Intersectional Things in the Early Modern World L 24. September 2026 Intersectional Things in the Early Modern World An Interdisciplinary Projektpool-Workshop, Nov 19-20, 2026, University of Bern *** EXTENDED Call: Please submit your abstracts by October 2, 2026 *** We invite expressions of interest from early modernists at the University of Bern and other Swiss universities whose work engages with material culture.  How did things shape unequal social worlds, and how did unequal social worlds shape what things could do? Different people did not encounter the same things in the same ways. Access to objects (and their uses, meanings, and effects) was shaped by intersecting forms of social distinction and inequality, including gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, religion, and social status. This workshop examines how such differences governed the roles that things played in everyday life, religious practice, political culture, domestic settings, commerce, medicine, and beyond. We are particularly interested in close studies of objects, collections, practices, spaces, and archives that explore these questions. At the same time, the workshop provides an opportunity to reflect on broader conceptual implications. What happens when intersectional approaches meet recent work on material agency and/or multispecies history? How may an intersectional approach—designed to analyse inequalities among people—change when the things under investigation are themselves treated as agents, environments, companions, living non-human beings, or spirited things? Our aim is not to revolve these questions, but to explore them across disciplinary boundaries. To that end, we welcome both theoretically informed contributions and empirically grounded case studies. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: * Minority and subaltern perspectives on material culture * Objects in Disability Studies and the Medical Humanities * Material culture across the life cycle and between generations * Gendered material cultures * Objects of exclusion, sumptuary marking, and contested access * Human-non-human and multispecies entanglements Participants will pre-circulate a draft of up to 2,000 words (in English) and give a five- to ten-minute lightning talk, followed by extended discussion. Drafts may take the form of an expanded abstract, paper outline, introduction, or section of a work in progress. Workshop participation is open to all contingent members of the University of Bern, including PhD students/candidates. Permanent members of staff are invited to participate in the discussion and keynote lectures. Please submit an abstract (max. 250 words), a provisional title, and a short biographical note (max. 150 words) to Lavinia Gambini (lavinia.gambini@unibe.ch) and Andreas Berger (andreas.berger-gehringer@unibe.ch) by October 2, 2026. Drafts will be due by November 6, 2026, and circulated shortly thereafter on November 9, 2026. This workshop is generously supported by the Promotion Fund (Projektpool) for networking activities for mid-level academic staff of the University of Bern. Organisiert von Lavinia Gambini (lavinia.gambini@unibe.ch), Andreas Berger (andreas.berger-gehringer@unibe.ch) Sprachen der Veranstaltung Englisch

Colloque international Unil/EPFL/FNS, 27-28 mai 2027

An opportunity for an academic position as a Research Fellow (Early Modern Spanish Maritime History) 3497426AR is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openi...

Online colloquium

Alt: A gif of Gandalf consulting manuscripts in the archives of Minas Tirith

This position is offered within the project Travellers’ interactions in early modern Italy (TRAVEL), funded by a Consolidator Grant from the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS-2023-02909) (PI: Sandra ...

The Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, to be jointly supervised across History and War Studies

<p> <span>Applications are invited for a PhD position as part of the Australian Research Council funded project The History of the Hourglass.</span> </p> <p> <span>This PhD research opportunity forms part of a project that undertakes the first history of the hourglass from its origins c.1300 through to its global circulation in the sixteenth century. The most precise time-measurement device of its era, the hourglass changed the course of history through its role in maritime travel, scientific experiments and everyday time management. It transformed time into a silent, interior flow crucial to a wide range of cultural projects: in Cairo classrooms or alchemical labs; in the cook’s kitchen or preacher’s pulpit. Alongside its critical intervention in the history of time, the project seeks to pioneer new scientific methods for analysing these fragile objects, with major benefits for their conservation in Australian and international collections.</span> </p> <p> <span>Applicants with the following background are particularly encouraged to apply:</span> </p> <ul> <li> <span>An undergraduate or master’s degree with a specialisation in medieval and/or early modern studies</span> </li> <li> <span>Proficiency in one or more languages other than English, with preference for German, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese</span> </li> <li>Awareness of current methods in the history of material and visual culture. </li> </ul> <p> <strong><span>Eligibility</span></strong> </p> <p> <span>Applicants must satisfy the minimum entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy-Arts at the University of Melbourne and demonstrate strong research ability and potential.</span> </p> <p> <span>Applicants will normally have completed a master’s degree or an Australian honours degree (or equivalent) that includes a thesis subject, with academic results equivalent to a University of Melbourne H1 standard. This generally means achieving at least 80% overall and 80% in the thesis or major research component.</span> <br> <br> <span>Applicants must review the Doctor of Philosophy (Arts) entry requirements before submitting an Expression of Interest.</span> </p> <p> <a href="https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/courses/dr-philart/entry-participation-requirements" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/courses/dr-philart/entry-participation-requirements</span> </a> </p> <p> <strong><span>How to apply</span></strong> </p> <p> <span>Expressions of Interest close <strong>Monday 21 September at 1700 (Melbourne time).</strong></span> </p> <p> <span>To apply, click the <strong><em>‘Submit Expressions of Interest’</em></strong> button at the top or bottom of this advertisement.</span> </p> <p> <span>Upload the following three documents as part of your Expression of Interest:</span> </p> <ol> <li> <span><strong>Academic transcripts</strong> for all completed or in-progress tertiary study</span> </li> <li> <strong>A one-page project description</strong> outlining a proposed research project examining the history of the hourglass between 1300 and 1600CE </li> <li> <strong>A current resume.</strong> Applicants are encouraged to use the Faculty’s resume template [<a href="https://go.unimelb.edu.au/otz2">https://go.unimelb.edu.au/otz2</a>]. Before uploding, please append to the end of the resume <strong>a 500-word statement</strong> describing your intellectual interests in the history of temporalities and material culture. </li> </ol> <p> <em>Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted and invited to interview. </em><br> <br> <span>Applicants who are successful at the Expression of Interest stage will be invited to submit a formal application for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy- Arts. An invitation to submit a full application does not guarantee admission or the award of a scholarship.</span> </p> <p> <span>For further information about the application process, please visit the Faculty of Arts Graduate Research applications webpage.</span> </p> <p> <a href="https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/study/graduate-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/study/graduate-research</span> </a> </p>

The Fellowship is offered to an outstanding early career scholar whose research focuses on Italy.

In the last decade of his life, my paternal grandfather suffered from undiagnosed vascular dementia. During those years, we saw sudden changes in his speech, mood, personality and behaviour, ranging f...

CfP: Claiming the Exotic: Negotiating Material Difference in the Early Modern World (RSA Panel Proposal) The Renaissance Society of America Annual Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 11-13 March 2027 When was an object “exotic,” and who got to say so? In the early modern world, foreignness was rarely a settled fact about a thing. It was a claim that could be asserted or downplayed, used to sharpen or blur distinctions, believed, doubted, or ignored, depending on the speaker, audience, and occasion.  This panel explores how individuals put the origins, provenance, and perceived foreignness of things and materials into words and practice, and how social relations—from one-off encounters and intimate exchanges to circles, networks, and wider communities—shaped the terms they chose and were available to them. Building on scholars like Anna Grasskamp, Jessica Keating, Lia Markey, Kate Lowe, and others, this panel investigates the uses (and misuses) of exoticizing and othering terms and vocabulary, asking how these were often variable, situational, and open to contest. Social negotiations could not only shape how objects were described, but also how they were valued, exchanged, collected, displayed, and used. We seek to bring contributors from across disciplines into conversation about what was at stake when people deployed, withheld, or disputed exoticizing claims. We particularly welcome papers from early-career scholars, including graduate students and independent scholars, on topics including (but not limited to): * The availability, precision, and vagueness of exoticizing descriptors * Non-knowledge, uncertainty, and ignorance about the origin and provenance of things * Strategies for making objects more (or less) desirable and acceptable * Who could define a thing as exotic, and how such claims were contested To apply, please submit a short abstract (max. 200 words), a title (max. 15 words), and a brief bio (max. 100 words), along with your PhD or terminal degree date (past/expected), primary discipline, full name, affiliation, email address, and a CV (max. 2 pages) by July 20, 2026. Organisers: Lavinia Gambini, Andreas Berger   Organisiert von Lavinia Gambini, Andreas Berger (University of Bern) EK 16. Juni 2026 lavinia.gambini@unibe.ch

February 04-06, 2027 SCARCE Workshop University of Bologna Deadline for Submission: July 10th 2026