International Conference
A Realm of Women:
Literary, Cultural, and Artistic Expression in Convents
The University of Évora, April 22-24, 2019
Female monasticism is capturing the interest of an ever-growing number of researchers in various areas and eras of specialty, who find in religious life a fertile field for reflection and the production of knowledge. The aim of this conference is to bring together specialists and researchers from different disciplines – History, Religious History, Literature, Music, Art History, Heritage Studies, Daily Life, and Material Culture – related to female religious life and the expression of religiosity and creativity in the conventual context across time.
The conference, centered on Portugal, but open to Iberian, Latin American, European, and Asian-Atlantic realities that frame, contextualize, and distinguish it, placed within a crucial dialogue between the different disciplines aimed at sharing new data about the female monastic-conventual universe.
The submission of paper proposals is solicited with a preference for those related to the following thematic axes:
1 – Mysticism and Spirituality in Female Conventual Spaces
2 – Cloister, Creativity, and Artistic Expression in the Feminine: Music and the Plastic Arts
3 – Written Production in the World of the Cloister: Nuns as Writers
4 – Artistic Commission within the Female Monastic-Conventual Universe
5 – Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Singing: Women’s Education and Development in the
Monastic Environment
6 – Convent Libraries
7 – The Representation of Nuns in Literary Works
8 – Monastic Spaces and the Royal House: The Princess Nuns
9 – Culinary Pleasures and Conventual Cookbooks
10 – Saintliness in Religious Communities
11 – Tertiary Sisters and Orders, Devotion and Vocation
12 – Transgression in the Conventual Environment
13 – Masculine Control in Feminine Cloisters: Confessors, Spiritual Guides, Visitants, Definitors, and Preachers
Languages of the Conference: Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English
Proposals: Send an abstract that is at least eight lines long (Times New Roman 12 point font, 1.5 spacing), along with five Key Words, and accompanied by a short (no more than four lines) biographical sketch to: congressomonjas2019@gmail.com
Due date for the submission of proposals: December 31, 2018