In 2026, the twelfth conference in this series on the history of the humanities will be hosted by the Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU), from 7th till 9th of October, 2026.
The Making of the Humanities conferences are organized under the auspices of the Society for the History of the Humanities and bring together scholars and historians interested in the history of a wide variety of disciplines, including archaeology, art history, historiography, linguistics, literary studies, media studies, musicology, and philology, tracing these fields from their earliest developments to the modern day.
Conference Theme
The Structure of Humanistic Revolutions: A Critical Examination of Transformations in the History of the Humanities
Under the title “The Structure of Humanistic Revolutions”, this conference will have a keen interest in critically exploring the transformations that have shaped the history of the humanities. Drawing inspiration from Thomas Kuhn’s seminal work “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, we will engage in a reflective analysis of how “revolutions” within humanistic disciplines have been conceptualized, contested, and institutionalized over time.
The conference will include reflections on epochal movements— from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and from Romanticism to contemporary posthumanism. But what are the “structures” that underpin these transformations? Can we even speak of unified revolutions in the history of the humanities, or are these shifts more nuanced, gradual, and contested than the revolutionary label suggests?
In many ways, revolutions in the humanities do not mirror the scientific model, where falsification and empirical shifts drive change. Instead, they often represent the reconfiguration of longstanding intellectual traditions shaped by cultural dialogues, crises, and the reinterpretation of past knowledge. By drawing attention to Copernicus’ legacy in the humanities, this conference, aptly held in the birthplace of Copernicus, will explore how revolutions in the humanities might differ from those in scientific inquiry.
Please note that although we invite submissions that explore this theme, we remain open to abstracts addressing other subjects as well.
Submissions for papers and panels
Abstracts of single papers (30 minutes including discussion) should contain the name of the speaker, full contact address (including email address), the title and a summary of the paper of maximally 250 words.
Panels last 1.5 to 2 hours and can consist of 3-4 papers and possibly a commentary on a coherent theme including discussion. Panel proposals should contain respectively the name of the chair, the names of the speakers and commentator, full contact addresses (including email addresses), the title of the panel, a short (150 words) description of the panel’s content and for each paper an abstract of maximally 250 words.
Deadline for all submissions: April 19th, 2026
Notification of acceptance: June 1st, 2026
For more information about the conference please visit the conference website: https://mohxii.umk.pl/pages/home/
Organization
Local Organization: Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU): Agata Domachowska, Adam Kola (chair), Jakub Piosik Beszterda, Olga Solovieva, Francesco Trupia.
Program Committee: The Society of the History of the Humanities’ Board of Events – Isak Hammar, chair (Lund University), Eric Hayot (Penn State University), Judith Kaplan (Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine), Adam Kola (Nicolaus Copernicus University), Camilla de Simone (University of Chieti), Floris Solleveld (Warburg Institute), Lucila Mallart (Universitat Pompeu Fabra).