Call for Papers: Metamorphosis, Transformation, and Transmutation, Ceræ Volume 11, Due 31 March 2024

Call for Papers

Ceræ, An Australisan Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Volume 11

Metamorphosis, Transformation, and Transmutation

Due 31 March 2024

Image credit: Rosarium Philosophorum, GB 247 MS Ferguson 210.

Shifting - or transforming - between states of being is a feature of human and animal societies as well as of the wider living world and the cosmos. This act of shifting is experienced through both natural and unnatural processes and can be seen in all areas of life, from the reproductive cycles of organisms, to epochal changes undergone by entire societies, and everything in between. But transformations can also refer to distortions of reality, both deliberate and accidental, magical or real, as much as they can reflect genuine changes to an individual, an institution, a landscape, or even a society. Understanding how one thing becomes another was arguably a feature of much of medieval and carly moder intellectual history - from Isidore to Aquinas, Albertus Magnus to Descartes and Newtown - and whole schools of thought could be founded and even wars fought over the differences.

Topies may include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Agricultural/environmental transformations;

  • Political and economic transformation/metamorphosis;

  • Alchemy/medicine/science;

  • Shifting between states such as life stages, death or rites of passage:

  • Literary and historiographical transformation;

  • Magical, mystical, and shapeshifting transformations;

  • Spiritual transformations:

  • Metamorphosis in relation to animals and plants;

  • The body as a site of transformation.

There is no geographic or disciplinary limitation for submissions, which can consider any aspect of the medieval or early modern world or its reception.

We invite submissions of both full-length essays (5000-8000 words) and varia (up to 3000 words) that address, challenge, and develop these ideas. Cera particularly encourages submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers, and there is a $200 AUD annual prize for the best postgraduate/ECR essay. Please visit our website (www.ceraejournal.com) for further details on the submissions process.

The deadline for themed submissions is 31 March 2024.

For a copy of the Call for Papers, click here.