CFP: Embodied Knowledge Practices in the Early Modern World
Conference at the University of Amsterdam
Monday, 15 June 2026
How do material conditions shape how and what we know about the natural world? In this conference, we propose to bring together scholars working in the history of science and literature and science to consider these questions, attending to the disciplinary alliances and differences such approaches yield. In particular, we will think about the embodied practices, prescriptive and descriptive, that give form to natural philosophy in the early modern period. These practices may be expressed through bodies (human and otherwise), technologies, texts, or other structures altogether. We will address, too, the knowledges that such practices may permit and foreclose.
The day-long conference in Amsterdam will consist of 15-minute talks from participants and a concluding conversation to seed future work and potential collaborations.
Please send abstracts of 150 to 200 words by 1 February 2026 to Ros Powell (r.powell@uva.nl) and Tita Chico (tchico@umd.edu).
