Description
The premodern period was fundamentally defined by mobility. Recent developments in travel and mobility studies have prompted scholars to understand ‘mobility’ broadly, to consider the movement of a diverse range of people, as well as the movements of ideas, commodities, and the natural world. Whether voluntary or involuntary, the movement of people and things shaped and reshaped communities, environments, power dynamics, and patterns of thought and behavior. At this symposium, we will explore the many forms of mobility and their impacts on global culture from the Middle Ages through the end of the eighteenth century, and the ways in which premodern discourses of mobility and migration resonate in our present moment.
Keynote conversations with David Lines, Luca Molà, Natalya Din-Kiriuki, and William Rupp will open the symposium the evening of Thursday, December 17th.
Sponsored by the Newberry Library’s Center for Renaissance Studies and the University of Warwick’s Centre for the Study of the Renaissance and Humanities Research Centre.
Call for Proposals
We are seeking proposals that take comparative and/or decolonial perspectives on premodern mobilities broadly conceived. We welcome submissions from scholars, researchers, or practitioners (librarians, archivists, educators) working in all disciplines and working with a variety of sources such as maps, travel narratives, objects, structural designs, archival documents, etc. What can these material and textual traces tell us about the movements and migrations of non-European peoples and goods and how they shaped the premodern world?
Proposals may be for single papers for presentations, a panel, pre-circulated material, and active-learning workshops.
Submissions for single papers or pre-circulated material should include a 150-200-word proposal and a maximum 150-word bio. Submissions for a panel and or an active-learning workshop should include a 500-word proposal and maximum 150-word bio for all participants.
The deadline for submission is June 15, 2026. Decisions will be made by July 15, 2026.
