Renaissance Ecologies - 7th Conference of the Nordic Network for Renaissance Studies.

Conference organised by the Early Modern Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 8-10 October, 2026

Established in recent decades as a research area in its own right, the study of ecology in the Renaissance has diversified into several distinct but related fields. The conference aims at taking stock of the broad range of meanings, creating conversations between the existing areas and inquiring into possible directions onward. We suggest a range of both literal and more metaphorical conceptions of ‘ecology’ in which nature, broadly defined, may be considered both an object of study and an agent of change or stasis. The relationship between humans on the one hand and climate and the animate world on the other; the ability of humans to compete with or outdo nature; nature as both a physical and symbolic order; and the interest in hybrid forms, between human and non-human are among the topic areas the conference seeks to address. However, we welcome papers from scholars in and outside the Nordic countries on any aspect of ecology in the ‘long’ Renaissance, here understood as approximately the period 1400-1700.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Conceptions of ‘nature’ in the Renaissance world, and how these related to the human world
- Climate theories in the Renaissance
- Cold versus heat as metaphorical, theological and physiological phenomena, as represented also in the arts
- Gendered ecologies, e.g. how nature as fertile or generative was gendered, and how the ecology of gender impacted scientific, theological and literary interpretations of the world
- Revisiting genre conventions, including, but not limited to, pastoral genres
- Animal studies, including conceptions of animal rights/agency
- Sustainability as a literary and artistic topos
- The material world interpreted as a symbolic order, in relation to e.g. divine transactions
- Aesthetics of ars/technology vs. natura/nature/environment
- Hybrid beings, cyborgs and automatons, including the blurring of boundaries between human and machines and depictions of ‘monsters’ or ‘aliens’

Confirmed keynote speakers include Sophie Chiari (Université Clermont Auvergne), Carin Franzén (Stockholm University) and Christopher P. Heuer (University of Rochester).

Abstracts and panel proposals should be sent to following address: renaissanceecologies2026lir.gu.se

We welcome abstracts of ca. 200 words together with a bio of ca. 50 words, to be submitted to the above addresses by 28 August, 2025. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes and 10 minutes Q&A. If you wish to propose a whole panel, the maximum number of presenters is three (or, alternatively, a two-part panel with 5-6 presenters). In such cases, in addition to the individual panels, please submit a general description of the panel of no more than 500 words. Decisions on accepted proposals will be communicated before the end of September, 2025.

Enquiries should be directed to Cecilia Rosengren (cecilia.rosengrenlir.gu.se) and Per Sivefors (per.siveforssprak.gu.se); please send any messages to both.