Call for Papers: Upcoming Nonconformism Conference
Dialogues of Nonconformity across the British Atlantic World, 1500-1800
This one-day conference is funded by AHRC Midlands4Cities, and hosted at the University of Birmingham, in conjunction with the Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies.
Keynote address delivered by Professor Alec Ryrie (Durham University).
From Jesuits who scorned Protestants for not being able to 'maintain their doctrine in disputation', to the sectaries of the mid-seventeenth century, such as Quakers, Baptists, and Independents, early modern nonconformist groups and people posed a challenged to each other as much as they did to the wider societies in which they lived. We are interested in examining how different forms of nonconformist beliefs, ideas, and practices spoke to each other in the British Atlantic World. We aim to explore the interactions between religious, social, and political dissent, and examine what it meant to be nonconformist in the early modern British Atlantic. We define 'nonconformist' in its broadest meaning, and encourage papers from across the whole field of arts and humanities. Papers from researchers of all career stages are welcome.
We are accepting abstracts of 250 words, for 20-minute papers on (but not limited to) the suggested groups and topics:
- Non-conforming elements within the State Churches (e.g. Presbyterianism, early Methodism)
- Dissenting Protestant groups (e.g. Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians)
- Non-Protestant religious groups (e.g. Catholic Recusants, practicing Jewish people)
- Socially nonconforming political movements (e.g. Republicanism, egalitarianism)
- Socially nonconforming theologies, philosophies, and practices (e.g. Anti-trinitarianism, materialism, divorce and polyamory)
- Nonconforming lifestyles (such as gypsies, outlaws, and hermits)
- The presence of nonconformity and dissent in contemporary literature and art
- The relationship between different types of nonconformist belief and practices and how competing nonconformist groups interacted with each other
- New theoretical and methodological approaches to nonconformity
Deadline for submission is 1 July 2025
Please email the paper title and abstract, along with a short bio to Jacob Hyde (JMH854@student.bham.ac.uk) & Evie Nash (Evie.Nash@warwick.ac.uk)
