Totally (Ab)normal?!
Bodily Norms and Body Metaphors in Medieval Latin Literature
Workshop
Göttingen, 4–5 September 2026

Submission Deadline: 15 February 2026

The human body stands at the centre of medieval European culture, serving as a fundamental point of reference for social, scientific, and theological reflection. Conceptions of bodies permeate diverse spheres of medieval life and learning, and they continue to shape discourses on bodies today—whether in political theory, social history, gender studies, or literary scholarship.

In medieval literature, bodies are rarely depicted in a purely descriptive manner; rather, they are evaluated with reference to explicit or implicit norms. Categories such as “well-formed”, “ugly”, “ill”, “deformed”, or “monstrous” constitute the vocabulary of this evaluative process. Since antiquity, conformity to—or deviation from—an idealised exterior has often been linked to the disposition of the “inner” self. At the same time, representations of the body frequently serve figurative or allegorical purposes.

The workshop explores this distinctly literary mode of conceptualisation, which brings
together body metaphors and the normative evaluation of bodies.

We particularly encourage proposals that combine close textual analysis with broader theoretical perspectives. Contributions from Medieval Studies, Classics, History, Gender and Queer Studies, and Digital Humanities are welcome. Papers should be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes of discussion, and may be presented in German or English.
Abstracts of up to 300 words, including the title of the paper, contact details, and a short biographical note, should be submitted by 15 February 2026. Please send proposals to: total-abnormal@uni-goettingen.de. Travel and accommodation expenses for speakers will be covered within the usual limits.

Organisation
Lumen Hinterholzer, M.A.
Dr. Alexander Schulz

Contact
total-abnormal@uni-goettingen.de 

The complete Call for Papers as a PDF can be found here as PDF-Download.

Elites.Representations.Entanglements in Afro-EurAsia, 1200 BC to AD 800
Workshop
Innsbruck, 13-14 November 2026

Submission Deadline: 30 April 2026

The goal of the workshop is to bring together scholars of various disciplines and historical periods to attempt to answer overarching questions, including how elites are formed within these structures and manage to uphold their status, which strategies and media were used for their representations, and how connections within and between the groups arise and manifest themselves. In order to explore these questions in a broad yet comparable framework, the workshop focuses on the extended Mediterranean (Afro-EurAsia) between 1200 BC and AD 800.

We especially welcome abstracts from early career researchers (PhD candidates and Postdocs) in the historical and archaeological disciplines. Please submit proposals for papers as a PDF abstract of 300 words in English.

Depending on the thematic coherence of the submitted abstracts, the workshop will take one of two formats:
(1) Workshop format: Participants will prepare a short written essay (approx. 5-10 pages) prior to the event. During the workshop, each contribution will be introduced by a brief presentation, followed by an extensive discussion based on the pre-circulated essays.
(2) Conference format: Contributions will be presented as individual 20-minute papers followed by discussion.
We aim to choose the format best fittng to the participants and their research interests. Naturally, the decision of either format will be communicated well in advance.

Abstracts may be sent until 30th of April 2026 to the complete organisation board.

Organisation Board
Amelie Jochmus (amelie.jochmus@uibk.ac.at)
Jehan Hillen (johann.hillen@uibk.ac.at)
Raphael Szeider (raphael.szeider@uibk.ac.at)

The complete Call for Papers can be found here as a PDF-Download.

BernBabylon 2026
From Bern to Babylon and about everything in between and beyond
Bern, Switzerland, 1–2 October 2026

Submission Deadline: 10 March 2026

There is no theme for the conference. You choose the topic of your talk.

The only prerequisite is that your talk last not more than 15 minutes (+ 5 minutes of discussion), your book presentation 10 minutes and/or your workshop 3 hours. You are here to share insights with scientists from other disciplines, so keep it sharp but make it simple! The spirit of BernBabylon is open and informal. Use this opportunity to test ideas, advertise projects, and engange in collaborations with a wider peer group.

Do you have a new take on an old question? Are you working on ancient text and would like to know if similar texts exist in neighbouring languages? Are you recruiting team members for an excavation? Did you develop a computer programme for your field that can be used in other fields as well? Are you active in public outreach and would like to share what you do? Would you like to present your latest book? ... You are at the right place. Submit an abstract and get started!

Website
https://bernbabylon.unibe.ch

Contact
info-bernbabylon.iaw@unibe.ch

The complete Call for Contributions can be found at the conference website.

Old Ideas in New Minds: Strategies of ‘Autonomy’ from Antiquity to the Renaissance
International Conference
Jena, 14-16 September 2026

Deadline for submissions: 29 March 2026

heteronomy, autonomy, dependence, reception, interpretation, transformation, re-use, commentaries, compendia, collections, translations, encyclopaedias, re-narration, re-creation, imitation, improvement, authority, authorship, materiality

When engaging with ‘pre-texts’ – the source texts used in the composition of new texts – authors employed various adaptive strategies, from faithful translation to wholesale reinterpretation.

All the above textual strategies have one thing in common: they consciously rely on a pre-text or source. We refer to this phenomenon as heteronomy. Our Research Training Group focuses on heteronomous texts that still are original, autonomous products through their commentary, continuation, compilation, or adaptation. Building on our first international conference, ‘(Re)Create. Towards a Theory of Heteronomous Texts’, we seek to explore the concept of ‘autonomy’ through interdisciplinary examination of texts from various fields of research.

We invite contributions from (but not limited to) the following fields:
Theology and Biblical Studies, Latin, Middle and Neo Latin Studies, Greek and Byzantine Studies, Syriac Studies, Ancient and Medieval History and Philosophy, German Medieval Studies, and Roman Law.

Proposals may take the form of either:
• a 30-minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of discussion, with the possibility of publication in the conference proceedings, or
• a 10-minute project pitch followed by a short discussion (especially encouraged for early career researchers).

In your abstract (max. 300 words) please specify your chosen presentation format and include, on a separate page, your name, profession, affiliation, short academic CV, and email address or equivalent contact information. Please submit your abstracts to Daniele Bonino and Jonathan Trächtler via email at: oldideasinnewminds@uni-jena.de 
We very much look forward to your proposals and will aim for gender parity in our selection. The language of the conference is English. Reimbursement for hotel and travel costs can be made available.

Contact
Daniele Bonino and Jonathan Trächtler
oldideasinnewminds@uni-jena.de

The complete Call for Papers can be found here as PDF-Download.

Jahrestagung CIfA Deutschland 2026
Nachhaltigkeit in der Archäologie – Verantwortung für Daten, Funde und Wissen
Leipzig, 7. November 2026

Einreichungsfrist: 19. April 2026

Archäologische Arbeit ist irreversibel. Nachhaltigkeit bedeutet daher vor allem die langfristige Sicherung, Nutzbarkeit und Sichtbarkeit von Funden, Daten und Forschungsergebnissen. Angesichts stetig wachsender Fund- und Datenmengen stellen sich zentrale Fragen nach Bewertung, Priorisierung, Auswertung und gesellschaftlicher Vermittlung archäologischer Ergebnisse.

Die Jahrestagung bietet ein Forum für den fachlichen Austausch zwischen Denkmalpflege, Forschung, Grabungspraxis, Museen, Dateninfrastrukturen und Öffentlichkeit.

Einreichung von Beiträgen
Vorgesehen sind Vorträge mit einer Länge von 30 Minuten.
Abstracts mit einem Umfang von bis zu 500 Wörtern können bis zum 19. April 2026 eingereicht werden.
Bitte senden Sie Ihren Vorschlag per E-Mail an: praesident@cifa-deutschland.de 

Die Jahrestagung richtet sich an alle aus Denkmalpflege, Forschung, Grabungspraxis, Museen, Archiven und Universitäten sowie an Vertreter:innen angrenzender Disziplinen. Willkommen sind theoretische, methodische und praxisorientierte Beiträge ebenso wie kritische Reflexionen und interdisziplinäre Perspektiven.

Kontakt
Svenja Partheil
praesident@cifa-deutschland.de 

Den vollständigen Call for Papers finden Sie hier als PDF-Download.

Fragile Knowledge. Dealing with precarious and contested knowledge in premodern times. (Fragiles Wissen. Zum Umgang mit prekärem und umstrittenem Wissen in der Vormoderne.)
15–17 October 2026, IBZ, Kiellinie 5, Kiel University (Christian Albrechts University of Kiel)

Submission Deadline: 31 March 2026

Organizers: ROOTS Cluster of Excellence, subcluster Knowledge: Andreas Schwab, Gerald Schwedler, Islème Sassi

Dealing with knowledge is an existential driving force of mankind. Knowledge – understood in a broad sense – is not always equally significant: How valuable and useful is fragile knowledge considered to be? Who determines its relevance? Is certain knowledge only recognized by parts of a community, while others question or doubt it? Where does it serve as a driving force for further knowledge production, and where is it accepted as fixed? What role does its fragility play in all these questions?

Following the conference “Knowledge Spaces. Constructions and dynamics of knowledge in antiquity,” held at Kiel University in autumn 2024, which initiated a productive exchange on the spaces of knowledge production and reception, on forms of knowledge, actors, and practices of knowledge transfer (see the report: www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-151403), the second Kiel conference “Fragile Knowledge” focuses on the uncertain and indeterminate aspects of knowledge. While the theoretical foundations and their application in contemporary social and scholarly debates have already been the subject of in-depth research, examining this multifaceted phenomenon in the premodern world remains a desideratum.

To submit a proposal, please send an abstract (max. 3,500 characters), a short biography (max. 800 characters), and your contact details by 31 March 2026 to Dr Wong Tsz (wong-tsz@email.uni-kiel.de).
Keynote: Prof. Dr Martin Mulsow—Professor of Knowledge Cultures of the European Early Modern Period and Director of the Gotha Research Centre at the University of Erfurt.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by mid-April. Accommodation costs can be covered; travel costs will most likely be covered after consultation.
Conference languages: German, English, French, Italian

Organisation
Prof. Dr Islème Sassi, Prof. Dr Andreas Schwab, Prof. Dr Gerald Schwedler (Kiel University)

Contact
Dr. Wong Tsz (wong-tsz@email.uni-kiel.de)

The complete Call for Papers in German and English can be found here as PDF-Download.

URSPRUNG UND ENTWICKLUNG
Sehnsucht und Suche nach den Anfängen, 1750–1850
Zweites Wellhöfer-Kolloquium
Freitag/Samstag, 4./5. Dezember 2026
Würzburg, Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg 

Einreichungsfrist: 28. Februar 2026

Veranstaltet von/organized by: 
Damian Dombrowski (Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg), Ulrich Pfisterer (Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, München)

Der Rückbezug auf ältere Kulturstufen gehört zum Grundinventar jeder Zivilisation. Doch seit dem mittleren 18. Jahrhundert kommt es zu fundamentalen Veränderungen in der Art dieses Rekurses: Nicht nur vermeintliche oder tatsächliche Höhepunkte innerhalb der eigenen Vergangenheit ziehen die Aufmerksamkeit von Forschern, Literaten und Künstlern auf sich, sondern vermehrt auch Frühformen gesellschaftlicher und künstlerischer Formierung. Diesem ‚originistischen Verlangen‘ widmet sich die diesjährige Ausgabe des Wellhöfer-Kolloquiums, das alle zwei Jahre Forschungsfragen zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte zwischen 1750 und 1850 aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive adressiert. Es wendet sich an bildgestützte und philologische Wissenschaften gleichermaßen.

Die Einladung zur Tagung ist verbunden mit einer Übernahme der Kosten für Anreise und Übernachtung. Die Veranstalter bitten um Vorschläge für 20-minütige Referate in englischer oder deutscher Sprache. Dazu senden Sie bitte ein Abstract (max. 2000 Zeichen einschl. LZ) und einen kurzen CV (max. 1.500 Zeichen einschl. LZ) bis 28. Februar 2026 per E-Mail an: Ulrich.Pfisterer@lrz.uni-muenchen.de und damian.dombrowski@uni-wuerzburg.de. Die Benachrichtigung über die Teilnahme erfolgt bis 15. März 2026.

Den ausführlichen Call for Papers in deutscher und englischer Sprache finden Sie hier als PDF-Download.

Intelligence in historical perspective 
Concepts of human cognition, imagination, and wisdom in historical and intercultural comparison 
Interdisciplinary conference at the Department of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Nuremberg (UTN) 
Nuremberg, November 19–21, 2026

Submission Deadline: April 1, 2026

From a historical and cross-cultural perspective, the conference asks how human cognition and judgment have been understood, described, and evaluated in different eras and cultures—and what these historical concepts can contribute to today's debates on intelligence. The conference puts forward the thesis for discussion that what can be described as intelligence is not something that is given, but something that differs and develops historically and culturally. A particular focus is on the alterity of pre-modern and non-European concepts that challenge common modern models of intelligence or contribute to their historicization.

The conference is aimed at scholars from the fields of pre-modern philology, literary and cultural studies, the history of philosophy, science, and religion, and related areas. Contributions from scholars in the early stages of their careers are welcome.

For the plenary lectures, we are looking for contributions that raise central questions about the understanding of human intelligence from a historical or cross-cultural perspective and stimulate interdisciplinary discussion. The plenary lectures are scheduled to last 30 minutes with 15 minutes for discussion.
For the afternoon workshops, we particularly invite early-career scholars (doctoral candidates and postdocs) to present their ongoing work or conceptual considerations in short presentations of 15–20 minutes. We welcome philological or cultural-historical text analysis or comparative contributions that focus on historical concepts of cognition and mental faculties.
Abstracts (approx. 300 words) should outline the research question, context, and approach. In addition to purely historical contributions, we also welcome submissions that open up a dialogue between historical perspectives and current debates on human and artificial intelligence.
Please send abstracts with a short CV by April 1, 2026, to gyburg.uhlmann@utn.de.

Organisation
Prof. Dr. Gyburg Uhlmann
Founding Chair
Department of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Full Professor of Classics with Special Focus on Greek Studies
University of Technology Nuremberg
Technische Universität Nürnberg
Phone +49 911 9274 – 0
https://www.utn.de

The complete Call for Papers can be found here as a PDF-Download.

Blood, water or DNA? Family beyond (biological) relatedness
Session of the AG Geschlechterforschung at the Archäologiekongress
Bonn, 24 September 2026

Deadline for submissions: 31 March 2026

Family, ancestry, and marriage have always been subjects of archaeology and are also a recurrent theme in archaeological gender studies. Over the last two decades particularly archaeogenetics, but also other scientific methods, have reveald promising new results on kinship in archaeologically accessible populations. However, kinship and family usually supersede purely genetic descent, and parenthood, marriages and partnerships have taken place in many more forms than those that have long been discussed in our field.

There is growing awareness that a family can be constituted by social relationships just as well as descent. Adoptive parents, foster siblings, wet nurses, alloparenthood, education in institutions such as monasteries or in trusted families are just some of the possibilities of kinship and family that genetic methods cannot identify.

The subject of gender plays an important role in the investigation of family and kinship as well. In the upcoming session of the AG Geschlechterforschung we will explore this intersection. 

Additionally, we also welcome presentations dealing with current research in the field of gender archaeology.

We are planning presentations in German or English of 20 minutes each. Please send your abstract of approximately 250 to 400 words to the following email address: AGGender2026@gmx.de). Submission deadline: 31.3.2026.

Organisation
Jana Esther Fries, Clara Schaller

Contact
AGGender2026@gmx.de

The complete Call for Papers in German and English can be found here as PDF-Download.

CHAT Hope
Annual Conference of the Contemporary und Historical Archaeology in Theory group (CHAT)
Innsbruck, 29-31 October 2026

Deadline for submissions: 28 February 2026

In times of permanent crisis – political, ecological, social, economic and existential – it is urgent to talk seriously about the idea of hope. Whether we believe the “doomsday clock” is at 89 seconds to midnight or already five minutes past, the monumental path of destruction ahead appears overwhelming. It is easy to feel lost – yet, hope persists, rooted in past and current successes that envision genuine alternatives, both in defiance and care.

We seek archaeological case studies, theoretical reflections, and creative formats that trace the material and emotional geographies of hope in sites such as: peace, disarmament and anti-nuclear protests, anti-deportation and abolition activisms, environmental action, utopian and communal settlements, workers’ and unemployed movements, queer and crip activism, indigenous empowerment, resistance in contexts of mass violence, youth camps, or countless other contexts where people envisioned alternative worlds. We invite submissions that explore these themes and current approaches to the contemporary past, from both known and new CHAT participants.

Submissions
Please send us an email with your name / affiliation / country / Email and a title and abstract with max 300 words (or images, video, urls) that explore HOPE through presentations, panels, discussions, films, performances, or collaborative sessions and more.
Please email chat2026.innsbruck@gmail.com

Conference Committee
Attila Dézsi Schlingmann
Barbara Hausmair
Stefanie Heim

Contact
chat2026.innsbruck@gmail.com

Hosted by
CHAT (Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory)
and the DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGIES at University of Innsbruck

The complete Call for Papers can be found at the conference website.