Dear colleagues,
We invite proposals for one or more panels entitled “Under the Woods (1400-1800)” for the upcoming Scientia conference in Turin in June 2026.
Life teems under the woodland canopy. Between light and obscurity, insects, snakes, and other small creatures stir, wild herbs and mushrooms flourish, streams and minerals shimmer. A place of wonder and a site of scientific and medical research, the forest floor was the meeting point of diverse practitioners: hunters, wise women, botanical collectors, farmers, charcoal burners, and foragers among others. The fertile ground under the woods can harbor danger, yield wealth, and provide remedies, revealing known and unexpected connections between living things, materials, and practices.
Taking inspiration from Karin Leonhard’s pioneering studies of sottobosco painting, this panel explores the woodland undergrowth and forest floor as sites of knowledge production in the early modern period. We welcome contributions in the history of science, medicine, and technology that examine how these environments were observed, represented, used, and transformed and how knowledge emerged through encounters among their inhabitants and visitors.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
– Natural objects (animal, vegetal, fungal, mineral, waters) as sources of remedies, wealth, and danger;
– Practices of observation, collecting, experimentation, and classification in woodland environments;
– Encounters and exchanges among practitioners with different forms of expertise;
– Artistic and symbolic representations of the forest floor and its inhabitants;
– Relationships between local knowledge and learned inquiry;
– Resource extraction, environmental change, and practices of woodland management and conservation.
If you are interested in participating, please submit a paper title, an abstract of no more than 200 words, and a one-page curriculum vitae to: Barbara Di Gennaro Splendore (barbara.digennaro2@unibo.it; barbara.digennaro@unil.ch) by January 6, 2027. We will notify applicants by January 20, 2027. The assembled panel(s) will be then submitted to conference organizers for consideration.
If you have any queries feel free to reach out also to Monica Azzolini (monica.azzolini@unibo.it) and Simona Boscani Leoni (simona.boscanileoni@unil.ch).
We look forward to hearing from you!
Best wishes,
Monica Azzolini
Simona Boscani Leoni
