The South Central Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SCSECS)

Nestled above the high desert of New Mexico in the Sangre de Christo mountains at 7,000 feet, Santa Fe is our host city for the 2027 SCSECS Conference. Founded in 1610 as the capital of the Spanish province of Nuevo Mexico and surrounded by Native American pueblos that are far older still, Santa Fe has long been defined by commercial and cultural exchange. It was the terminus of three major historic trade routes, beginning with the "Camino Real" that connected Santa Fe to Mexico City starting in 1598. Then, in the early nineteenth century, the "Santa Fe Trail" connected the city to St. Joseph, Missouri and parts further east, while the "Old Spanish Trail" connected it westward to the pueblo of Los Angeles. Known now as the "City Different," Santa Fe's distinctive mixture of three cultures--Native American, Spanish, and Anglo-American--have long made it a top travel destination in the US. Voted as Travel and Leisure magazine's 2025 number one city for visitors, Santa Fe is also widely known for its expansive arts scene, distinctive cuisine, and striking Pueblo Revival architecture. In keeping with this history, the theme of our 2027 conference is "Cities and Other Spaces of Encounter, Connection, Circulation, and Exchange in the Eighteenth Century." We interpret this theme in broad terms and enthusiastically encourage proposals that engage with it in all manner of creative ways, so do not feel limited either to considering only cities as spaces of encounter and connection, or to seeing circulation and exchange just in relation to the material sphere, for example. Likewise, we also warmly invite proposals on all eighteenth-century topics, and from the perspectives of diverse academic disciplines. The SCSECS conference has long been characterized by interdisciplinarity and a wide variety of paper topics, and, given that academic conferences are designed first and foremost as spaces for the circulation and exchange of ideas, papers presented on any eighteenth-century topic will of course still be in keeping with this year’s theme. Please send your proposals for panels or individual topics to our conference organizer, Professor Colin Ramsey: ramseyct@appstate.edu