RSA 2010 CFP:

Defining Community through Laughter in Early Modern Art
Renaissance Society of America Annual Conference, Venice, April 8-10, 2010.

At the theoretical level, comic art may be divided into two forms: the
socially inclusive--where we smile uncomfortably at ourselves--or the
socially rejective--where we ?point the finger of scorn? censoriously at
others. In practice, of course, these forms may overlap or intersect. We
propose a panel to examine the ways early modern artists have used humor
to galvanize communities, to ostracize people through ridicule, or even
ambiguously promote both views simultaneously. We seek papers that
explore how comic art delimits social circles and its potential to
strengthen, undermine or problematize such networks. Ideally, the range
of topics for the session(s) would demonstrate the role of visual humor in
both Northern and Southern European art, and involve challenging
explorations of implicit social frictions of the works of art in question.
The organizers welcome papers that address a variety media: prints,
drawings, painting, etc.

Please email an abstract (200 words maximum), short C.V., and contact
information to both organizers, Sandra Cheng at schengnycgmail.com and
Kimberlee Cloutier-Blazzard at kac9bmindspring.com by April 29th.
Accepted proposals will be announced by May 1, 2009.