This two day conference, March 6th & 7th, 2026, will explore pre/early modern literatures and cultures as they illuminate--and are illuminated by-- new forms of intersectional thinking across recent work in trans studies, disability studies, and the health humanities. Conference organizers include Carla Mazzio and Fuson Wang (UCR)  and the founders of the pre/early modern transgender studies collective known as "EmoTrans," Simone Chess (Wayne State), William Fisher (Lehman College, CUNY), Colby Gordon (Bryn Mawr College) and Sawyer Kemp (Queens College, CUNY).  This conference will be the first iteration of an EmoTrans event on the West Coast, and the first to explicitly take on issues crossing trans and disability studies in pre/early modernity.  

Participants Include:  Jos Charles; Simone Chess;  Andrea Denny Brown; Alice Fulmer, Kersti Francis, Colby Gordon; Miles Grier;  Bryan C. Keene; Nic Helms; Olivia Henderson; Bradley Irish; Jaye Johnson; Bellee Jones-Pierce; Paul Kelleher; Sawyer Kemp;  Carla Mazzio; Harry McCarthy; Shaun Nowicki;  Michele Raheja; Jennifer Eun-Jung Row; Pasquale Toscano and Lindsey Row-Heyveld, with Heidi Brayman, Jacques Lezra and Fuson Wang as Panel Chairs. For the full conference program and speaker bios, please click here.

Sponsors:  This conference is possible thanks to support from the University of California Office of the President ("Abolition Medicine and Disability Justice" Grant ID: M23PR5992) and UCR’s Health Humanities and Disability Justice Lab (hhdj.ucr.edu), and generous co-sponsorships from UCR's the Center for Ideas and Society and the Dean's Office, UCR Departments of English, History, and Religious Studies, and Wayne State University Center for Gender and Sexuality.

Dates, Times, Format:  This conference will be held in person in downtown Riverside, CA on Friday, March 6th (noon-5PM, with registration and a light brunch served from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM and a reception at 5:00 PM)  & March 7th, 10AM-3:15 PM, with breakfast served at 9AM and lunch provided in the afternoon. in Riverside, CA. This in person only event (we regrettably do not have virtual access at this time) is free and open to the public by advance RSVP/Registration only (click here to register).   Once you register, you will get an email from us with further information about the conference !