‘Tell me, O moon: What worth has the shepherd’s life to him?’ Pastoralism across texts and cultures
The Dante Alighieri Society, the Institute of Classical, Mediterranean and Oriental Studies at the University of Wrocław, the University of Genoa and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław
invite you to submit your paper for the
8th International Conference on Neo-Latin Cultures
‘Tell me, O moon: What worth has the shepherd’s life to him?’ Pastoralism across texts and cultures
Wrocław | June, 22–23, 2026, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Więzienna 6, Wrocław
Pastoralism, an ancestral practice and universal metaphor, runs through the literature and cultures of the world as a space for existential, economic, and symbolic reflection. From the biblical shepherd to Leopardi’s, from the medieval pastourelle to modern conflicts between transhumance and modernity, the pastoral world emerges as a meeting place between nature and culture, between margin and centre, between oral tradition and written literature. This conference aims to explore — from an interdisciplinary perspective, both diachronic and synchronic — the multiple expressions of pastoralism in literatures, languages, and societies, in terms of reception, from classical antiquity to the contemporary age. We therefore invite scholars and researchers to investigate the literary, linguistic, anthropological, and historico-social representations of the pastoral world, bringing to light the interdisciplinary connections that unite diverse traditions and fostering a dialogue on their mutual influences, perceptions, and transformations.
Themes and Topics
Proposals from a variety of disciplines are encouraged, including but not limited to:
- Literary traditions: classical and Renaissance Arcadia, the medieval pastourelle, Leopardi’s idyll, the pastoral novel (from Longus to D’Annunzio)
- Religious symbolisms: the Good Shepherd in Christian tradition, the mystical shepherd, and edifying literature
- Anthropology and society: the material life of shepherds, transhumance and wool routes, traditional knowledge, and contemporary pastoral communities
- Pastoral linguistics: specialised vocabulary, mountain dialects, place names, and folk songs related to transhumance
- Visual representations: iconography of the shepherd in art (from Giotto to Segantini), documentary photography, rural cinema, and bucolic settings
- Oral literature: fairy tales, legends, proverbs, and songs from the pastoral tradition
- Ecology and landscape: pastoralism and the environment, conflicts between modernity and tradition, environmental literature
- Comparative pastoralism: from Argentine gauchos to Sardinian shepherds, from the Asian steppes to the Andean highlands
- Music: the pastoral genre in music, both in form and atmosphere
Guidelines for Submission
- Abstracts (250–300 words) may be submitted in Italian or other Romance languages, in Polish, or in English
- Please include your institutional affiliation
- Send to: info@dante.uni.wroc.pl
Important Dates
- Abstract submission deadline: 05/05/2026
- Notification of acceptance: 15/05/2026
- Conference: 22–23/06/2026
Registration Fee: €40 / 170 złoty
Publication: Selected papers will be published in a miscellaneous volume
Organisers: Gianluca Olcese, Sonia Maura Barillari, Błażej Stanisławski, Ewa Tichoniuk-Wawrowicz, Simone Turco
Contact: For information: gianluca.olcese@uwr.edu.pl