Conecta. Desde 1995

Nova publicació: "Science Popularisation as Cultural Diplomacy in Cold War UNESCO (1946-1958)"

2026-06-27T14:16:00.000+02:00

Edited By Andrée Bergeron, Agusti Nieto-Galan, Jaume Sastre-Juan

Routledge, 2026

Science Popularization as Cultural Diplomacy in Cold War UNESCO (1946–1958) highlights how, after World War II, science became a crucial tool in the reestablishment of international relations, but, at the same time, an open battlefield in which different nations and ideologies struggled for hegemony.

This book explores for the first time, the international science popularization programmes at UNESCO (1946–1958) as cultural diplomacy – that is, as cultural instruments aimed at promoting certain views of science to shape international relations. Through the historical reconstruction of UNESCO’s science popularization policies and practices in its early years, this collective volume analyses in depth the ambiguous diplomatic nature of science, places science popularization in the broader history of the cultural Cold War and unveils its profound political nature. It provides a fresh historiographic perspective on science popularization in its international and diplomatic dimension, as well as food for thought on the political role of science in the past, but also in our troubled present.

Science Popularization as Cultural Diplomacy in Cold War UNESCO (1946–1958) would appeal to students, scholars and historians – of science, politics or diplomacy – science communicators and all those interested in the international dimension of science.

URL: https://www.routledge.com/Science-Popularisation-as-Cultural-Diplomacy-in-Cold-War-UNESCO-1946/Agusti-Nieto-Galan-Bergeron-Sastre-Juan/p/book/9789048562961?_ga=undefined

CfP: reflections and new perspectives on the history of computing

2026-06-27T10:14:00.000+02:00

In 2028, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing will publish its 50th volume. That is a time to reflect on the study of computing history: what it has achieved and what is yet to be done now and in the coming years. To mark the occasion, we will publish two special issues of essays on the historiography of computing. Reflections On Computing History, the first, invites authors, particularly those who have already published work on computing history, to write on older and newer approaches—what the study has accomplished or on what they think it needs to do next—not solely with reference to Annals. The issue will be guest edited by David Hemmendinger.

New Perspectives On Computing History, the second, invites authors who are new to the field or who come to it as "outsiders" to look ahead and focus on what computing history has not yet addressed and on how it may need to expand or change in the future. Mar Hicks is the guest editor for this issue.

Interested authors should send 200 to 500 word abstracts to the relevant editor and those selected will be invited to submit 2000 to 4000 word essays through Author Portal later for (light-touch) peer review.

CfP: Philosophy of Biology: Organization, Agency, and Organismality in Living Systems

2026-06-26T10:11:00.000+02:00

Philosophy of Biology: Organization, Agency, and Organismality in Living Systems

This special issue welcomes contributions addressing contemporary debates in the philosophy of biology, including:

Organization, agency, and autonomy
Organismality and biological individuality
Biosemiotics
Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo)
Teleology and biological function
Related topics in the foundations of biology

The editors particularly encourage conceptual, historical, theoretical, interdisciplinary, and empirically informed studies that explore the nature of living systems and the foundations of biological organization.

Accepted Contribution Types

Research Articles
Review Essays
Book Reviews
Critical Commentaries
Short Notes
Discussion Notes

Languages

English
Turkish

Important Dates

Initial Submission Deadline: 15 November 2026
Final Submission Deadline: 30 November 2026
Expected Publication: December 2026

Manuscripts submitted after 15 November 2026 may be considered for publication in a subsequent issue if the review and production process cannot be completed in time for inclusion in the thematic issue.

Publication Information

No APCs
No submission fees
Double-blind peer review

Submission Guidelines and Online Submission

Authors should submit manuscripts through the journal’s online submission system and prepare them according to the official template and author guidelines available at:

https://metasciencehps.org/index.php/science

CfP: Communities of Knowledge: Practices, Circulation and Transmission

2026-06-25T10:18:00.000+02:00

11th Conference CITCEM – Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Porto, Portugal

CITCEM - Transdisciplinary Research Center for Culture, Space and Memory, invites researchers from across the world and from multiple disciplinary fields to reflect on the role of communities as spaces for the creation, transmission, and transformation of knowledge over time. This approach arises from ongoing discussions about the priorities of knowledge, its application, and its practices. Over time, who holds the power to determine the relevance and legitimacy of scientific production?

The 11th CITCEM Conference is embedded within this broad conceptual framework and welcomes theoretical reflections and case studies that adopt comparative, diachronic, and multidisciplinary perspectives. We encourage contributions that bring different territories, epistemic traditions, and temporalities into dialogue, that value non-hegemonic practices, and that challenge narratives centred on dominant knowledge models.

This conference seeks to explore how different communities – local, Indigenous, religious, professional, digital, academic, or transnational – construct and share memories and knowledge within diverse cultural, political, and historical contexts. It therefore asks: how do communities function as collective spaces of knowledge? What processes, practices, and forms of interaction enable this production of knowledge? To what extent does the analysis of the construction of formal and informal knowledge spaces contribute to understanding, creating, and communicating knowledge?

This plurality of approaches requires consideration of both institutional forms (schools, houses of knowledge, places of worship, libraries, archives, laboratories, workshops) and informal or experiential forms, including oral traditions, everyday practices, family networks, professional environments, ritual sociabilities, community participation, and experience‑based knowledge ecologies.

From a long‑term perspective, it is essential to understand how knowledge circulates through mobilities, encounters, trade routes, diasporas, colonial and post‑colonial processes, and migrations (forced or voluntary), as well as through technological or ritual mediations, generating hybridisations, tensions, or new forms of legitimation. Likewise, it is imperative to consider the power regimes that shape the visibility, transmission, and status of different types of knowledge.

URL: https://citcem.org/11conference/

CfP: History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals

2026-06-25T10:17:00.000+02:00

We welcome contributions from historians as well as scholars working in adjacent disciplines, including science and technology studies, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, and related areas. Unless otherwise specified, submissions may address any geographical region or historical period.

Upcoming themed issue topics (see below for more information about each):

Drugs, Pharma, and the American State
Minds and Medicines

Potential contributors are encouraged to interpret these themes broadly. We are particularly interested in work that situates pharmaceuticals, medicines, and drugs within larger questions such as those involving power, regulation, consumerism, activism, identity, inequality, and everyday experience.

If you have a manuscript that fits one of these themes, you are invited to submit it through our submission manager between now and September 1. Scholars working on projects in progress are also welcome to submit abstracts for consideration by July 15. The editorial team will review abstract submissions on a rolling basis and follow up with additional guidance and potential full submission timelines. Please indicate in your cover letter which themed issue you are responding to.

Visit hopp.uwpress.org/page/info/submissions for more information about the journal and our submission guidelines.

Exposición: Fontilles. La ciudad escondida

2026-06-12T18:36:00.000+02:00

Pabellón del Carmen. Recinto Modernista de Sant Pau, Barcelona.

18 de junio de 2026- 01 de noviembre de 2026

El jueves 18 de junio de 2026, la exposición Fontilles. La ciudad escondida, llegará al pabellón Nuestra del Carmen del Recinto Modernista de Sant Pau, en Barcelona. En esta primera itinerancia, la exposición desanda el camino que recorrieron los veinte últimos habitantes del Hospital de San Lázaro de Horta, cuando fueron trasladados al Sanatorio San Francisco de Borja de Fontilles, en la Marina Alta alicantina, para continuar con su aislamiento, tras la clausura definitiva de la masía de Can Masdeu, en enero de 1961.

Al igual que el viaje cambió la vida de los últimos de Can Masdeu y la de quienes les acogieron en Fontilles, su recuerdo ha transformado esta exposición, inundándola de sonidos. El sonido de las pequeñas radios personales, que los integrantes de la llamada “colonia catalana de Fontilles” trajeron consigo y con las que lograron romper la censura radiofónica a la que habían estado sometidos durante décadas quienes les acogieron en Fontilles. El sonido, también, de la voz de las personas que, a lo largo del siglo XX fueron obligadas a sacrificar sus vidas para proteger la de los demás. Los visitantes podrán escuchar lo que estas personas nos contaron sobre su experiencia de vida en los lugares que la exposición recrea a través de objetos, imágenes, documentos y, ahora también, sonidos.

Los materiales expuestos son una muestra del rico patrimonio histórico recuperado y preservado gracias al trabajo de colaboración realizado por la Universidad de Alicante y la Fundación Fontilles, con el apoyo de la fundación japonesa Sasakawa Health Foundation. Una amplia selección de estos materiales está accesibles a través del portal Fontilles y la lepra en España, de la Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. El diseño expositivo ha sido fiel y ha integrado el testimonio de las personas que participaron en la elaboración del libro Éramos todos iguales. Relatos de vida en torno a la lepra. En su viaje a Barcelona, la exposición se ha enriquecido con materiales procedentes del Arxiu Històric de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, que dan cuenta de la vida de los habitantes de Can Masdeu y su viaje hasta Fontilles. Todo ello ha sido recogido en el libro de mano.

Es una exposición inmersiva e interactiva en la que los visitantes son invitados a recorrer los lugares de vida, trabajo y ocio de los habitantes de Fontilles y Can Masdeu, y acercarse a las historias que cada uno de los objetos, escritos, imágenes y voces expuestas nos cuentan de la vida de quienes los usaron. Visitar esta ciudad del pasado es también una ocasión para reflexionar sobre nuestras ciudades del presente y reconocer en unas y otras las raíces del estigma y el rechazo al diferente.

Comisariado: Antonio García Belmar, Imma Mengual e Inés Antón Dayas

Organiza: Vicerectorat de Cultura, Esports i Societat, Universitat de València

Fundació Fontilles. Fundació Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Prestadores: Fundación Fontilles, Arxiu de la Diputació d’Alacant, Filmoteca Valenciana (IVC), Arxiu Històric de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Diseño: Ortogràfic

BECAS UNIA (plazo abierto hasta 22 junio) para el Encuentro Medicina en acción a través de la Filología, la Historia y las Ciencias de la Salud, Baeza (Jaén), 27-28 agosto 2026

2026-06-12T17:32:00.000+02:00

Este encuentro nace de la necesidad de fomentar un diálogo interdisciplinar sólido entre las Humanidades y las Ciencias de la Salud, y se alinea con la corriente conocida como Humanidades Médicas (o Medical Humanities). En un contexto académico y social en el que la Medicina busca rehumanizarse y las letras persiguen aplicaciones prácticas, esta propuesta ofrece una oportunidad única para analizar la enfermedad y la curación no solo como hechos biológicos, sino también como fenómenos culturales, históricos y lingüísticos complejos.

Los objetivos principales son dotar al alumnado de herramientas críticas para interpretar las fuentes médicas originales, comprender la evolución diacrónica de los conceptos de salud y enfermedad, y reflexionar sobre los desafíos éticos contemporáneos desde una perspectiva histórica. Se busca que el estudiantado tenga una visión global de la Medicina y las Ciencias de la Salud como herederas de una tradición textual y filosófica de largo alcance.

Respecto a los contenidos, durante el desarrollo del programa se hará un recorrido por los fundamentos de la racionalidad hipocrática y su convivencia con el pensamiento mágico-religioso, los complejos procesos de transmisión y traducción de los textos médicos, la historia social de los cuidados y la bioética, conectando el pasado con la práctica clínica actual.

Más información en: https://www.unia.es/estudios-y-acceso/oferta-academica/cursos-de-verano/medicina-en-accion-a-traves-de-la-filologia-la-historia-y-las-ciencias-de-la-salud

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Mónica Durán Mañas, Universidad de Granada

CfP: Public history reviews for the Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science

2026-06-12T13:42:43.568+02:00

The Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science is expanding our coverage to include reviews of museum exhibitions, podcasts, virtual projects, documentaries, and other media designed for a popular audience.

Editors are looking for reviews of ~750 words of current work or future projects that will be launched by the time of publication in spring 2027. Reviews can take any form (narrative, comic—feel free to surprise us!) but should cover the project’s form, aim, where it succeeds or struggles, and who might find it helpful.

We encourage submissions across a wide geographic range, and also encourage writers to consider projects based in Pittsburgh, the site of next year’s SAHMS conference. Before composing a draft, writers are encouraged to send a one-paragraph pitch to Jessica Hester.

Contact Information

Jessica Leigh Hester, PhD candidate, History, Johns Hopkins University

URL: https://journals.troy.edu/index.php/JSAHMS/about/submissions

New open access book: Learning to Cut: Surgical training and practice, 1450–1800

2026-06-10T17:09:00.000+02:00

UCL Press is delighted to announce the publication of a new open access book that may be of interest to list subscribers: Learning to Cut: Surgical training and practice, 1450–1800 edited by Maria Pia Donato, Elaine Leong and Tillmann Taape.

This is the first publication in a major new open access history of science series edited by Simon Werrett: Opening up the History of Science

Download it free: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/learning-to-cut/

PhD position: History and didactics of the chemical bond

2026-06-10T17:04:00.000+02:00

A three-year PhD position is available in Paris for a research project on the history of the chemical bond and the history of its teaching. The position is aimed at candidates with a background in history of science and chemistry, and applicants should have at least a passive knowledge of French.

Applications are open until 22 June 2026, and the successful candidate will begin the PhD on 1 October 2026.

Further information and the full announcement are available at: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR7219-VIRMAO-023/Default.aspx.

CfP: XIV Jornadas de la Sección de Historia de la Psiquiatría Asociación Española de Neuropsiquiatría-Profesionales de Salud Mental

2026-05-30T11:13:00.000+02:00

Se encuentra abierto el plazo de inscripción y de envío de comunicaciones para las XIV Jornadas de la Sección de Historia de la Psiquiatría de la Asociación Española de Neuropsiquiatría–Profesionales de Salud Mental (AEN-PSM).

Las jornadas se celebrarán en Ourense del 22 al 24 de octubre de 2026 y constituirán un espacio de encuentro para investigadores e investigadoras interesados en la historia de la psiquiatría, la salud mental y disciplinas afines.

Las personas interesadas ya pueden formalizar su inscripción y presentar propuestas de comunicación para participar en el encuentro.

URL: https://sites.google.com/view/xivjornadasdehistoriaaen/inicio?authuser=0

CfP: The Triumph of the Therapeutic Revisited: The Politics of Self-Care and Self-Improvement in Contemporary American Culture

2026-05-29T17:35:15.450+02:00

Guest editors: Alexandra Bacalu & Dragoș Manea

The rising popularity and speedy proliferation of social media in the 2010s and 2020s has resulted in the revival of a large-scale cultural interest in self-care and self-help—now reconceptualized as digital practices of self-improvement and virtual means of performing individual authenticity, in the context of increasingly blurred boundaries between the public and the private. This concern with caring for the self and preserving mental health has only peaked during moments of political crisis and social unrest, with the 2016 and 2024 elections of Donald Trump, the 2020 global pandemic, and the recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East being repeatedly referenced in popular discussions around the—highly debatable—therapeutic need for occasional political disengagement. The birth of the sociological study of therapeutic culture(s) in the 1960s and 1970s coincided with the recognition of America as a particularly intriguing case-study on the Western “triumph of the therapeutic” (Rieff 1966), especially considering its open-armed welcoming of Freudian ideas in the post-war period or the rise of spiritual self-actualization fads that followed the deeply politically-engaged Civil Rights era (see Berger 1965; Lasch 1979; Lears 1983). Indeed, American culture offers an impressive collection of key contexts in the history of the larger Western concern with therapy and self-development. A rough survey of these might include: Puritan self-examination and self-discipline in seventeenth-century New England; Transcendentalist articulations of self-reliance and nonconformity; the clinical reception of Freudian psychoanalysis in the twentieth century; Audre Lorde’s articulation of self-care as an act of radical political warfare; US social media influencers and the popularity of Stoic self-help in the Manosphere; among others. We invite papers that reflect on the political, social, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of self-care—and its many cognates—in any aspect of contemporary American literature and culture. This special issue explores questions such as: In what ways are contemporary notions of self-care politically engaged or politically neutral? How can we (re)conceptualize self-care as a politically-loaded set of cultural practices that necessarily include the care of the other? How can the pursuit of individual happiness and self-actualization be made compatible with active political engagement in the popular imagination? How is the human body visually constructed via representations of self-care on digital and social media platforms? How are self-care practices involved in the cultural representation of race, ethnicity, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation? To what extent can contemporary representations of individual self-improvement make room for a more nuanced account of human vulnerability in the context of widespread neoliberal narratives of undefeatable individual resilience?

[Inter]sections is the online open-access double-blind peer-reviewed journal of the American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest (www.intersections-journal.com). It is indexed in the MLA Directory of Periodicals, Ulrichsweb, DOAJ, CEEOL, EBSCO, and ERIH PLUS.

Contact Information

Please send all inquiries and proposals (a title, 300-word abstract, and 100-word bio) to Dragoș Manea at and Alexandra Bacalu. The deadline for proposals is June 25, 2026. The deadline for articles between 4,000 and 8,000 words is September 15, 2026. All texts should be written in accordance with the 9th edition of the MLA citation style.

URL: https://intersections-journal.com/2026/04/27/call-for-papers-2/

CfP: Science narratives and the public, Royal Society, 20 November 2026

2026-05-29T17:30:54.461+02:00

A conference taking place on 20 November 2026 at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AG, London

9.30am – 5.00pm

Deadline for submissions: Friday 26 June 2026

2026 sees the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough FRS, perhaps the greatest exponent of natural history through television. His work is part of a long tradition of communicating often-complex ideas to a wider public. Scientists have used a variety of media to make a case for science: most traditionally in printed works, but also through anecdotes, lectures, demonstrations, exhibitions, press articles, radio and television. Today, our scientists may create websites or take to social media to gain a wider audience for their work, or to explain the work of many others. But who have been the most successful communicators and why? What narrative techniques made them effective? In an era of good and bad influencers, distortion or rejection of science, fake news, and information overload, what can we learn from episodes of science communication past and the messages which cut through?

The Society is interested in how scientific narratives have been crafted and how the best of current knowledge has been conveyed to general audiences. Some storytelling has retained an enormous hold on the popular imagination: from apple trees and gravity, to flying kites and lightning. Why have such tales and images of science in action persisted and how far from reality are they? To what extent have scientists deliberately fashioned such basic narratives, and what makes a good story (or a bad story) in science?

Equally, how have public voices, from everyday people with expertise, such as craftspeople, sailors, miners, pregnant women, and inhabitants of other nations influenced science narratives? And whose voices remained unheard?

The Royal Society is holding a one-day conference to explore themes of discourse between scientists and the public through a variety of media. The event should produce an interdisciplinary gathering of literary scholars, film and television historians, and historians of science. We welcome proposals for 15- to 20-minute papers on appropriate themes relating to narratives of the 17th – 21st centuries:

How far have narrative techniques been shaped by scientists, and how much by others?
How is narrative structured? What aspects are prioritised? How does the scientific content influence the narrative form, and vice versa?
What role does imagination and imaginative imagery play in explaining science?
Is there a link between particular literary genres and scientific narrative? How do scientific stories influence popular literature?
Which media have had the significant impacts on how science is explained, and why?
Which scientists have succeeded in becoming storytelling sages, talking heads, or media pundits? Were their reputations for omniscience deserved?
How much care have scientists exercised in straying from their usual disciplines while explaining science to the public?

Please submit proposals (not exceeding 300 words, including a biographical note of c.50 words) for 15- to 20-minute papers by Friday 26 June 2026, with the subject line ‘proposal for conference paper’.

Financial support will be available, based on need, to help speakers cover expenses related to attendance, including accommodation, transport and care costs. We welcome papers from all stages of research careers.

CfP: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Science from the 16th through the 18th Centuries

2026-05-29T17:29:36.481+02:00

Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science will receive proposals for articles that seek to reflect Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Science from the 16th through the 18th Centuries for the issue of June 2027.

Full details regarding the scope, submission guidelines, and deadlines are available on the journal’s website.

Call for Papers - Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Science from the 16th through the 18th Centuries | Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science

We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this call with colleagues and potential contributors who may be interested in the topic.

Call for Contributions (vol. 76|2027) Materiality, Language, Power. Talismans in Context

2026-05-28T17:33:00.000+02:00

Special issue coordinated by Pierre Petit, Alain Delattre, and Xavier Luffin

Talismans are attested in the most diverse societies, spanning every epoque from prehistory to the present day, where they are being reinvented in the context of advanced capitalism and the digital world (Jackson 2022; McBain 2024). However, Japanese omamori are neither the hirizi of the Arab-Swahili world, nor the magical gems of Greco-Roman antiquity, nor the Saint Benedict ‘exorcist’ medals: the historical trajectories and cultural contexts of talismans are culturally specific. In the search for an Urreligion, many authors over the past two centuries have ignored these trajectories and contexts, adopting a generic approach to the topic (Lévy-Bruhl 1925, Marquès-Rivière 1938). By contrast, this special issue of Civilisations seeks to highlight approaches rooted in ethnographic and historical contexts, engaging reflexively in broader analytic considerations by comparing societies and periods.

Talismans – or amulets, as we will not distinguish between the two here – are generally miniature objects belonging to the intimate sphere, easily carried, displayed, or concealed. Whether or not they are figurative or inscribed, they possess protective powers and sometimes enhancing properties (luck, charm, charisma) for their owner. These powers are conferred through activation rituals or liturgical practices, but their status as personal objects tends to remove their concrete uses from the control of religious authorities.

The issue intends on addressing three key questions to initiate dialogue between contributions. First, it aims to question the materiality of these objects. Extending to a new category of objects the material turn of studies on religion, we intend to demonstrate that materiality matters (Cohen & Mottier 2016; Meyer & Houtman 2012). All religious practice depends on this materiality and on the aesthetic (in the sense of sensory experience) it creates. A paper talisman does not offer the same possibilities of use as a metal one. Having a talisman tattooed or keeping one under clothing results in very different bodily experiences. The emotions evoked by a very kawaii (“cute”) omamori are not the same as those generated by a demonic apotropaic figurine. Studying materiality also leads to questioning the coexistence or succession over time of different talismanic supports: this ‘intermateriality’ implies shifts or ruptures in meanings and uses, providing a particularly fertile ground for exploring these objects from a dynamic perspective.

Regarding language, talismans are often inscribed and always embedded in speech acts. They give rise to various oral and written practices, whose modalities deserve to be explored in relation to one another. The type of writing or symbols, the language or language register, the textual or graphic layout often differ from everyday uses (Faraone 2012). This gives some objects an esoteric dimension, particularly evident in the magic squares of Islamic talismans or in the diagrams of Buddhist medals. The written characters of talismans are sometimes illegible, sometimes invisible because they are hidden in a cloth pouch, or a glass or metal cylinder. What form of communication do such singular inscriptions support? What role do images – sometimes accompanying the text – play, and to what extent do they reinforce the object’s performativity? What is the relationship between such inscriptions and orality or other written texts, such as the Qur’an (Hamès 2007; Coulon 2017), at the moment of their activation or use – moments that may be accompanied by prayers or incantatory formulas?

Finally, talismans bear power. This distinguishes them from other religious objects more closely linked to representational, liturgical, or devotional functions. But where does their power come from? To answer this question, their materiality and linguistic components must be situated within a relational perspective (Gell 1998; Johnston 2024). The power of amulets and talismans emanates from a network of relationships woven between the user and, depending on the case, their entourage, the donor, the ritual specialist, the religious authority, or invisible entities – whether a magical companion, a saint, a spirit, a deity, or a single god (Garcia Probert & Sijpesteijn 2022; Galoppin 2021). Talismans receive their power both from social links and from their relationship with fundamental alterity. They could be reappraised drawing on critical approaches to the notion of ‘fetish’, which has led to the creation of alternative concepts, such as that of the ‘power figure’ (MacGaffey 1994, Newell 2014, Valeri 2018: 103-120). Their power comes as much from others as from Others.

These issues must be considered within specific contexts that contributors will situate according to the relevance of their topics. Authors are expected to specify the vernacular lexicon of these objects; to clarify the historical and religious context in which they evolve, often marked by cycles of tension between authorities and users; and to place these objects in context within both the economy of the gift – creating intimate bonds – and the broader economy.

At the crossroads of anthropology, history and art history, archaeology, and philology, this issue will pay particular attention to contributions from different disciplines. The editors will also value regional and temporal diversity in studies in order to reassess the analytical paradigms of different research traditions.

Article proposals, in French or (British) English, must include a title, an abstract (maximum 500 words) of the intended article, a provisional bibliography, and 4–5 keywords. Visual materials supporting the argument are welcome. The journal also accepts proposals for book reviews related to the theme, as well as review articles comparing several recent publications.

Information about the journal Civilisations is available at: https://journals.openedition.org/civilisations/

All proposals must be sent before July 15, 2026, to the journal’s mailbox revuecivilisations@ulb.be and to its editorial director pierre.petit@ulb.be. The authors will then be contacted again by email in August. The deadline for submitting the selected texts is set for January 10, 2027, with publication of the volume scheduled for the end of 2027.

References

Cohen, Anouk & Damien Mottier, 2016. “Pour une anthropologie des matérialités religieuses”, Archives de sciences sociales des religions 174, pp. 349-368.

Coulon, Jean-Charles, 2017. La magie en terre d’islam au Moyen Âge. Paris: Éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques.

Faraone, Christopher A., 2012. Vanishing acts on ancient Greek amulets. From oral performance to visual design. London: University of London.

Galoppin, Thomas (coord.), 2021. “La magie entre Antiquité et Moyen Âge : traditions, innovations, autorités”, thematic issue of the Revue de l’histoire des religions 238, pp. 603-728.

Garcia Probert, Marcella A. & Petra M. Sijpesteijn, 2022. Amulets and talismans of the Middle East and North Africa in context. Leiden: Brill.

Gell, Alfred, 1998. Art and agency. An anthropological theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Hamès, Constant (dir.), 2007. Coran et talismans. Textes et pratiques magiques en milieu musulman. Paris: Karthala.

Jackson, Peter A., 2022. Capitalism, magic, Thailand. Modernity with enchantment. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Johnston, Jay, 2024. Amulets in magical practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien, 1925. La mentalité primitive (4th edition). Paris: Félix Alcan.

MacGaffey, Wyatt, 1994. “African objects and the idea of fetish”, RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 25(Spring), pp. 123-131.

Marquès-Rivière, Jean, 1938. Amulettes, talismans et pantacles dans les traditions orientales et occidentales. Paris: Payot.

McBain, Paul (éd.), 2024. “The amulet culture of Thailand”, thematic issue of Journal of the Siam Society 112(2), pp. 7-154.

Meyer, Birgit & Dick Houtman, 2012. “Material religion – How things matter”, in Dick Houtman & Birgit Meyer (eds), Things. Religion and the question of materiality, pp. 1-26. New-York: Fordham University Press.

Newell, Sasha, 2014. “The matter of the unfetish. Hoarding and the spirit of possessions”, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 4(3), pp. 185-213.

Valeri, Valerio, 2018. Classic concepts in anthropology. Chicago: HAU Books.

Contact Information: Laetitia Dedieu

URL: https://journals.openedition.org/civilisations/

CfP: Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine

2026-05-28T17:32:00.000+02:00

The Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University will host the 18th annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine (JAS-Med) on September 25th and 26th, 2026, in Baltimore, MD. Originally founded in 2002 with a mission of fostering a collegial intellectual community amongst graduate students and providing an engaging forum for graduate research, JAS-Med is proudly student-led and student-organized. We welcome interest and participation from graduate students pursuing research in the history of medicine and related fields, including anthropology, sociology, public health, bioethics, law, gender and sexuality studies, political science, as well as ethnicity, race, and migration studies.

We invite all interested graduate students — Master’s, PhD, and MD/PhD — to submit an abstract by June 1st, 2026. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and should clearly state the purpose, thesis, and principal findings of the paper to be presented. JAS-Med 2026 will include both panel discussions and poster presentations. Details regarding registration will be communicated over the summer.

Please submit your abstract here: https://forms.gle/CwJpUPEZDVojgmYU6

We encourage student presentations on any topic, including those utilising interdisciplinary approaches. Past presenters have worked with geographic information systems, statistics, demography, literary criticism, ethnography, and visual analysis. By welcoming these varied forms of scholarship, we hope to inspire a sustained and rigorous discussion on what it means to produce histories of medicine.

We urge students whose papers are accepted to seek financial support from their home institutions to participate in the seminar. We hope that a limited amount of travel support will be made available to students whose home departments are not able to subsidize their travel; however, we are uncertain as to the extent and availability of such funding at this time. Information about availability of funding and how to apply will be sent to those whose proposals are accepted for the program.

We look forward to welcoming you to Baltimore in October!

— Daisy Sanchez and Casey Fern, JAS-Med 2026 Program Committee Co-Chairs.

URL: https://forms.gle/CwJpUPEZDVojgmYU6

Novedad bibliográfica en acceso abierto: De la pesta a la grip: la ciutat assetjada. La gestió municipal de les epidèmies a la Mediterrània, 1348-1918

2026-05-16T17:18:00.000+02:00

Editores: Carmel Ferragud i Alfons Zarzoso

ISBN: 978-84-1396-107-1

https://doi.org/10.4995/9788413961071edUPV

L’obra ofereix una visió de llarg recorregut sobre l’impacte de les epidèmies a les societats mediterrànies, especialment als territoris de l’antiga Corona d’Aragó, des del segle XV fins al XX, posant l’accent en el paper central dels municipis. Les epidèmies es presenten com a crisis globals que afecten tots els àmbits de la vida social i que revelen tant les fragilitats com les capacitats d’organització col·lectiva. El llibre defensa que, davant l’absència d’estats forts, l’administració local va esdevenir l’espai clau de resposta política, sanitària i social, amb mesures que van evolucionar però que mantingueren una continuïtat notable al llarg dels segles. A través d’estudis de cas locals, es mostra com medicina, religió, economia i poder municipal interactuaren en la gestió del contagi. El volum recorre les grans pestes medievals, la pesta de 1647-48 i les epidèmies contemporànies com el còlera o la grip de 1918, integrant fonts molt diverses. Finalment, reivindica la utilitat de la mirada local i el diàleg amb la historiografia internacional per entendre millor el passat i reflexionar sobre els reptes sanitaris presents i futurs.

Url: https://monografias.editorial.upv.es/index.php/ehl/issue/view/178

Vivències i Sabers: Converses rares sobre intersexualitats i càncer de cèrvix per imaginar altres ginecologies possibles

2026-05-16T14:09:00.000+02:00

Presentació de:

"Artesanías Biológicas. Por qué la biología y la clínica necesitan a las personas intersex" (Sam Fernández, 2025) i "Listening to the Cervix: a Handbook on Early-Stages Cervical Cancer, Embodied Knowledge and Power" (Còmic, Laia i Lyona, 2026)

10 de juny / 19 h / Casal Popular Sageta de Foc, (c/Sant Domènec, Baixos 1 i 2, Tarragona)

Organitzen:

Casal Popular Sageta de Foc, Llibreria El Soterrani, Grupo SALHISOC-UCLM, MARC-URV i DAFITS-URV.

Més info:

sam.fernandez@uclm.es

Vivències i sabers és un espai de conversa entre perspectives que rarament dialoguen juntes.

Des de les intersexualitats fins al càncer de cèrvix, pensem què ens revelen aquestes

experiències i sabers sobre la ginecologia i la cura ...

i imaginem altres ginecologies iformes de cura possibles i desitjables

CfP: "Making America Healthy Again: Granola, Guns, and the Gynosphere" at The 123rd Annual PAMLA Conference

2026-05-16T13:17:40.951+02:00

This panel title borrows from the article "Granola and Guns: The Rise of Conspirituality" hosted on McGill University's Office for Science and Society that attempts to define and locate in American society a perplexing mindset that blends countercultural mystical thinking and conservative paranoia. "Conspirituality," which PennState defines as "a belief system that blends new age spiritual beliefs and conspiracy theorizing," has also been branded the "crunchy-to-fascism" pipeline, demonstrating how an openness to crystal healing, chakra opening, sonic baths, and celestial alignment has led many—often well-to-do white women—towards "Pastel QAnon," anti-vaxx, and an embrace of alt-right beliefs.

This panel seeks to explore wellness culture influencers, trends, and movements in order to better understand what forces, values, and beliefs give rise to competing definitions of "health" and "wellness" and to explore the various incarnations, iterations, and manifestations of these fraught and unstable concepts and the figures that advocate and advance them. In the essay “Crisis of Medicine or Crisis of Anti-medicine?”, Michel Foucault asserts that medicine “is not a pure science, but part of an economic system and of a system of power,” an argument that undergirds this panel as it seeks to create a space in which to examine media that challenges and at times hopes to undermine institutions of the American ruling class and its influence to define and prescribe healthful practices and the treatment of disease, illustrating how wellness culture puts the power to heal into question and conflict.

URL: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19975

CfP: Tuscany and the Iberian Empires Migration and Knowledge Transmission in the Early Modern Period

2026-05-16T13:16:25.465+02:00

In the early modern period (c. 1500-1700), Iberian religious refugees, scholars, merchants, and diplomats took up residence in Tuscany. In search of protection or fame, they weaved a network that linked Iberia, Tuscany, and wider imperial territories. New Christians, Moriscos, and other communities displaced by persecution—as well as intellectuals, philosophers, medical practitioners, envoys, diplomats, and other intermediaries—mediated the circulation of knowledge, materials, and political interests between courts, universities, and religious institutions.

By taking a broad view of these encounters, this workshop aims to explore the multiple and layered presence of Iberian agents in early modern Tuscany between c. 1500 and 1700. Papers may also address the reception and assimilation of knowledge, materials, and ideas from the Portuguese and Spanish empires within Italian contexts.

WE PARTICULARLY ENCOURAGE CONTRIBUTIONS WHICH ADDRESS TOPICS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

Mobility, exile, and forced migration networks across the Iberian world–including its overseas possessions—and Tuscany.
The circulation of scientific, technical, ethnographic, and medical knowledge among Iberian and Tuscan institutions.
The representation and reception of the Portuguese and Spanish empires in Tuscan political thought, literature, science, and art.
Diplomacy, espionage, and political brokerage within and between courts.
Material and cultural transfers: books, maps, instruments, liturgical objects, and technologies.

Comparative, micro-historical, and transregional approaches are especially welcome. We also encourage interdisciplinary perspectives that draw on the history of science, the history of medicine, religious studies, economic history, diplomacy, literature, art history, and Jewish studies.

ORGANIZERS:

João Covolan (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa); David Soares Mesquita (Centre for Classical Studies – University of Lisbon)

APPLICATION PROCESS:

The conference will take place at the Medici Archive Project in Via de’ Benci 10, Florence, on Friday, 30 October 2026.

To apply, please submit a PDF with an abstract( max 200 words), along with a short Bio (max 100 words), by July 15, 2026 to: education@medici.org.

Successful applicants will be notified by August 1, 2026.

Papers may be read in either English or Italian, and presentations should not exceed 20 minutes.

PUBLICATION:

Selected papers will be included in an edited volume published by the Medici Archive Project Series with Brepols/Harvey Miller.

More information: cfp-tuscany-and-iberian-empires0.pdf

Novedad bibliográfica: "Cerebros electrónicos. Historia de los orígenes de la informática en España"

2026-05-09T18:38:00.000+02:00

Se ha publicado recientemente el libro "Cerebros electrónicos. Historia de los orígenes de la informática en España", de José María López Sánchez y Alba Fernández Gallego (Editorial Comares, 2026).

El volumen analiza la llegada y desarrollo de la informática en España con el objetivo de comprender el significado histórico y cultural de los distintos procesos que acompañaron la implantación del ordenador electrónico en nuestro país. Desde una perspectiva amplia, el estudio aborda este fenómeno atendiendo a sus dimensiones científicas, políticas, económicas y sociales, proponiendo una aproximación que va más allá de la historia técnica de la computación .

El marco temporal se sitúa entre el final de la Guerra Civil y el último tercio del siglo XX, con especial atención a las décadas del franquismo, la transición a la democracia y los primeros años del nuevo sistema político. En este contexto, el libro examina la introducción de la informática en ámbitos como la administración del Estado, la empresa, la universidad y la investigación, así como los procesos de automatización e informatización que transformaron progresivamente estas esferas.

Entre otros aspectos, se estudian el papel de actores e instituciones clave en el desarrollo de la automática y la electrónica en España, la configuración de políticas científicas y tecnológicas, y la emergencia de nuevos espacios profesionales y de conocimiento vinculados a la informática. El análisis permite, así, aproximarse a algunos de los cambios estructurales más relevantes de la España contemporánea a través de un objeto tecnológico central en la segunda mitad del siglo XX.

Más información en la web de la editorial: https://www.comares.com/libro/cerebros-electronicos_179350/

Novedad bibliográfica: "The New Modern Medicine Disease, Evidence, and Epidemiological Medicine" (acceso abierto)

2026-05-08T18:38:00.013+02:00

Autor: Jonathan Fuller

Contemporary scientific medicine is a new modern medicine-one shaped by new disease epidemics, new norms of evidence, and the new sciences of epidemiology. Jonathan Fuller provides a philosophical treatment of this new modern medicine, an epidemiological medicine that has dominated healthcare for decades.

Epidemiological medicine is a model of medicine calibrated to the management of epidemic noncommunicable diseases such as cancers and chronic conditions, reliant on evidence from epidemiological studies such as clinical trials and infused with epidemiological thinking. The New Modern Medicine utilizes resources from the philosophy of science and the philosophy of medicine to examine disease and evidence in the new modern medicine, particularly problems brought about by the twentieth century integration of medicine with epidemiology.

Fuller explores topics such as the nature and evolution of modern scientific medicine, theories of contagion and cancer, the causation and classification of disease, the nature of chronic diseases and mental disorders, evidence-based medicine and therapeutic prediction, medical interventions and concepts of risk, problems of extrapolating from clinical trials, biased evidence and therapeutic skepticism, the foundations of personalized medicine, as well as the signs and symptoms of a looming postmodern medicine.

URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-new-modern-medicine-9780190066147?cc=us&lang=en&#

CfP: Project Images of Nursing. Still and Moving Representations of Professional Nursing

2026-05-08T17:57:00.000+02:00

Deadline for abstracts: September 30, 2026
Feedback: October 30, 2026
Deadline for completed contributions: April 30, 2027

As in literature, professional nursing is a constant, and sometimes even central, theme in art history: Professional nurses appear as characters in the visual arts, in films, and in typical soap operas—portrayed here as well as in these genres as compassionate heroines, dutiful shadow figures, or powerful antagonists to medical authority. Having explored the poetics of nursing in our initial approach to the topic of nursing in art, this next step will focus on visualizations of nursing in photography, painting, and film.

We are seeking contributions that, from a scholarly perspective, focus on professional nurses as individuals or collective bodies and analyze how they are visualized in the aforementioned (art) forms. We are interested in all questions that reveal the ideas, normative assumptions, conceptions, and social contexts underlying such visualizations and how the pictorial realization succeeds in each case. Which symbols are used, which visual language is employed? What does this reveal about the context of creation and/or the intended audience? What assumptions about gender relations are expressed? Which role models or stereotypes are revealed? What themes are addressed? And assuming reciprocal effects: What impact do these visualizations have on society's perception of nursing? Is the discourse on professional nursing influenced? And does the constantly evolving social discourse change the visual representation of nursing? Where are current historical developments reflected?

Scholarly contributions that address one or more of these analytical aspects are welcome, in German or in English.

If you would like to submit a contribution, please send an abstract (max. 500 words) to Prof. Dr. Sabine Nover or JProf. Dr. Katharina Fürholzer by September 30, 2026.

Url: https://necs.org/news/calls-for-papers/project-images-of-nursing-still-and-moving-representations-of-professional

CfP: Health Feminism and Anti-Gender Politics: Knowledge, Body Politics and Reactions in a Historical Perspective

2026-05-08T08:58:00.001+02:00

Within the frame of Cost Action CA23149 “Democratization at Stake? Comparing Anti-Gender Politics in Central East Europe and the Near and Middle East”, we aim at compiling a special issue on

Health Feminism and Anti-Gender Politics: Knowledge, Body Politics and Reactions in a Historical Perspective

Starting in the late 1960s, health books and other publications written ‘by women for women’, the practice of self-examination and the concept of women’s health centres stimulated demands for better and women-centred health care. This new focus on women’s health emerged as a transnational phenomenon from “Western” women’s movements to socialist feminism beyond the Iron Curtain, Hence, health issues stand at the core of feminist mobilization as well as they stand at the core of anti-gender mobilizations as the current refusals of gender-related medicine by antiliberal actors show. This issue wants to historicize and discuss these observations from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Contributions may address questions such as:

The role of the state, medical experts, and clergy as gatekeepers
Which aspects have played a role in these discourses, and why and when?
Target groups and audiences of both feminist and anti-gender mobilizations
Health knowledge and expertise: How was knowledge about the body, reproduction, contraception and sexuality produced, mediated and legitimized? Which counterreactions did this knowledge provoke?
Which persons were considered experts? Who was mobilized and allowed to become a broker of such knowledge and broker of related anti-gender moblizations?
The counter-reactions, for example anti-abortion movements.

The special issue will be submitted to an internationally renowned journal with a double blind peer review process. If we receive more than eight well-written abstracts, we may consider compiling an edited volume in an outstanding international publishing house. Editors of the issue will be Ewelina Wozniak-Wrzesinska, Heidi Hein-Kircher and Isabel Heinemann.

We like to invite interested authors to become CA23149 members (www.e-cost.eu). We invite interested colleagues to contribute from their discipline’s perspective. We expect your abstracts of 500 words and a brief CV until May 15, 2026.

The editors will give feedback until the end of May. We expect the submission of selected articles until the end of September 2026.

URL: https://www.comparing-antigender-politics.eu

CfP: Global Histories of Hair, c. 1500-2026

2026-04-25T18:21:00.002+02:00

An international, interdisciplinary conference, organised by the SNSF Starting Grant Team “Matter of Distinction: Early Modern Hair, Race, Trade, and Multispecies History” (Annika Bärwald, Laura Schleiss, Sarah-Maria Schober) at the University of Lucerne on October 8–10, 2026.

Hyper-present on almost all heads and bodies, hair is a forceful matter of difference. It signals gender, class, sometimes religion or politics – as well as racialised distinction. As such, hair connects and disconnects humans and other species across the globe and throughout history. The conference “Global Histories of Hair” aims to bring together researchers working on hair as a matter of distinction in the early modern and modern worlds.

One temporal focus is on the period between approximately 1500 and 1850, encapsulating the European and colonial “age of the wig”. Alongside various types of animal hair reaching their position as “commodities of empire” during this time, human hair was cut, collected and traded over long distances to be used on other people’s heads. In this process, hair and hair practices became an ever-clearer marker of increasingly essentialised and naturalised difference.

In a second step, the conference addresses the long-lasting hairy heritage of distinction making from 1500 to the present day. This includes the role of hair as human remains in anthropological collections as well as racialised regulations of hair or differences in hair care possibilities.

Contributions might address, but are not limited to, the following areas and questions:

Discourse, Knowledge, Practices:

What role did hair play in the so-called “contact zone”, where Europeans commented upon and categorised hair and hair practices of others, while also being observed and often humorously commented upon themselves (for example because of their wearing of wigs and powder)?
What did hair practices in different parts of the world actually look like?
How were grooming techniques or practices of covering hair described, categorised, and also, in some contexts, enforced?

Materiality, Trade, Valuation:

What role did aspects of hair materiality, such as hair colour, hair texture, hair strength, hair abundance and loss, play in the global sphere? How did the strands of hair materiality, hair knowledge and hair practices entangle or disentangle?
How was hair collected, traded, valued and used in different regions of the world?
How did the trade, circulation and usage of hair bring people (and other beings) together and separate them? In what ways did the human hair trade differ from or coalesce with the trade in other fibres?
How was hair conceptualised and used by people in different regions as a naturecultural material? How were aspects of malleability or essentialisation visualised or hidden, and for what purpose? How did hair contribute to understandings of the increasing separation of nature and culture, and both of these aspects’ respective roles in distinction making?

Intersectionality:

How did ideas about racial, gender-based, religious or class-based hair differences affect people around the globe?
What forms of expression, or even resistance, did hair care provide to people experiencing inequality and suppression?

Heritage:

How have lasting hairy heritages affected people and their bodies around the globe since 1500?
What attempts have been made to de-essentialise hair? What are ways of unmaking hair distinctions?

Presentations are scheduled for 20 minutes, with ample time allocated for discussion. We invite researchers from all relevant fields, such as history, art history, anthropology as well as museum and collection professionals and archivists. Early-career scholars are strongly encouraged to apply. The conference will take place in Lucerne, Switzerland. Travel, accommodation and visa costs will be covered, and organisational assistance will be provided. Hybrid attendance is possible. The conference language is English.

Please submit an abstract (c. 250 words) and a short biography (c. 100 words). The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2026.

Contact Information: Svenja Furger (svenja.furger@unilu.ch)