Call for Papers -- The Sixteenth Century Society: A Society for Early Modern Studies
Chicago, IL, October 29-31, 2026
The Sixteenth Century Society (SCS) is pleased to invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, roundtables, and workshops for its annual conference which will take place at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago on October 29-31, 2026. Please note that this conference will begin on Thursday morning and end on Saturday evening. The deadline for submissions is April 12, 2026.
The Sixteenth Century Society promotes a broad range of scholarships in the early modern era (c. 1450-c. 1750). We encourage submissions from international scholars and warmly welcome advanced graduate students, independent and early-career scholars, and postdoctoral researchers.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
Please consider submitting an abstract for the following panels in the Italian Studies Discipline.
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PANEL -- Early Modern Italian Women
This panel invites papers that consider texts by or about women in the early modern period.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Jennifer Haraguchi at jennifer_haraguchi@byu.edu by April 12 and also submit abstract and biounder “Individual Paper Proposals” at the following link: https://scsc.confex.com/scsc/2026/cfp.cgi(select Italian Studies under Discipline on the second page, not Sponsor Organization on the first). Please detail any audio/visual requirements that you might need.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
PANEL -- Telling Tales in Sixteenth-Century Italy
Tales circulated in multiple forms in early modern Italy: realistic novelle and fantastic fairy tales in collections modeled on the Decameron and Apuleius’s The Golden Ass; cheaply printed cantari, or chapbooks, in verse; and as stories and anecdotes embedded in dialogues such as Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier and Moderata Fonte’s The Worth of Women. This panel welcomes papers that examine tales and what they might tell us about the social and historical contexts in which they were produced and the literary traditions to which they belonged.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Suzanne Magnanini at Suzanne.Magnanini@colorado.edu by April 12 and also submit abstract and bio under “Individual Paper Proposals” at the following link: https://scsc.confex.com/scsc/2026/cfp.cgi(select Italian Studies under Discipline on the second page, not Sponsor Organization on the first). Please detail any audio/visual requirements that you might need.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
PANEL -- Intermedial Artifacts in Sixteenth-Century Italy
This session explores hybrid genres at the intersection of different media in sixteenth-century Italy. Maps, popular prints, emblems, schoolbooks, almanacs, tarot cards, devotional images, anatomical representations, architectural prints, festival books, texts set to music, and performed narratives served as effective vehicles for the production of knowledge, moral and religious instruction, the promotion of ideologies, and entertainment. Closely tied to the communities that produced them, these genres reflected their historical context while evolving in form over time, circulating across geographical boundaries, and generating a rich network of examples and intertextual references. Simultaneously, they bridged the gap between oral culture, visual culture, and the expanding world of print.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Daniela D’Eugenio at deugeni@uark.edu by April 12 and also submit abstract and bio under “Individual Paper Proposals” at the following link: https://scsc.confex.com/scsc/2026/cfp.cgi(select Italian Studies under Discipline on the second page, not Sponsor Organization on the first). Please detail any audio/visual requirements that you might need.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
PANEL -- In Search of Medusa
Symbolizing in turn the petrifying effects of beauty, the defeat of political enemies, and the darkest fears of men, the ancient figure of Medusa saw a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance. Conjuring terror, power, and protection, she became a catalyst for the ambivalent desires and anxieties of artists and patrons navigating a rapidly transforming world. Depicted across a variety of old and new media, Medusa emerged from the intimacy of medieval manuscripts to appear in monumental public sculpture and circulate widely through text and image, prints and ornament.
This interdisciplinary panel seeks to explore how, in the Renaissance, a renewed, antiquarian interest in Ovid’s Metamorphoses made Medusa’s tale increasingly generative in both artistic and literary production. The panel also aims to highlight moments in which artists and poets veered from this canonical narrative, re-imagining Medusa’s story to serve different moral, political, aesthetic, and apotropaic goals. From the idiosyncratic interpretations of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio to the celebrated allegories of Cellini, Caravaggio, and Rubens, Medusa assumed many shapes, yet continued to thrive as a symbol of difference—a potent lens through which to examine questions of gender, sexuality, and race.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Toni Veneri (toniveneri@hotmail.com), Christopher Richards (crichard@colby.edu), and David Wright (djwrig85@gmail.com) by April 12 and also submit abstract and bio under “Individual Paper Proposals” at the following link: https://scsc.confex.com/scsc/2026/cfp.cgi(select Italian Studies under Discipline on the second page, not Sponsor Organization on the first). Please detail any audio/visual requirements that you might need.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
ROUNDTABLE -- Teaching the 1500s: Integrating Sixteenth Century Literature/Culture and Pedagogy
This roundtable explores innovative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary strategies for teaching sixteenth-century Italian literature and culture by connecting literary texts with broader historical, political, and cultural contexts. Focusing on classroom practices, proposals should examine ways to integrate literature with disciplines such as history, art history, religious studies, and political thought in order to help students understand the intellectual complexity of the period. Collaborative projects that incorporate digital tools and projects based on archival sources are also welcome.
Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Daniela D’Eugenio at deugeni@uark.edu by April 12 and also submit abstract and bio under “Individual Paper Proposals” at the following link: https://scsc.confex.com/scsc/2026/cfp.cgi(select Italian Studies under Discipline on the second page, not Sponsor Organization on the first). Please detail any audio/visual requirements that you might need.
For more information about the SCSC, please see the conference website: https://sixteenthcentury.org/conference/2026-chicago/.
