Making Things Meaningful in Early Modern Europe (Panel) Date: 29 October 2026 – 31 October 2026 Deadline: 10 April 2026 Location: Chicago Sixteenth Century Society Conference Panel Field: Bodies, Nature, Knowledge (formerly History of Science & Medicine) The organisers are welcoming abstracts for 20-minute papers that explore the ways in which social interactions, encounters, and negotiations shaped the meaning and/or power of things in early modern Europe and beyond. In recent years, pathbreaking studies in the field of material culture studies has shown how the material qualities and affective properties of things and materials (including exotica, naturalia, and materia medica) played an active role in shaping how substances and objects were perceived, classified, used, manipulated, and invested with meaning by early modern contemporaries.

#CfP: 'Making Things Meaningful in Early Modern Europe' Panel at Sixteenth Century Society Conference, 29-31 Oct 2026, Chicago. Abstracts by 10 April 2026
#Skystorians #EarlyModernEvents rensoc.org.uk/announcement...

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Ever wonder what a Good Friday procession felt like in Renaissance Italy?
My article explore what people seemed to feel, hear and smell
brill.com/edcollchap-o...

@oxfordhistoryofart.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org @discoxford.bsky.social
#arthistory #Renaissance #SensoryHistory

Green-blue-grey blocky soundwaves on background. Centred in black serif lettering “Sonance”, with “journal of early modern sound studies” underneath.

👀 Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the terrific triumvirate @spparkle.bsky.social, @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social & Hannah Yip to set up “Sonance: A Journal of Early Modern Sound Studies”, a diamond open access journal dedicated to historic sounds in all their wondrous & eclectic forms.

We can all have a hand in creating a sustainable future. In our Future In Our Hands case we explore different species held in the hands of people who have different roles and connections to the natural world.

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

www.music.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/di...

[#AnOxfordDiary]
Great to see my research project @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social @batecollection.bsky.social featured alongside brilliant work by colleagues and students!
@oxhumanities.bsky.social @discoxford.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Architectural Walks.

Really enjoyed getting to see one of Oxford’s only surviving medieval timber-framed buildings (that is not collegiate or related to the church). Thanks to Oxford Preservation Trust for the tour and for looking after this beautiful building.
#architecture

I’m now looking forward to finalising the exhibition I am curating for @batecollection.bsky.social @oxhumanities.bsky.social, teaching, meeting my new DPhils, and finishing up some research projects... @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social
#EarlyModernHistory #academiclife

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Over the years, I’ve become a strong advocate of offline breaks. These summer months have featured breathtaking views in Norway (our Scandinavian retreat), a quiet spell of writing perched on Cornwall’s cliffs progressing on my book, and the warmth of Italy.

Fantastic Finials | 18 | The Materiality, Decoration and Display of Re Renaissance musical instruments frequently feature masterfully carved figures, intricate geometric and arabesque patterns, expensive and exotic materials, and a

Thanks! The Renaissance World, eds. Erika Honisch and Giovanni Zanovello. If you are interested in the topic you might find another recent publication of mine of use: www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-...

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Relieved to have submitted my contribution just before going off grid...

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Welcome to our team!

A Participatory Research Fund has been awarded to
@batecollection.bsky.social, @torchoxford.bsky.social & @modernartoxford.bsky.social Led by @emanuelavai.bsky.social & Alex Coke, this collab with artist Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom blends historic instruments, student performances & video art for 2026!

[#AnOxfordDiary]
What a gorgeous night @NationalGallery for the Festa della Repubblica, promoting Italian academic research, culture art & musical instruments surrounded by Caravaggio! @batecollection.bsky.social @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhumanities.bsky.social

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Great to attend the re-opening of the Early Italy and Rome Gallery @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social !

Huge congratulations to our colleagues on an incredible new display — beautifully redesigned! @torchoxford.bsky.social @oxhumanities.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk
Do visit!

Departmental Tutor at University of Oxford Searching for an academic job? Explore this Departmental Tutor opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

*Job Fairy*

Part-time Departmental Tutor in History of Art of the Global Renaissance at Continuing Education, Oxford.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNF071/d...

The Scott Opler Fellowship in Architectural History at University of Oxford Explore an exciting academic career as a The Scott Opler Fellowship in Architectural History. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

📢 Job fairy!

Junior Research Fellowship in Architectural History @ox.ac.uk ! Don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any queries!
Find out more: jobs.ac.uk/job/DNA489/t...
#architecturalhistory #renaissance

[The Other Place]

A really nice time at our sister college @stcatharines.bsky.social for 'The Future of Sound Studies: Remembering Bruce Smith'. Thanks to
Jennifer Richards for organising and ‪@racheljwillie.bsky.social‬ for her incredible work with the 'Early Modern Soundscapes' network.

The Scott Opler Fellowship in Architectural History at University of Oxford Explore an exciting academic career as a The Scott Opler Fellowship in Architectural History. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

📢 Job fairy!

Junior Research Fellowship in Architectural History @ox.ac.uk ! Don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any queries!
Find out more: jobs.ac.uk/job/DNA489/t...
#architecturalhistory #renaissance

Book Talk – Humans: A Monstrous History with @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social. Nash Lecture Theatre, King's College London, April 28, 2025. www.rensoc.org.uk/event/book-t...

MONSTERS with Surekha Davies YouTube video by Brandy Schillace

Join me talking about HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY @ucpress.bsky.social with BITE author @billschuttauthor.bsky.social on @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social live show! 1/n

💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbG...

📢 Book presentation!

Streamed live www.youtube.com/@urbanmusics. I wish I could be there in person in Barcelona! Huge thanks to @Tess Knighton and all the authors!
@oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social
#digitalhumanities #arthistory #musichistory #ArchitecturalHistory

Cover of the current issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, sitting on a speckled windowsill.

The journal opened to the first page of my article in paper form.

Delightful work post — the hard copy of the new issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, featuring my article, 'Migrant Voices in Multilingual London, 1560-1600'.

Book open to title page, which reads: Humans: A Monstrous History / Surekha Davies / University of Caifornia Press. On facing page: Also by Surekha Davies / Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters

Alt: Book on a book chair on the left open to the table of contents. On the right is a row of copies of HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, red spines with yellow and black lettering visible. Text on table of contents includes: Title-page and TOC. Chapters: Introduction 1. On the Ecology of Monsters 2. Human or animal? 3. Race-nations I 4. Race-nations II 5. Gender, Sex, and Monstrous Births 6. Monstrous Performance and Display 7. Gods, Magic, and the Supernatural 8. Machines 9. Extraterrestrials 10. Monstrofuturism Epilogue 4/6

Bright red book cover showing: an oval, silver-coloured mirror with a black frame comprised of sci-fi and fantasy monsters, with yellow lettering for the title, “HUMANS”, around the top of the mirror, in a stylized font with details that resemble whale-tails and bats’ wings. Subtitle just inside the mirror: A Monstrous History. Inside the bottom curve of the mirror: Surekha Davies. Along the left-hand edge of the cover crawls a xenomorph: a humanoid creature with an insect-like head and a long, sinuous, menacing, pointy tail.

On Mon March 31st I'm giving a book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, just out with @ucpress.bsky.social, in New Orleans! 6pm at Tulane University. @tulaneu.bsky.social

💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH 1/🧵

events.tulane.edu/content/publ...

[The Other Place]

Architectural walks down memory lane, meeting old colleagues & friends, and trying out our sister college @stcatharines.bsky.social (courtesy of Worcester College, Oxford). Nice to be back at work in my favourite libraries @trincolllibcam.bsky.social @stjohnscollege.bsky.social

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Great to be part of this wonderful volume! My contribution introduces the concept of ‘sensoryscapes' in Early Modern Venetian Bergamo (with DH components and GIS mapping) @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @torchoxford.bsky.social
brill.com/edcollchap-o...

[#AnOxfordDiary]

Architectural walks at night - The Sheldonian Theatre showing off, as usual... @ox.ac.uk

Author copies of Material Selves have just arrived and they look so good!😍

You can pick up a copy of your own now at www.bloomsbury.com/au/material-...

Or, alternatively, at one of the stockists listed on my website: alexburchmore.com/material-sel...

Keep reading for more info on what's inside 👇🏽🧵