RSA 2027: Terror and Transcendence: Hybridity in the Renaissance (Renaissance Society of America)
Philadelphia
Organization: RSA
Event: Renaissance Society of America
Appropriately for a word broadly defined as “having a mixed character,” the idea of “hybridity” has elicited contradictory interpretation since its inception in the Greek word hybris. While the word could mean miscegenation, shame, wantonness, outrage, and even violence, the term carried the alternate but equally valid connotation of thinking and moving beyond human limitations. Despite a shift from classical beliefs through Christianity, hybrid figures such as the centaur and satyr continued to proliferate throughout the Renaissance, evoking both wonder and terror. While sometimes considered blasphemous, these classical hybrids were also allegorized to fit into Renaissance ethical and religious frameworks. At the same time, the early modern engagement with hybridity foreshadowed its place in postcolonial thought, where the hybrid negotiates questions of cultural, gender, and racial identity. This interdisciplinary session will consider how the varied deployment of the hybrid throughout the Renaissance both preserved ancient understandings of the concept while also acting as a preamble to our own contemporary usage. Possible approaches include discussions of Renaissance hybridity as it pertains to:
literature and literary theory
visual arts
geography tracts and/or travel narratives
religion and/or mythology
theater and performance
scientific and/or medical texts
education
news pamphlets and broadsides
classical reception
contemporary critical theory
Please send a 200-word maximum abstract and 2-page CV to Claire Sommers (claire.sommers@wustl.edu) by August 5, 2026.
Claire Sommers