CfP: Prosopographical Approaches to Premodern Women’s History for AHA 2026

 

In partnership with the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS), the CCWH invites scholars to participate in a dynamic panel exploring prosopographical studies in early modern women’s history at the American Historical Association in Chicago from January 8-11, 2026.

“Prosopographical Approaches to Premodern Women’s History”

Abstract

Over fifty years ago, Lawrence Stone described prosopography in Historical Studies Today as a method of study which investigates the “common background characteristics of a group of actors in history by means of a collective study of their lives.” Although already considered a strong technique for historical inquiry in Stone’s time, prosopographical analysis has not often been incorporated as a tool for women’s history. Within the patriarchal hegemony of the medieval and early modern world, documentary sources outside of traditional historical narratives provide a unique opportunity to foreground the experiences of women, whose voices were not often amplified by contemporary chroniclers.

This panel intends to highlight prosopographical analysis as a method of exploring the history of premodern women, especially those who have been neglected or overlooked by modern historians due to their exclusion from contemporary chronicles and other narrative sources. The panel’s scope encompasses women in the European West from the twelfth century through the eighteenth century, and will draw interest from members of the Medieval Academy of America and the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender. It intends to combine a variety of documentary and manuscript genres to study women across multiple socioeconomic strata, geographic and linguistic boundaries. How can a prosopographical approach to extant documents reveal new information about premodern women: their lives, priorities, and historical influence

Submit a Proposal

Potential speakers should send the following to kkummere@nd.edu by 9am on February 14, 2025:

• A provisional title
• A brief abstract/description of the paper (up to 300 words)
• Brief biographical information (up to 250 words)
• Email address & affiliation which they would like included on the program