Conceptualizing Uncertainty: Reflections on Risk and Disaster in France and the Francophone World (1600-present)

Since the 1970s, a large amount of scholarship has analyzed the prediction of risks in early and modern European societies. Building on the concepts of “risk societies” and cultural theories of risk perception, this workshop explores how risk, originally an economic prediction appearing with the birth of capitalism and global industrialization, permeated every aspect of society, from individual decision-making to artistic and scientific practices and state policies. This workshop aims develop the existing scholarship, bringing scholars from different disciplines whose work focuses on France and the Francophone world.

Speakers Include:

• Hayden Bytheway, University of Toronto
• Ursula Carmichael, Independent Scholar
• Constance de Font-Réaulx, University of Toronto
• Marianne Guernet, University of Toronto
• Magdalene Klassen, Johns Hopkins University
• Nicole Liao, University of Toronto
• Pierre Marty, University of Toronto
• Jason Nguyen, University of Toronto
• Margaret Schotte, York University
• Samantha Wesner, University of Toronto