ANZAMEMS Conference Panel: Alchemical Knowledge: Production and Transfer – Call For Papers

ANZAMEMS 2017 Panel CFP: Alchemical Knowledge: Production and Transfer

In the past decades, alchemy has been finally established as a legitimate subject of scholarly interest. Instead of arguing for its acknowledgement as such, research can now focus on details and aspects that have not yet been fully explored. Alchemy was pursued in a variety of ways by a variety of practitioners belonging to different social groups in Europe and beyond.

Proposals are invited for a panel on late medieval and early modern alchemy with a special focus on the ways alchemical knowledge was produced and transferred between geographical regions, practitioners of various disciplines and social groups.

The panel will convene at the ANZAMEMS Eleventh Biennial Conference at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 7–10 February 2017.

Potential topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

  • Places of alchemical knowledge production: laboratory, households, purpose-built buildings, imaginary spaces
  • Material culture of alchemical experimentation: the tools of the alchemists
  • Transfer of knowledge between practitioners: humanists and artisans, princes and intellectual vagabonds
  • Knowledge transfer between geographical areas
  • From alchemical theory to practice, from bookish knowledge to hands-on experience
  • The transfer of medieval alchemical knowledge and its reception in the early modern period

If you would like to contribute a paper to this panel, please send the following to Dr. Dora Bobory, dora.bobory@gmail.com, by 1 August, 2016, with ‘Alchemical Knowledge’ in the subject line:

  1. Paper title
  2. Abstract (up to 150 words)
  3. Your name, affiliation, and email address
  4. A brief CV (2 pages maximum)
  5. An indication of AV requirements