CALL FOR PAPERS:Doing Renaissance Now is the theme of this two-day mini-conference, to be held in at  University College, Cork, Ireland on 9-10 December, 2010.  The title is intentionally ambiguous.  We wish to focus on the concept of Renaissance as it applies to a particular time and place still regarded as crucially important for world-wide ways of life and thought.  However, even this outlook is open to our questioning.  What indeed, does it mean to be doing Renaissance Studies Now—not only in terms of the field itself, but in terms of what our field has to say to contemporary society?  In the past, the field of Renaissance Studies has drawn themes and orientations from particular concerns of the moment, without losing the rigorous focus, and has given back crucial insights.  What Now?  To facilitate a many-sided discussion, the conference is articulated in ten parts relating to chief areas of this transdisciplinary and multifaceted field within the humanities and social sciences, keeping in mind the geographical orientations between north, south, east and west:  the Rhetoric of Renewal, Institutions and Communities of Learning, Space, Time, Natural Knowledge, Money and Finance, Appropriation/Representation, Power, Body and Gender, Identity.  Participants will be asked to give a half-hour presentation, followed by discussion. The debate on Renaissance versus Early Modern as periodical concepts has only served to sharpen perceptions of what is at stake in the notion of a Renaissance—not that there is yet substantial agreement on this or on any other aspect of the period’s ontology.  Perhaps in a time of “Renewal” and “Reform” of social, political and economic systems, with all the attendant dangers and benefits, the notion of “Renaissance” and all this has entailed, holds a certain media appeal. Let us utilize this appeal to draw interest to the intellectual rewards of a key period. The conference will attend to the deepest resonances and draw some conclusions.