Call for Papers
“Michael Oakeshott on and in Conversation”
The biennial conference of the Michael Oakeshott Association
Centro Universitário Armando Alvares Penteado
São Paulo, Brazil
September 23-27, 2027
The Michael Oakeshott Association invites proposals for papers and panels for a conference devoted to the theme of “Conversation” to be presented at the biennial conference to be hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil. The theme is intended broadly, but it takes its bearings from Michael Oakeshott’s distinctive use of conversation as the meeting place of a variety of modes of human understanding, joined in a way that is non-instrumental, plural, exploratory, and resistant to reduction to a single purpose, doctrine, or destination.
For Oakeshott, conversation evokes an image of civilized intellectual and political life: a meeting of diverse voices, idioms, traditions, and inheritances, each capable of speaking in its own register without being compelled to conform to an overarching program. Yet the conditions of such conversation now appear increasingly fragile. Public discourse is marked by polarization, suspicion, technological acceleration, declining trust, and the erosion of shared cultural and political reference points thought necessary to sustain it.
We welcome papers that engage Oakeshott directly, but also encourage contributions from political theory, philosophy, theology, history, literature, and related disciplines.
Please submit proposals to eric.kos67@gmail.com by December 15, 2026. Proposals should include: the paper title, an abstract of approximately 250-500 words, a brief biographical note (100-150 words), institutional affiliation (if any), and your contact information. Proposals and papers should be completed in English. Paper presenters will be responsible for travel and room. Afternoon refreshments will be provided. Grants for young scholars are available on a limited basis—please inquire.
Completed papers should be suitable to post on a password controlled webpage for reading before the conference, and should be able to be abbreviated for presentation followed by a Q&A in a panel format. Selected panels may be conducted in Portuguese. Selected papers may be considered for publication in an edited volume following the conference. Questions may be directed to eric.kos67@gmail.com.
