The Context
Forty years ago the history of political discourse focused on the development of "key ideas" in political philosophy and built on the intensive study of a limited number of canonical texts. In the mean time the subject has been, and continues to be, transformed. Among the developments here are:
- supplementation of the narrowly philosophical/legal approach through the study of linguistic and cultural contexts
- expansion of the range of material under consideration to include not only formal treatises but manuscript as well as printed texts, petitions, legal depositions and rulings, speeches, broadsides, satires, newsbooks, bodily gestures and iconography
- a new historical sociology of the political and administrative structures of the early modern state and its development
- fresh approaches to the discursive resources of early modern society including scribal, print, written, oral and translations
- increasing recognition of the importance of the trans-national transmission of ideas and patterns of discourse
The growth of the subject has been paralleled by the evolution in technologies. A significant body of material is either created, stored or accessed electronically. The partners in this project have made significant steps in enhancing the use of both printed and manuscript resources particularly in the teaching area through JISC funded projects such as Virtual Norfolk, Artworld and other initiatives in the humanities such as the development of the Archive HUB. The integration of the vast range of electronic resources is being undertaken from the nationally available resources as well as from the electronic offerings of the publishers. Consequently the range of expertise and materials for the adequate and appropriate study of the phenomena has expanded and made collaboration in research and research skills development essential and beyond the resources of any single HE department in the field.
The current proposal is to launch a continuing collaboration, initially between two institutions but with provision for the rapid expansion of participating partners.
The VRE will also provide:
- A range of collaboration opportunities, building on the recently released Sakai framework.
- A framework for the integration of some of the resource discovery tools available in the HE community.
- Links to video-conferencing facilities.
- Testing of the relevance of Access Grid technology in a humanities environment.
- Seminars and publication facilities both face to face and on-line.
