CfP RSA 2027 – Philadelphia. Geographies of Transgression: Mobility and Religious Minorities

EMoDiR is an international research group focusing on the history of religious dissent, radicalism, and minorities in early modern times (emodir.net). Since 2011, the group has organized panels at the RSA annual conferences on practices and conceptual frameworks of religious conflict, heresy, and groups of radical dissent. The panels are characterized by a multiplicity of methodological and theoretical approaches.

We are now preparing for the upcoming RSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (March 11–13, 2027), and plan to host a series of panels which explore the theme of boundary marking and transgression. The early modern can be defined as a time of increased boundary-crossing and trespassing across physical, social, and religious lines. The period has been characterized as a time of refugee crisis, migration, and the redefinition of social categories and the limits of the possible in regard to personal and group identity. This year, EMoDiR is especially interested in contributions that both define and expand our views of boundary-crossing and transgression, from geographical and metaphorical perspectives (including imagined spaces and utopias).

Prospective paper topics may include but are not limited to:

–Religious minorities, with particular attention to their ability to survive, adapt, and at times flourish across shifting social, cultural and political landscapes
–Dissident and radical groups, and their strategies of negotiation, integration, dissimulation, and separation within and across confessional boundaries
–Mobility in its various forms – forced, voluntary, seasonal, or symbolic – and its role in shaping minority experiences and identities
–Social and religious non-conformity as a mode of transgression that may occur independently of physical displacement
–Differences in opportunities for mobility that social norms surrounding gender placed on early modern individuals and groups
–The formation and evolution of confessional diasporas, including patterns of circulation, connection, and fragmentation
–State, ecclesiastical, and local authorities’ responses to minority mobility and transgression (e.g. regulation, repression, accommodation)
–Borderlands, liminal spaces, and zones of contact as sites of interaction, conflict, and creative adaptation
–Metaphorical and imagined geographies (such as utopias, exile narratives, or spiritual topographies) as frameworks for articulating transgression and belonging 

Please send a short CV (limit to 150 words), including current affiliation, Ph.D. Completion date (past or expected) and a presentation title (maximum 15 words). Please also include a 150-word abstract and keywords, to the session organizers Martina Mampieri (martina.mampieri@gmail.com) and Frank Lacopo (flacopo@semo.edu) by JULY 15, 2026. Please detail any A/V requirements that you expect to have. Acceptance decisions will be made by July 30, 2026. All presenters, once accepted, must register for the 2026 Renaissance Society of America Conference and must be a member of the RSA and EMoDiR.

Download the CfP here.

Karoline Müller

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