The goal of Graduate Early Modern Student Society (GEMSS) is to strengthen community among graduates researching early modernity. Specifically, GEMSS formalizes the network of graduate
researchers with interest in the early modern period across all scholarly disciplines and campus units. Through scholarly events and business meetings, GEMSS provides access to university resources as well as opportunities for individual leadership, peer mentoring, and academic relationship-building.
Virtual-Friday, April 9
Co-chairs: Elizabeth Neary, Alice Coulter Main
10:30am: Panel 1-Fictional Landscapes
- “[Extra]Ordinary: Swindlers and Tricksters in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Strange Tales,” Teresa Görtz (Asian Languages and
Cultures, University of Wisconsin-Madison) - ‘I am diffused to Light:’ The Thermodynamic Divine in Hester Pulter’s Cosmology,” Kaitlin Moore (English, University of
Wisconsin-Madison) - “Creating Medieval Space: Chaucer/Pasolini and The Merchant’s Tale,” Tom Macpherson (Film, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
1:30pm: Panel 2-Economic Landscapes
- “Keeping “White Town” White: Real Estate Auctions, Urban Racial Divides, and Market Manipulation in Colonial Pondichéry,”
Jakob Burnham (History, Georgetown University) - Economic Changes and English Theater, Bridget Anderson (Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- “How Franz Reinzer’s Salt Emblem Depicts Changing Mind- and Landscapes,” Nicole Fischer (German, Nordic and Slavic,
University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Friday, April 23
10:30am: Keynote Address
- “The Arcadian theme in Alexander Pope’s Twickenham Villa and the Formation of British Imperial Identity,” Professor Yue Zhuang
(Chinese, Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter)
1:30pm: Panel 3-Political Landscapes
- “A State of Affairs: Troubled Marriages in Early Modern Spain,” Elizabeth Neary (Spanish and Portuguese, University of
Wisconsin-Madison) - “Medici in the Mugello: Careggi, Cafaggiolo, and the Countryside as a Base of Power,” Susan Naramore (History, University of
Notre Dame) - “Public Leisure and the Problem of Pleasure in Revolutionary Paris,” Alice Coulter Main (History, University of Wisconsin-Madison)