project on Machiavelli and
love; and a political reading of Pierre Gringore's works which
focuses on satire.
