RSA Chicago 2024 Panel

The Republic of Letters, a multinational commonwealth, fostered communication among intellectuals of both sexes in social environments such as salons, academies, court circles, and learned communities. Debates, conversation, game-playing, letters, pamphlets, plays and performance, scientific experiments, and diverse literary expression, including group authorship, shaped and promoted mixed-sex reciprocity and exchange. 

We invite contributions on early modern women and their local, cross-cultural, and transnational relations within the Republic of Letters. 

Possible subjects include: 

– Women’s networks and associations 

-Women’s involvements in games and other entertainment 

– Women’s writings on philosophical, theological, political, and scientific topics 

– Women playwrights and participation in courtly performances 

– Women dissenters 

– Women and their tutors, mentors, and gatekeepers 

– Challenges women faced in the Republic of Letters 

Please send an abstract of about 150 words and a one-page C.V. by 31 July, by email attachment, to each of the following: 

Primary Organizer: Anne R. Larsen alarsen@hope.edu 

Co-organizer: Julie D. Campbell jdcampbell@eiu.edu