CFP: XXVIII Autumn Colloquium: Transcultural Narratives and Representations of Love

Transcultural Narratives and Representations of Love

19. – 20. November 2026 at The Centre for Humanistic Studies of the University of Minho (CEHUM), Portugal

Organized by University of Minho School of Letters, Arts, and Humanities (ELACH); Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal; Center for Humanistic Studies at the University of Minho (CEHUM)

Application Deadline: 01.10.2026

Recent studies have placed questions of affect and emotion back at the center of humanistic research. Studies on love, in particular, are now based on two complementary orientations — affect theory (which historicizes and politicizes sentiment) and affective science itself (which considers empirical, cognitive, and physiological dimensions) — and treat love both as an individual or intimate experience and as a socially mediated phenomenon.

Love, being simultaneously universal and culturally specific, has also taken on a transcultural and historical plurality, subject to economic, social, and technological changes (including digital media) that reshape the way love is narrated and practiced (cyberlove, human-machine relationships).

Love is not merely private: it is embedded in ideological formations and emotional communities that mobilize shared values. Feminist, queer, anti-racist, and disability studies have long highlighted affect as something political; love can function both as an instrument of domination and as a resource for criticism and solidarity.

In short, the concept of love transcends cultural, linguistic, and temporal boundaries, expressing itself in distinct yet interconnected ways across human societies. From ancient mythologies and classical philosophies to contemporary digital cultures, love has been narrated, theorized, embodied, and represented in ways that reveal universal impulses and culturally specific meanings.

In this XXVIII edition of the Autumn Colloquium, scholars from all backgrounds and fields are invited to explore transcultural narratives and representations of love, from Ancient Civilizations to the 21st century, with a particular interest in how love is conceptualized, translated, and represented across different cultures, historical periods, and media.

The main objective is to promote interdisciplinary dialogues that illuminate the intersections of love with questions of identity, power, migration, media, and artistic representation. By examining how love travels – across borders, genres, and technologies – we seek to understand how it becomes a space for negotiation, resistance, imagination, and transformation.

We therefore invite the submission of proposals for papers and/or panels that investigate love as a personal, transcultural, historical, and political phenomenon.

Contributions that combine theoretical analysis with empirical or textual specificities and address, among other possible topics, the following questions are welcome:

• How have the concepts and practices of love transformed across different historical periods and cultural contexts?
• In what ways do affect theory and affective science complement or oppose each other in the study of love?
• How do gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, and coloniality shape representations and performances of love?
• How do migration, diaspora, and transnational media reconfigure intimate bonds and affective communities?
• What are the ethical and political potentials of love, specifically its capacity to promote emancipation, solidarity, or domination?
• How do new technologies (dating apps, virtual companions, AI) transform the experience and discourse of love?

We particularly encourage interdisciplinary proposals that historicize love, consider embodied and mediated practices, and expand the canon beyond Western paradigms.