Call for papers for a panel proposal entitled “Renaissance and Early Modern Meanings of History”, as part of the Renaissance Society of America's 2027 Annual Meeting, to be held on 11-13 March 2027, in Philadelphia, United States.

Presentation

Call for papers for a panel proposal entitled "Renaissance and Early Modern Meanings of History", as part of the Renaissance Society of America's 2027 Annual Meeting, to be held on 11-13 March 2027, in Philadelphia, United States.

This panel invites paper proposals on Renaissance and Early Modern meanings of History, and is open to any geographical and disciplinary scope.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Defining key concepts and categories: history; historical writing, knowledge, meaning, culture; historian and history audiences; past, present, future; time, time-keeping and temporality

• Comparisons, connections and disconnections: the art of recording the past across societies and cultures

• Agency and History: competition, sponsorship, authorship, readership, political disputes 

• Materiality: evidence, truth, proof, sources and tools, antiquarians and collections, economics and circulation, imperial and colonial inflexions

• Researching, outreaching, and teaching: challenges and outputs in modern scholarship on the aforementioned topics

Submission guidelines

Interested participants should send the following, to Marina Bezzi and Joseph da Costa (marinab@unb.br, joseph.dacosta@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk), by 1 July 2026:

1. Full name, current affiliation, and email address;

2. Title (max. 15 words);

3. Abstract (max. 200 words);

4. Short CV (max. 2 pages) emphasizing research and scholarship;

5. PhD completion date (past or expected).

Decisions will be communicated by 15 July (this will allow those not accepted ample time to submit unsponsored proposals). Please see RSA proposal guidelines and membership eligibility in the RSA Conference Submission Guide.

Organizers

Marina Bezzi (Universidade de Brasília), Joseph da Costa (University of Oxford)