Early Modern Works by and about Women: Genre and Method

November 4–6, 2016
McGill University, Department of Philosophy
Montreal, Canada

This interdisciplinary workshop aims to bring together scholars working on one or both of the following:

1. Questions concerned with the methods of women writing in the Renaissance and Early Modern period, and of men writing pro-woman works at the same time: the use of argument, evidence, literary, theological and philosophical authority, exempla, rhetorical devices, intellectual exchange, and methodological approaches (e.g. skeptical, on the basis of natural philosophy, fantastical).
2. Questions concerned with the genre that women chose for their work and that men chose for articulating pro-woman positions, whether poetry, polemical treatise, dialogue, or epistolary forms.

We are inviting proposals for scholarly papers (which may be works in progress), but also expressions of interest in participating in panel discussions on themes pertinent to the questions of the conference, in particular:

1. Source materials (manuscript sources, early editions, archival collections) — how to identify them, how to gain access to them, and how to interpret them
2. Transcription and translation
3. The use of the digital humanities in generating research questions, responding to them, and disseminating results
4. Methods, genre and evidence in early modern literature, science, and philosophy

Proposals should be approximately 200 words and should be submitted no later than March 31, 2016.

Languages: The languages of the conference will be French and English, but we encourage submissions from scholars working on figures who wrote in other languages as well.

Funding: We are especially interested in submissions from graduate students and junior scholars, for whom some funding for travel and accommodation may be available.

Supported by the Réseau québécois en études féministes (RéQEF) (FQRSC, PI: Francine Descarries, UQÀM) and New Narratives in the History of Philosophy (SSHRC, PI: Lisa Shapiro, Simon Fraser University)

Location: Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Contact: Marguerite Deslauriers (organizer):marguerite.deslauriers@mcgill.ca