Masculinities in the Premodern World: Continuities, Change, and Contradictions, University of Toronto, November 13–15, 2020

The past twenty-five years have witnessed a bourgeoning of studies on sexuality and gender in the pre-modern world. In particular, men and masculinities have received considerable attention. Building on the theoretical perspectives provided by feminism, Foucault, and cultural studies, the study of men and masculinities is increasingly theoretically inflected  and sophisticated. Studies have encompassed questions pertaining to men of various social statuses, secular and ecclesiastical, as portrayed in historical, literary, philosophical, theological, and art historical sources among others.

This conference aims to locate the study of premodern men and masculinities in its current richness and complexity. Our plenary speakers will be two of the most important scholars in the area of medieval/early modern masculinities: Patricia Simons (University of Michigan) and Patricia Cullum (University of Huddersfield, UK).

Papers are invited on all areas of study across the premodern world (500 to 1650 CE), crossing Europe’s religious and linguistic diversity, and encompassing its geographical breadth and beyond. Topics might include:

• concepts of virility,
• patriarchy, marriage, fatherhood and procreative masculinities,
• social and political perspectives,
• medical and biological perceptions,
• celibacy, chastity, continence,
• monastic and clerical masculinity,
• sexual function and dysfunction,
• queer and non-binary masculinities,
• typologies of premodern men,
• depictions of masculinity in literature and the arts, etc.

Proposals are invited for individual papers, panels, roundtables, and alternatives to traditional academic presentation models.