Inaugural Pacific Medieval and Early Modern Consortium Gathering – November 14, 2026

On November 14, 2026, the Townsend Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley will host the inaugural Pacific Renaissance and Early Modern Workshop (1300-1800). The workshop aims to serve as an intellectual forum and encourage collaboration among faculty and graduate students from west coast institutions who are working on the early modern global world. The November symposium will feature four pre-circulated papers (drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters) by speakers at different stages of their careers (advanced graduate students, post-docs, faculty). After briefly introducing their papers, each speaker will receive substantial feedback during a one-hour discussion.

Speakers for the inaugural event include:

• Elena Gargaglia, Istituto de storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura (ISA): “Natural and micrographic narrations in Antonello da Messina’s landscape painting”
• Rema Hokama, University of Washington: “Virtuous Pagans: Global Space and World Religions in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained”
• Renee Raphael, University of Calfiornia Irvine: “Serving in Mind and Body”
• Mikhaila Redovian, University of California Davis: “Navigating failure: Romance in seventeenth-century voyaging narratives”
• Sal Salamanca, Stanford University: “Beyond la Verità Effettuale: Machiavelli, the Etruscans, and Political Myth”

Our vision is for this workshop to rotate across campuses to ensure accessibility and variety. Pending interest and participation levels, we are looking toward UC Davis as a potential host for our Spring session. If you are interested in helping to coordinate future workshops, please reach out!