Conference dates: April 19 and 20, 2024

Keynote speaker: Mayte Green-Mercado

The Johns Hopkins conference Con/versiones: Conversations through the Mediterranean will explore Judeoconverso and Morisco subjects through the lens of conversion. This conference is concerned with questions of religious change and specifically of the change brought about by forced mass conversion in early modern Iberia. Simultaneously, the conference aims to engage with the emergence of shifting identities and new religious attitudes, as well as the impact that forced conversion had on the converts themselves, their heirs, and on intellectual and cultural life. The conference has three main objectives in mind: firstly, to provide a forum where Conversos and Moriscos can be considered as connected rather than distinct socio-cultural experiences; secondly, to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to explore conversion themes and issues from different—although complementary—academic perspectives and approaches; last but not least, to provide a venue where scholars can discuss these topics within the broader context of the Mediterranean. This framework will help us bring together recent research on the conversion experience while examining possible global conjunctures and the way in which conversion was influenced and affected by imperial politics.

Consequently, we seek submissions that carefully examine Converso and Morisco history on a variety of levels: construction of identities, Otherness, belief and practice, the problem of assimilation, their culture and literary production, and experiences of their Mediterranean diaspora, among others. Despite the unique trajectory of each group, we believe they are worth considering together, so we invite proposals that analyze their parallel histories in comparison and in dialogue with each other. Moreover, in order to properly assess the nature and complexity of the conversion phenomena in early modern Iberian history, we encourage submissions that expand the discussion on the Conversos and Moriscos beyond the borders of Iberia, investigating the ways in which these groups engaged also with various networks across the wider Mediterranean region. Although the conference is framed for research specializing in the Early Modern period, contributions from other periods will also be considered. We welcome abstracts up to 250 words for papers in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, that engage with the above-mentioned topics.

Proposals may engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes and guiding questions:

• Networks of conversion: What relationships did converts have to other members of their ethnicity who had not converted? What relationships did converts have to other converts outside of the Iberian peninsula?

• Conversion and space: Were new spaces created through conversion? Where? Did previous spaces change in the course of conversion processes? How did imperial authorities deal with the control of space?

• Material culture and conversion: In what ways did changes in material culture reflect the course of conversions? What kind of propaganda was created by imperial authorities in relation to conversion?

• Resistance and conversion: How did converts resist imperial rule? Under which circumstances did converts rebel against imperial power? Did converts show resistance and agency before and after expulsion? 

• Narratives of conversion: what narratives were created concerning those who adhere to the old faith and those who converted to a new religion? What narratives and literatures were elaborated beyond the Iberian Peninsula regarding conversion?  How did literature represent the converts?

Submit your proposal at the following link: https://forms.gle/8BaPKsTCkcEJDMsk8

Deadline for submissions: February 15, 2024.

Candidates will be notified by February 25, 2024.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email: rwill205@jhu.edu