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 fromclassical 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 hybridityforeshadowed 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 Renaissanceboth preserved ancient understandings of the concept while also acting as a preamble to our own contemporary usage. Possibleapproaches 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.