Call for papers : conference “Prodigious Presents” (Lausanne, Febuary 12-13th 2026)

FR

Prodigious Presents. Representations, Uses, and Knowledge of the Extraordinary through the Lens of Time (15th–17th centuries)

Organised by Cordélia Floc’hic and Alexandre Goderniaux

DESCRIPTION

This conference aims to renew the study of prodigies (15th–17th centuries) by placing them at the heart of a reflection on time — and, more specifically, on the present. Extraordinary and often ambiguous events, prodigies offer a lens through which to explore how societies represent their own present, caught between practices of memory and projections toward the future.

The conference will be structured around three main themes:
1. The forms of representation of prodigies (through text, image, rhythm, emotion)
2. Their political, religious, and social functions
3. The dynamics of scholarly theorization and knowledge production that they generate

We particularly welcome contributions on learned and popular uses of prodigies, the interplay between text and image in their narrative construction, debates over their legibility, their circulation in printed media, and their interpretative or mobilizing effects. The aim is to explore how prodigies — through their suddenness and their symbolic potency — contribute to the construction of a present saturated with meaning: a present that is at once unstable and fertile, charged with signs, emotions, and open possibilities.

PLACE & DATE

University of Lausanne, February 12-13th 2026

CONTACT

To submit your proposal, please contact cordelia.flochic@unil.ch and alexandre.goderniaux@unine.ch by september 1st.

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