Contagion. Knowledge, Practices and Experiences from the Late Middle Ages to the Twenty- First Century

We encourage proposals for papers based on original research in a long time span (from the Late Middle Ages to the present), on Italian, European and non-Western geo-political contexts. The history of epidemics and pandemics is an ever-growing and broad research field. Therefore, we have chosen to focus our analysis on issues of intersectionality, i.e. on the ways in which disease has historically been represented, treated and experienced through the lens of class, gender and race, so as to shed light on connections and tensions that at times exacerbated these differences. The intersectional dimension of contagion is one aspect of various asymmetries of power. We encourage contributors to approach power dynamics not through the simple binary opposition command/subalternity, but alert to the mediation and circulation occurring within specific contexts. Traditions of knowledge, too, are part of such circulation, which stimulates hybridity and cross- fertilization. This is a crucial aspect of our research agenda