Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

College of Arts and Sciences

Renaissance Studies

Events

  • Beginning-of-Year Faculty Roundtable and Reception
    4pm, Friday, December 6, 2024
    Gayle Karch Cook Center at Maxwell Hall, Room 122 (with reception to follow in the Grand Hall)
    Please join us for the 16th roundtable featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines, exploring issues of general interest to scholars of Renaissance and early modern studies. The roundtable will begin at 4pm with brief presentations by each of the panelists followed by Q&A, before we continue the exchange at the reception. The panelists are: Miriam Burrascano (French and Italian), Sarah Sabol (Musicology), and Torun Fatih (History). This will be a great chance to meet faculty and graduate students working in other disciplines. We will also advertise the Renaissance Studies minor and certificate, and announce our events planned for 2025. The event is made possible with generous support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Mary-Margaret Barr Koon Fund of the Department of French and Italian, the Department of History, and the Musicology Department.

Events Archive

  • Beginning-of-Year Faculty Roundtable and Reception
    4pm, Wednesday, September 20, 2024
    Gayle Karch Cook Center at Maxwell Hall, Room 122 (with reception to follow in the Courtyard)
    Join us for the annual Beginning-of-Year Faculty Roundtable and Reception at the Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, located at Maxwell Hall. Three faculty research presentations will begin at 4pm, followed by Q&A, then an outdoor reception in the Courtyard. Speakers include: Domenico Bertoloni Meli (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine), Giles Knox (Art History), and Marco Arnaudo (French and Italian). The roundtable is generously supported by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Mary-Margaret Barr Koon Fund of the Department of French and Italian, the Robert and Avis Burke Lecture Fund, and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine.
  • “(Re-)Constructing a Guatemalan Highland Soundscape: From Manuscript to Music,” a lecture by Kirsten Haag
    3pm, Friday, April 26, 2024
    The Lilly Library, Lecture Hall
    Join us this Friday at the Lilly Library for a lecture by Kirsten Haag, the fifth in our series on “Notions of Race in the Global Renaissance.” Haag’s lecture will be followed by a roundtable of IU scholars Chelsey Belt (Jacobs School of Music), Massimo Ossi (Jacobs School of Music) and Sonia Velázquez (Religious Studies and Comparative Literature), Q&A, and a reception. Kirstin Haag’s visit to Bloomington is made possible through generous support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Musicology, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Latin American Music Center, and the Lilly Library.
  • “The Discreet Charm of the Old Indies. Kongo, Brazil, and Colonies at the Villa Medici in Rome,” a lecture by Cécile Fromont (poster)
    3pm, Friday, January 26, 2024
    Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Humanities, Grand Hall
    Maxwell Hall, 750 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington
    Join us for a lecture by Cécile Fromont, Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, the fourth talk in our “Notions of Race in the Global Renaissance” series. Fromont’s lecture will be followed by a roundtable of IU scholars, Rachel Kabukala (Art History and African Studies), Allison Martino (Eskenazi Museum of Art), and Bret Rothstein (Art History), Q&A, and a reception. Cécile Fromont’s visit to Bloomington is made possible through generous support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Robert and Avis Burke lecture fund of the Department of Art History, the African Studies Program, and the Mary-Margaret Barr Koon Fund of the Department of French and Italian.
  • End of Year Graduate Roundtable and Reception
    4pm, Friday, December 8, 2023
    Gayle Karch Cook Center, Seminar Room 122, Maxwell Hall (with reception to follow in the Grand Hall)
    Join us for Renaissance Studies Program’s 15th Roundtable Please join us for the 15th roundtable featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines, exploring issues of general interest to scholars of Renaissance and early modern studies. The roundtable will begin at 4pm with brief presentations by each of the panelists followed by Q&A, before we continue the exchange at the reception. The panelists are: Giovanni Molina Rosario (Spanish and Portuguese), Alvise Stefani (French and Italian), and Lee Czerw (Germanic Studies).
  • Renaissance Studies NOW (poster)
    Monday, May 8, 2023, 11am (roundtable on pedagogy) and 4pm (roundtable on research)
    Gayle Karch Cook Center at Maxwell Hall
    Please join us on Monday May 8th for two vibrant roundtables on teaching and scholarship with recent IU PhDs. The confirmed speakers are Tawrin Baker (PhD in HPS, 2014, now Visiting Assistant Professor at Notre Dame), Kate Bastin (PhD in French, 2016, now Assistant Professor at Eckerd College), Haohao Lu (PhD in Art History, 2019, now Visiting Assistant Professor at Vassar College), Carlotta Paltrinieri (PhD in Italian, 2018, now Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London) and Amanda Zoch (PhD in English, 2018, now Nonpartisan Elections Project Manager with the National Council of State Legislatures).
  • Meet the Author: Kaya Şahin (History and Islamic Studies), “Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman” (poster)
    Thursday, April 13, 2023, 4pm
    Owen Hall, Wells Library Room
    Please join us for conversation between Kaya Şahin (History and Islamic Studies at IU Bloomington) and Dr. Ralph Walter (University of Oxford) around Şahin’s recent book, Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman (Oxford University Press, 2023), the first scholarly biography of Süleyman in English since 1944. The two will discuss Süleyman’s achievements as well as his failures, the world he and his contemporaries lived in, and their legacies.
  • “The Chief Black Eunuch at the Intersection of Race and Gender: Emasculated Guardians of Power in the early modern Ottoman Africana Literature,” a Lecture by Baki Tezcan (poster)
    4pm, Friday, January 27, 2023
    Join us for the third talk in our “Notions of Race in the Global Renaissance” lecture series, followed by a roundtable with Matthew Hermane (History), Olimpia Rosenthal (Spanish and Portuguese) and Kaya Şahin (History, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Islamic Studies), a Q&A, and reception.
  • End-of-Year Roundtable
    4pm, Friday, December 9, 2022
    Please join us for the 14th roundtable featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines, exploring issues of general interest to scholars of Renaissance and early modern studies. The roundtable will begin at 4pm with brief presentations by each of the panelists followed by Q&A, before we continue the exchange at the reception. This year’s panelists are: Matthew Hermane (History), Benjamin Hiskes (English) and Pantalea Mazzitello (French and Italian).
  • “Flying Home: Blackness and Memory in Caroline Randall Williams’ Lucy Negro, Redux,” a lecture by Joyce MacDonald (Professor of English at the University of Kentucky)
    1pm, Wednesday, November 30, 2022
    Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Humanities, Grand Hall
    Maxwell Hall, 750 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington
    Join us for the second talk in our “Notions of Race in the Global Renaissance” lecture series, followed by a faculty roundtable with Penelope Anderson (English), Sarah Le (English), and Olimpia Rosenthal (Spanish and Portuguese), a Q&A, and reception.
  • “Imperial Logistics, Fugitive Practice, and Comparative Racialization,” a lecture by Daniel Nemser (University of Michigan)
    3pm, Friday, October 21, 2022
    Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Humanities, Grand Hall
    Maxwell Hall, 750 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington
    Join us for the first talk in our “Notions of Race in the Global Renaissance” lecture series, followed by a roundtable with Rasul Mowatt (NC State University), Olimpia Rosenthal (Spanish and Portuguese) and Robert Schneider (History), a Q&A, and reception.
  • “The Songscapes of Early Modern Women,” a lecture by Katherine R. Larson (University of Toronto) (poster)
    3pm, Friday, September 23, 2022
    Global & International Studies Building, Room 1118
    Join us for a lecture by Katherine R. Larson, the last in our series on the “Sonic Renaissance,” followed by a roundtable with Penelope Anderson (English), Mary Helen Truglia (English) and Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature), a Q&A, and reception.
  • “Renaissance Studies NOW” (poster)
    Monday, May 2, 2022
    Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities
    Maxwell Hall, Seminar Room 222 (Please note: this room is not ADA accessible)
    11am-1pm: Teaching the Renaissance NOW
    4-6pm: Renaissance Studies NOW
    Please join us for the annual “Renaissance Studies NOW”—two roundtables with early career scholars doing exciting work, exploring new frontiers, bringing new energy to Renaissance and early modern studies. This year’s speakers include: Abdulhamit Arvas (English, University of Pennsylvania), Fabrizio Baldassarri (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, IU Bloomington), Chad Córdova (French, Emory University), Alani Hicks-Bartlett (Comparative Literature and French Studies, Brown University), Nasser Meerkhan (Spanish & Portuguese and Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures, UC Berkeley), and Jane Mikkelson (Religious Studies, University of Virginia).
  • “Archive Fever!” With Chris Fletcher, Newberry Center for Renaissance Studies
    3pm, Friday, March 25, 2022
    Lilly Library Slocum Room
    Join us at the Lilly Library Slocum Room for an event focused on the fantastic resources that the IU Renaissance Studies community has access to through our membership in the Renaissance Consortium of the Newberry Library in Chicago. Followed by a panel of IU scholars featuring Elizabeth Hebbard (French and Italian), Caitlin Mahaffy (English) and Lino Mioni (French and Italian; Wells Library), and a brief presentation by our new Newberry Representative, Prof. Penelope Anderson (English).
  • Work-in-Progress Event with Domenico Bertoloni Meli
    8pm, Monday, April 11, via Zoom
    Please save the date for this work-in-progress event with our very own Domenico Bertoloni Meli (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine). The event will take place on Zoom and the reading will be made available one week ahead of time.
  • Niall Atkinson, “The Sonic Renaissance: Bodily Experience and the Spatial History” (poster)
    4pm, Friday, February 25, 2022
    Faculty Room (upstairs) at the University Club, Indiana Memorial Union
    Niall Atkinson, Professor of Art History at the University of Chicago, will give the second lecture in the “Sonic Renaissance” series. The lecture will be followed by a roundtable with IU faculty including Giles Knox (Art History), Massimo Ossi (Musicology), and Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature).
  • End-of-Year Roundtable
    4pm-6pm, Friday, December 10, 2021
    Gayle Karch Cook Center at Maxwell Hall
    Please join us for the 13th roundtable featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines, exploring issues of general interest to scholars of Renaissance and early modern studies. The roundtable will begin at 4pm (in Seminar Room 122) with brief presentations by each of the panelists followed by Q&A, before we continue the exchange at the reception in the Grand Hall. Panelists include Lee Czerw (Germanic Studies), Jessica Jacques (Spanish and Portuguese), and Caitlin Mahaffy (English).
  • Jennifer L. Morgan, “On Race and Reinscription: Writing Enslaved Women into the Early Modern Archive” (poster)
    3pm-5pm, Thursday, November 4, 2021
    Gayle Karch Cook Center Grand Hall, Maxwell Hall
    A guest lecture by Jennifer L. Morgan (Professor of Social & Cultural Analysis & History, New York University), followed by Q&A and a reception. There will also be a closed workshop with Professor Morgan in the late morning of November 5.
  • Giuseppe Gerbino, “Sound, Voice, and Rationality in the Renaissance”
    2:30pm-4:30pm, Friday, October 1, 2021
    Gayle Karch Cook Center Grand Hall, Maxwell Hall
    The inaugural lecture in our lecture series exploring “The Sonic Renaissance,” with Giuseppe Gerbino (Musicology, Columbia University). The lecture will be followed by a roundtable with IU panelists, Q&A and a reception. Panelists include: Alison Calhoun (French and Italian), Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature), and Giovanni Zanovello (Musicology, Jacobs School of Music).
  • Work-in-progress seminar with Alison Calhoun
    12pm-1pm, Thursday, October 14, 2021
    Gayle Karch Cook Center at Maxwell Hall, Seminar room 122
    A work-in-progress seminar with Alison Calhoun (French & Italian). The paper will be made available a week ahead of time.
  • Beginning of the Year Faculty Roundtable
    3pm-5pm, Wednesday, September 1, 2021
    Gayle Karch Cook Center Grand Hall, Maxwell Hall
    Join us for the traditional Beginning of the Year Faculty Roundtable which will take place on Wednesday, September 1, 3-5pm in the beautiful Grand Hall of the wonderful new Gayle Karach Cook Center for Public Art and Humanities in the centrally located Maxwell Hall. The three faculty research presentations will begin at 3pm, followed by Q&A, then an outdoor reception in the Courtyard of Maxwell Hall. Speakers include: Massimo Ossi (Musicology, Jacobs School of Music), Anya Peterson Royce (Anthropology), and Kaya Şahin (History).
  • Meet the Authors
    Friday, January 29, 2021, 4pm (via Zoom)
    A meeting with Giles Knox (Art History), Bret Rothstein (Art History) and Ayana O. Smith (Musicology, Jacobs School of Music).
  • End-of-Year Roundtable
    Friday, December 11, 2020, 4pm (via Zoom, details to follow)
    Please join us for our traditional End-of-Year Roundtable, featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students in the field of Renaissance and early modern studies. This year’s lineup includes Ali Alsmadi (Spanish and Portuguese), Sarah Le (English) and Ryan Yong (Musicology, Jacobs School of Music).
  • Meet the Authors
    This Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 8:15pm (via Zoom)
    Please join us for a meeting with Domenico Bertoloni Meli (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine), Eric MacPhail (French and Italian) and Robert A. Schneider (History), who all published wonderful new books in 2019.
  • Whose Renaissance?
    Friday, September 25, 2020, 4:00pm (via Zoom)
    This roundtable featuring Patricia C. Ingham (English), Kaya Şahin (History), Ayana Smith (Jacobs School of Music) and Sonia Velázquez (Religious Studies) will examine “Whose Renaissance?” in relation to questions of “heritage,” lineage and belonging in light of the current context of a wider reckoning with the past. Presented as part of a semester-long series co-organized with Victorian Studies and the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
  • Beginning-of-Semester Faculty Roundtable
    Friday, September 4, 2020 (via Zoom)
    Join us for our traditional Beginning-of-Year Faculty Roundtable, featuring Olimpia E. Rosenthal (Spanish and Portuguese), Massimo Scalabrini (French and Italian) and Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature). We will meet on Zoom, but still with the aim of a light atmosphere of Renaissance small talk and mingling (in Zoom breakout rooms) from 3:30pm, with the three faculty research presentations starting at 4:00pm, followed by Q&A and further Renaissance mingling.
  • Gülru Necipoğlu (Harvard University), “The Aesthetics of Empire: Arts, Politics, and Commerce in the Construction of Sultan Süleyman’s Magnificence” (poster)
    Friday, February 21, 2020, 3pm
    University Club (President’s Room)
    A lecture by Gülru Necipoğlu, the most prominent Islamic art historian of her generation. Organized by Renaissance Studies and the Islamic Studies Program, and co-sponsored by the Department of Art History and the Robert E. and Avis Tarrant Burke Foundation.
  • End-of-Year Roundtable and Reception
    Thursday, December 12, 2019, 4pm
    College Arts & Humanities Institute
    The Renaissance Studies Program hosts the annual End-of-Year Roundtable, featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students in the field. This year’s lineup includes Chelsey Belt (Musicology), Erin Hennessey (Art History), and Margaret Slaughter (Religious Studies).
  • Bernadette Andrea (English, UC Santa Barbara), “Other Renaissances, Multiple Easts, and Transversal Contact Zones: Teresa Sampsonia Sherley’s Journey from Persia to Poland, 1608–11” (poster)
    Thursday, October 3, 2019, 4pm
    University Club (President’s Room), IMU
    The “Other Renaissances” lecture series continues with a talk by Bernadette Andrea, a leading scholar working on the conjunctions of Islam, Gender, and early modern British writing. Her lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring Penelope Anderson (English), Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature) and Matthew Hermane (History).
    This event is presented with support from the College Arts + Humanities Institute, the College of Arts + Sciences, the Islamic Studies Program, the Polish Studies Center, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of English, the Department of History, and the Center for the Study of the Middle East.
  • Renaissance Studies NOW: Old Margins and New Centers (poster)
    Monday, April 29, 10am and 3pm
    College Arts and Humanities Institute
    This all-day workshop will bring together visiting Renaissance Studies scholars and our own faculty for two roundtables focused on research and teaching. Speakers include: Ari Friedlander (English, University of Mississippi), Tomasz Grusiecki (Art History, Boise State University), Emin Lelić (History, Salisbury University), Shannon McHugh (Italian and French, University of Massachusetts Boston), Olimpia E. Rosenthal (Spanish and Portuguese, IU Bloomington), and Andrea Stevens (English, Theatre, and Medieval Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).
  • Evrim Binbaş Lecture: “Sovereignty as a Work of Art: The Debates on Political Authority in Fifteenth Century Iran and Central Asia” (poster)
    4pm, Thursday, February 28
    Dogwood Room, Indiana Memorial Union
    Evrim Binbaş will give the first talk of the 2019 “Other Renaissances” lecture series, followed by a roundtable with IU’s Paul Losensky (Comparative Literature), Winnifred Fallers Sullivan (Religious Studies), and Andrew Archey (History). Presented by Renaissance Studies and the Islamic Studies Program.
  • A Lecture by Laurie Shannon (English, Northwestern University), “Redeeming Icarus: Human / Animal Attributes and the Rise of the Microscope” (poster)
    Thursday, November 15, 2018, 4pm
    University Club (President’s Room), IMU
    A lecture by Laurie Shannon, co-sponsored by this year’s Themester 2018: Animal/Human. Followed by a roundtable featuring IU’s Constance Furey (Religious Studies), Abby Ang (English), and Domenico Bertoloni Meli (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine).
  • A Lecture by Eugenio Refini, “The Theater of Conscience: Drama, Education and Spiritual Practice in Late Renaissance Venice” (poster)
    Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, 2:30pm
    Global & International Studies Building 0003
  • Rediscovering the Archives with Our Students: Tactics and Experiences for Teaching with Primary Sources
    October 19, 2018, 3:00-5:30pm
    Lilly Library, Slocum Room
    Join us for a conversation with faculty and librarians about recent undergraduate and graduate teaching incorporating extensive archival research. We will start with short remarks from Penelope Anderson (English), Lara Kriegel (History and English), Giovanni Zanovello (Musicology), and Rebecca Baumann (Lilly Library), followed by hands-on activities with materials from the Lilly collections. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be available (safely separated from the books and manuscripts!).
  • Renaissance Studies NOW: The New Generation (poster)
    Friday, May 4, 11:30am and 4pm
    College Arts and Humanities Institute
    Speakers: Jennifer Cavalli (PhD History, 2011; Visiting Assistant Professor, College of Charleston), Tim Chenette (PhD Music Theory, 2013; Assistant Professor, Utah State University), Robert (Moses) Fritz (PhD Spanish, 2017; Assistant Professor, Murray State University), Isabella Magni (PhD Italian, 2017; Postdoctoral Fellow, Newberry Library), Evan Ragland (PhD HPS, 2012; Assistant Professor, Notre Dame University) and Whitney Sperrazza (PhD English, 2017; Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Kansas)
  • Lecture by Julia R. Lupton (English and Comparative Literature, UC Irvine): “Shakespeare’s Virtues: A Humanifesto” (poster)
    Friday, March 2, 3:45-6:00, IMU Distinguished Alumni Room
    Click here for access to Julia Lupton’s talk and the roundtable panelists’ prepared remarks.
  • Meet The Author: Constance Furey (IU, Religious Studies)
    Wednesday, February 21, 5:00pm, CAHI (1211 E. Atwater)
    Constance Furey will speak about her recent book, Poetic Relations: Intimacy and Faith in the Protestant Reformation (University of Chicago Press, 2017). (This event is organized by CAHI).
  • Lecture by Ayesha Ramachandran (Comparative Literature, Yale University): “Making Universals: Maps, Histories, Renaissances” (poster)
    Thursday, February 1, 4:15-6:15pm, IMU Walnut Room
    The talk will followed by an IU faculty roundtable on “The Global Renaissance” featuring Paul Losensky (Comparative Literature and Central Eurasian Studies), Kaya Sahin (History) and Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature).
  • End-of-Year Roundtable and Reception
    Friday, December 8, 2017, 4pm at CAHI
    Our annual roundtable will feature the exciting work of advanced graduate students. This year’s lineup includes: Christina Cole (Spanish and Portuguese), Lino Mioni (French and Italian) and Mary Helen Truglia (English).
  • Lunch seminar on Joan of Arc with Winnifred Sullivan
    Monday, December 4, 2017
    12:30-1:30pm, Ballantine Hall 004
    A brownbag discussion about Joan of Arc featuring a paper by Winnifred Sullivan (Religious Studies) and a response by Karma Lochrie (English). For a copy of the paper, please contact Shannon Gayk. Refreshments will be served.
  • The Reformation at 500: Luther, His Precursors, And Us (poster)
    Tuesday, October 31, 2017, 6pm
    Global & International Studies Building Auditorium (Room 0001)
    Early evening roundtable on the day of the 500th anniversary for the onset of the Reformation. Panelists will include Constance Furey (Religious Studies), Shannon Gayk (English), Eric MacPhail (French and Italian), Dana Marsh (Jacobs School of Music), Reverend Lyle McKee (St. Thomas Lutheran Church), and Robert Schneider (History). The panel will be moderated by Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature). Co-sponsored with MEST.
  • Renaissance Studies NOW: “New Frontiers & Hermeneutical Practices” (poster)
    Friday, April 21, 11am and 4pm
    College Arts & Humanities Institute
    Please join us for two roundtables with early career scholars from the mid-West doing exciting work, exploring new frontiers, bringing new energy to Renaissance and early modern studies. Speakers include: Stephanie Elsky (English, University of Wisconsin, Madison), Cécile Fromont (Art History, University of Chicago), Marcus Keller (French, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Sarah Van der Laan (Comparative Literature, IU) and Giovanni Zanovello (Musicology, IU).
  • Why Utopia? (poster)
    Friday, March 24, 2017, 12:00-1:15pm
    Global and International Studies Building, Room 2067
    An interdisciplinary roundtable discussion on the promise and importance of Utopia, 501 years after Thomas More coined the term. Our five panelists will make brief opening remarks on the potential of the concept in their own research and beyond, bringing us back well before Thomas More and beyond the European tradition, before we open the general discussion. Panelists include: Guadalupe González Diéguez (Jewish Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, IU), Reinier Leushuis (Modern Languages, Florida State University), Karma Lochrie (English, IU), Eric MacPhail (French and Italian, IU), and Johannes Türk (Germanic Studies, IU). Presented by Renaissance Studies and the Medieval Studies Institute.
  • Finding the Gems: Approaches to Rare Books and Manuscript Libraries in the Midwest (poster)
    Friday, February 24, 2017, 3:00pm
    A hands-on workshop for faculty and grad students with key specialists from three Mid-Western rare books libraries with strong collections in Renaissance and early modern materials: Lia Markey (Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago), Travis McDade (Interim Head of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Joel Silver (Director & Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at the Lilly Library). More information is available here.
  • End-of-Year Roundtable and Reception
    Friday, December 9, 2016, 4:30-6:30pm
    Please join us for the 8th roundtable featuring the exciting work of advanced graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines, exploring issues of general interest to scholars of Renaissance and early modern studies. The roundtable will begin at 4:30pm with brief presentations by each of the panelists followed by Q&A, before we continue the exchange at the reception. This year’s panelists are Lucia Gemmani (French & Italian; “Between Fiction and Reality: Battle from Ariosto to Marino”), Whitney Sperrazza (English; “Paper: Poetry in Parts: The Fragmented Body of Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus”), and Robert Wells (History; “A Mediterranean Academy for Atlantic Sailors: The Knights of Malta and the Americas in the Seventeenth Century”). More information is available here.
  • “What Was Beauty?” (poster)
    Friday, October 21, 2016
    In conjunction with the Themester on Beauty, this event brings a sharp focus to the question about what beauty was, what role it played in the human experience of past centuries, and how this legacy continues to shape our present consideration of and/or aversions to beauty. The event features two keynote lectures by prominent external guests Michael Cole (Art History, Columbia University) and Lydia Goehr (Philosophy, Columbia University), world class scholars of the Italian Renaissance and history of aesthetics respectively, followed by a roundtable with three IU faculty where each panelist brings in one object of beauty from the past for all of us to consider together. The panelists are Marco Arnaudo (French and Italian), Kristina Muxfeldt (Musicology) and Sonia Velázquez (Religious Studies / Comparative Literature).
  • “Bring Out Your Dead! Dancing on the Graves of Shakespeare and Cervantes”
    Thursday, October 6, 2016
    Timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, and scheduled in October, the month of Halloween, our secular cult of the dead, Bring Out Your Dead! invites students, faculty, staff, and general public to reflect in a merry context on the myriad ways the past lives on. Join us for a Renaissance multi-course banquet with dessert by Piccoli Dolci, and wise and wry interludes highlighting the best IU Arts and Humanities has to offer, including performaces by the Historical Performance Institute, University Players, and Cardinal Stage Company.
  • Beginning of the Year Reception and a Roundtable
    Thursday, September 1, 2016, 7:30pm
    Featuring brief papers by three IU faculty members:
    Nico Bertoloni Meli (History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine):
    “The Art and History of Pathological Illustrations”
    Shannon Gayk (English):
    “Power, Protection, and Henry VIII’s Prayer Roll”
    Paul Losensky (Comp Lit / Central Eurasian Studies):
    “Not all the Poets Went to India: Literary Culture in Safavid Iran”
  • Renaissance Studies NOW: Cutting Edges, New Approaches (Poster)
    Please join us on Friday April 29th for two roundtables with early career scholars from the mid-West doing exciting work, representing new approaches, bringing new energy to Renaissance and early modern studies.
    11:30am-1:15pm Roundtable 1: “Teaching the Renaissance NOW”
    4:30-6:30pm Roundtable 2: “Renaissance Studies NOW,” followed by a reception.
    Speakers: Cécile Fromont (Art History, University of Chicago), Jessie Hock (English, Vanderbilt University), Paul Johnson (Spanish, DePauw University) and Tessie Prakas (English, Kenyon College), Alison Calhoun (French, IU) and Kaya Sahin (History, IU)
    Location: College Arts & Humanities Institute, 1211 E. Atwater Avenue (Corner of Ballantine and Atwater)