Call for Papers: Mobility and the Renaissance City. Toronto, 17–19 March 2019
65th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America
The exploration, economic development, and cross-cultural exchange that have come to be associated with the Renaissance played out not only across territories, but also in local contexts, where transient individuals co-existed alongside a permanent population. Identification as an outsider was just one possible characterization of such an individual, who may also have been a migrant, pilgrim, merchant, tourist, artist, builder, ambassador, or refugee, and whose presence made many Renaissance cities places of flux and diversity. The ensuing social dynamics had important implications for urban identity and found expression through formal and informal engagement with the built environment, which could hinder or encourage mobility and cross-cultural contact. This panel, sponsored by the European Architectural History Network, invites abstracts addressing topics such as:
- Urban theories and practices relating to urban infrastructure, including walls, gates, and porticoes
- the creation of ghettos and quarantines
- funduqs and fondachi
- extra-urban outposts and intra-urban nodes, such as inns, taverns, hostels, and lodging houses
- cartographic strategies associated with the identification of outsiders and/or dominant groups
- places of worship and other identifying institutions, like scuole, in their urban contexts
Abstracts are invited from any discipline but should engage the built environment’s role in preventing, controlling, encouraging, and/or accommodating mobility during the time period 1350 to 1750, and within any geographic context. Please send proposals via email with the subject line RSA 2019 to Saundra Weddle (sweddle@drury.edu ) and Elizabeth Merrill at (emerrill@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de)The proposal should include a title (15 words max.); an abstract (200 words max.), a one-paragraph CV (in prose, 200 words max.), along with keywords, full name, current affiliation, and email address ) by 5 August 2018. Submission guidelines are available at https://www.rsa.org/page/2019SubmissionsGuide .