Shakespeare, Oaths and Vows

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on oaths and vows in the works William Shakespeare given at the British Academy's 2009 Shakespeare Lecture. This text aims to rectify scholarly neglect of the Shakespeare's excessive use of oaths and vows in his plays. Using philosophical and stage-related arguments, it highlights Shakespeare's awareness of the paradoxes of oath-taking and vowing and their potency in performance.

The History of Romantic Love in Sub-Saharan Africa: between Interest and Emotion

This chapter looks at the history of romantic love in Sub-Saharan Africa. This text comes from a lecture given at the British Academy's 2009 Raleigh Lecture on History. This text attempts to explore some of the methodological and theoretical issues involved in an historical study of love in Africa. It argues that romantic love in Africa is not simply an extension of an imperialist cultural and political project and that emotional regimes cannot be divorced from economic circumstances. It explains that though the configurations of interest and emotion take specific forms in African societies, there is nothing peculiarly African about the evident need of individuals to balance realism and idealism in their emotional lives.

Surrealism and its Legacies in Latin America

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the legacies of surrealism in Latin America given at the 2009 British Academy Lecture Series. This text discusses the tensions between surrealist internationalism and local cultural nationalisms, the contested relationship between surrealism and Magic Realism, and the enduring surrealist fascination with Pre-Columbian art and architecture. It analyzes the works of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Gunther Gerzso and works of contemporary Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles. It contents that art from Latin America has flourished in recent years without claiming surrealism as an exclusive source.

Gaelic in Medieval Scotland: Advent and Expansion

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on Gaelic advent and expansion in medieval Scotland given at the British Academy's 2009 Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture. This text reviews the evidence for Gaelic's arrival and expansion in the various different regions of Scotland in the Middle Ages and evaluates the different ways in which toponymic data can usefully be interpreted to inform our notion of the process of expansion. It argues that, contrary of received views, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries remained periods of expansion for the Gaelic language.

Many Legal Orders, One Law

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on legal orders in Europe given at the British Academy's 2008 Law Lecture. This text suggests that developments in European and international law make it increasingly hard to sustain the view that a single system of law operates within each sovereign territory. It explains that in Europe, different legal orders seem to coexist, in relation to the same issues, within the same legal space; and questions constantly arise about which law is to prevail.

Our Unwritten Constitution

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on Great Britain's unwritten constitution given at the British Academy's 2009 Maccabaean Lecture on Jurisprudence. This text criticises some of the recent developments related to the British constitution and expresses concern whether Britain has a constitution at all. It proposes the establishment of some body or institution independent of government to plan constitutional reform in a coherent manner, and for the renewal of public interest in constitutional affairs.

Leon Battista Alberti and the Redirection of Renaissance Humanism

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the role of Leon Battista Alberti on the redirection of Renaissance humanism given at the British Academy's 2009 Italian Lecture. This text explains that Alberti, as successor of Renaissance humanism founder Petrarch, sought to redirect the movement. It compares Petrarch's and Alberti's notions of humanism and traces Alberti's inflection of the movement in directions that would never have been thought of by his predecessor.

‘The Reason of this Preference’: Sleeping, Flowing and Freezing in Pope’s Dunciad

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on Alexander Pope's literary satire Dunciad given at the British Academy's 2010 Warton Lecture on English Poetry. This text discusses the difficulty of Samuel Johnson in interpreting Pope's couplet in the Dunciad which depicts the Sea of Azov and the river that flows into it. It suggests that analysing the process through which Pope shaped this couplet can help provide a better understanding of the wider significance of the couplet's structure and Pope's work more generally.

Shitao (1642–1707) and the Traditional Chinese Conception of Ruins

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on Shitao and the traditional Chinese conception of ruins given at the British Academy's 2009 Aspects of Art Lecture. This text investigates the conception of ruins in traditional Chinese pictorial art focusing on the work of Chinese master Shitao. It traces the indigenous definitions of ruins as well as a broad variety of images related to the idea of ruination. It analyzes Shitao's Yellow Mountain paintings, and links his depictions of architectural ruins with the idea of qi or the strange or extraordinary phenomena.

The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective

This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial Revolution was Britain's response to the global economy that emerged after 1500 and that Britain's success in world trade resulted in one of the most urbanised economies in Europe with unusually high wages and cheap energy prices. The text here also highlights the contribution of Britain in the invention of the steam engine and the cotton spinning machines and in scientific discoveries relating to atmospheric pressure.