CfP: A HERITAGE OF WAR, CONFLICT, AND COMMEMORATION, Change Over Time Journal

The journal Change Over Time: An International Journal of Conservation and the Built Environment, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, invites submissions for the Fall 2019 issue.

A HERITAGE OF WAR, CONFLICT, AND COMMEMORATION
Guest Editor: William Chapman

Sites of war and conflict that symbolize collective loss or that served as pivotal moments in national or global history are sometimes elevated to the status of “heritage.” Battlefields, sites of bombings, or places of terrorist attacks are all marked by human tragedy and acts of violence and their interpretation is inherently conflictual. This issue of Change Over Time examines heritage produced by violent acts of destruction and our efforts to commemorate the complex narratives these sites embody.

To support the interpretation of sites characterized by absence, we have often erected commemorative memorials of various forms from plaques and commissioned statuary to the presentation of charred and damaged remnants of what stood before. Examples featuring the vestiges of physical destruction include: the hull of the USS Arizona, sunk during Japan’s 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor; the skeleton of the domed administrative building that marked the zero point of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945; the stabilized walls of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, a victim of the German Luftwaffe’s November 1940 blitz; and the “Survivors’ Stairs,” the last remaining element of the World Trade Center following its destruction on 11 September 2001. In this issue, we invite contributors to interrogate the types and nature of heritage produced out of war and conflict, the forms of its commemoration, and the challenges associated with its conservation. We encourage contributors to consider the influence of class, politics, and culture in commemorative expressions; the technical and conceptual challenges of conserving objects or places of destruction; inclusive or conflicting (re)interpretation; and evolving perceptions of places over time.

We welcome contributions representing a broad array of geographic, cultural, temporal, and historical contexts that may or may not include vestiges of destruction but that do address the complex attributes of collective place based tragedy. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, case studies, theoretical explorations, and evaluations of current practices or policies as they pertain to the conservation and commemoration of heritage of war and conflict.

Abstracts of 200-300 words are due 1 August 2018. Authors will be notified of provisional paper acceptance by 1 September 2018. Final manuscript submissions will be due late November 2018.

Submission
Articles are generally restricted to 7,500 or fewer words (the approximate equivalent to thirty pages of double-spaced, twelve-point type) and may include up to ten images. See Author Guidelines for full details at cotjournal.com, or email Senior Associate Editor, Kecia Fong at cot@design.upenn.edu for further information.

BBC News: Six unexpected WW1 battlegrounds

Not all crucial battles in World War One took place on the muddy fields of Europe. Some significant fights took place in little-known places much further afield. For further information, see here.

One of our research clusters is The Global-Imperial Dimension. If you are interesting in carrying out research in this area, then see here. We have a number of academics who are working on the mobilization of culture, ideas and information: propaganda; and the role of the press, including Prof. James Belich, Dr. John Darwin and Dr. Jan-Georg Deutsch. Please contact them directly to discuss your research interests and see here for more information on applying to the University of Oxford with your doctoral proposal.