CfP: Identity and Memory in War and Peacebuilding

Date of the Conference: July 2,2018
Place: Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park Campus, Liverpool L16 9JD
Deadline for abstract submissions: April 1, 2018

Identity and memory play key overlapping roles in both war and peacebuilding. Indeed, the construction of collective identities can make a difference between choosing war or choosing more peaceful paths to dispute resolution. Identity is also deeply entwined in the ways we choose to remember past wars, through commemorations and memorials.

In this conference, we are seeking contributions from scholars who are interested in questions related to identity, broadly conceived, (including nationality, ethnicity, gender, profession, etc.) and memory inwar and peacebuilding, such as:

What are the narratives that shape identity in war?
How do we commemorate those who have lost their lives in war (civilians, militia or soldiers)?
How do we recast stories of ourselves, of groupness, and of inter-group relations in post-conflict contexts?
What is the role of identity and/or memory in peacebuilding contexts?
What is the role of identity and/or memory in the aftermath of a conflict?
How does identity and/or memory relate to historical, current or future conflict scenarios?
What is the role of war commemoration practices in overcoming conflict?
What would rather be forgotten than remembered?

Please send abstracts of maximum 300 words (word format) for presentations lasting no more than 20 minutes, together with a maximum of 5 keywords and a biography of 150 words including name, title, institutional affiliation, contact information and technical requirements where applicable to tutu@hope.ac.uk by April 1, 2018.

Information about registration to the conference will be posted soon in our webpage. For any enquiries please email us at tutu@hope.ac.uk

Postgraduate Forum: Commemoration and Creativity, 10 March 2018

Saturday 10 March 2018, 9am-5pm
Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Headington Road, OX3 0BP

This exciting Postgraduate Creative Forum is part of the Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation, which explores and compares the ways in which commemorative practices across cultures both contribute to and challenge post-war reconstruction and reconciliation. The one-day event is aimed at postgraduate students across the Humanities and Social Sciences. You are invited to showcase your work in short presentations (max. 5 minutes) and there will also be discussion and activities exploring how creative and sensorial thinking might illuminate and enrich your research.

This is an opportunity for you to experiment with innovative ways of presenting your research in a short format. You might, for example, focus on a question such as: What is the keystone of my argument? Can I summarise my thesis in a sentence? What is my most important finding so far? The rationale is that distilling and presenting the essence of your research will help you to think about it in a new way and thereby produce fresh insights.

We invite submissions on any aspect of post-war commemoration. Please send an abstract of 250 words and a short biography (max. 150 words) in a single Word document to catherine.gilbert@ell.ox.ac.uk by Monday 29 January 2018. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in early February.

Possible topics for presentations include, but are not limited to:
– The modes and genres of post-war commemoration
– The beneficiaries of post-war commemoration
– The ways in which post-war commemoration contributes to reconstruction and reconciliation
– The future of post-war commemoration, including digital commemoration
– The politics of post-war commemoration
– Post-war commemorative monuments and/or museums
– Post-war commemoration and place/space, ecology and the environment
– Post-war memory
– Post-war commemoration and trauma
– Commemoration in relation to post-war displacement, migration, settlement and belonging
– Diasporic / exilic post-war commemoration
– Post-war commemoration and the body
– Comparative post-war commemoration

‘Post-war’ can relate to any conflict and we welcome submissions addressing commemoration across cultures and time periods. AV equipment will be available and you are welcome to use PowerPoint.

In addition to the presentations, the day will offer two sessions designed to explore how creative and practical activities can extend and transform academic thinking:

Three of our Series poets-in-residence, Susie Campbell, Mariah Whelan and Sue Zatland, will lead a Poetry Workshop, in which they will read their own poems and invite you to think about how the cognitive processes involved in creating poetry might be applied to academic research and writing.

Dr Justine Shaw (University of Oxford) will lead a Candle-Pouring, in which you will create your own memory candle scented with ‘rosemary for remembrance’ (Hamlet). As you do so, you will be invited to explore ways in which an understanding of the senses and the body might contribute to your own academic practice.

The day is FREE to attend and will include lunch and refreshments.

A number of small travel bursaries (up to £50) will be available. If you wish to apply for a travel bursary, please include a short paragraph (max. 300 words) in your application, detailing how your work fits with the themes of the Series and how your research will benefit from attending the Postgraduate Forum.

Cultures and Commemorations of War. Workshop 2: Lest We Forget? Reconsidering FWW Memory. 11 Dec. IWM

Cultures and Commemorations of War: An Interdisciplinary Seminar Series
Workshop Two: Lest We Forget? Reconsidering First World War Memory

Monday 11 December, Orpen Room, Imperial War Museum
Funded by a British Academy Rising Stars Engagement Award

This interdisciplinary seminar series ‘Cultures and Commemorations of War’ brings together early career researchers and advanced scholars working on the memory of war in a range of disciplines with practitioners, policy makers, charities, and representatives from the media and culture and heritage industries. Through a series of three one-day workshops held in Oxford and London in 2017-18, this series aims to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue about the history and nature of war commemoration across time and its cultural, social, psychological and political iterations.

This second workshop will consider the ways that we remember the First World War, focusing on recent commemorative projects as case studies of war commemoration and memory making. The keynotes in the afternoon are Paul Cummins, the artist behind the poppies at the Tower of London, and Jeremy Deller, who devised We’re Here Because We’re Here (https://becausewearehere.co.uk/). Here’s a 2014 video about making the poppies and a 2017 video about the poppies at Plymouth Hoe on the Poppies Tour (#poppiestour).

The schedule and poster are below. Registration is £15 (standard) and £10 (concession) and includes lunch, coffee and a reception.
Please register here: http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/conferences-events/english-faculty/english-faculty-events/cultures-and-commemorations-of-war-workshop-two-lest-we-forget

For more information, contact Alice Kelly (alice.kelly@rai.ox.ac.uk)

9.00-9.30: Registration

9.30-9.45: Opening Remarks – Alice Kelly

9.45-11: Roundtable: What have we learnt from the FWW Centenary?
Emma Hanna, Pierre Purseigle, Anna Maguire, Jane Potter

11-11.30: Coffee

11.30-12.45: Panel: Case Studies in Public Memory and Education
Glyn Prysor, Catriona Pennell, Paul Cornish

12.45-13.45: Lunch

13.45-14.45: Keynote 1 – Jeremy Deller, in conversation with John Horne

14.45-15.15: Coffee

15.15-16.15: Keynote 2 – Paul Cummins, in conversation with Alice Kelly

16.15-17.15: Panel: Conclusions – The Next 100 Years
Lucy Noakes, Ross Wilson, John Horne

5.15-6pm: Wine Reception

CfP: Aftermath: German and Austrian cultural responses to the end of the First World War (1918-1933)

The international workshop ‘Aftermath: German and Austrian cultural responses to the end of the First World War’ will be held at King’s College London on 13-15 September 2018.

The end of World War I marked the beginning of a period of political turbulence and social upheaval in both Germany and Austria. Contrary to popular belief, the conflict did not end overnight with the signing of the Armistice on 11th November 1918; instead, a lengthy series of peace negotiations took place, concluding with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. These negotiations and treaties resulted in considerable losses for both Germany and Austria: national boundaries were redrawn and colonial territories removed, reparations were imposed, and Germany and her allies were compelled to accept full blame for the conflict. In their early years, the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic were buffeted by revolts and uprisings from both right and left, as different political groups sought to assert their competing visions of post-war society.

In spite of these turbulent events, the years after World War I saw the development of a flourishing cultural scene. As major centres of European modernism, Germany and Austria became associated with writers, musicians, artists and filmmakers who engaged in radical formal experimentation and rejected conventional values and aesthetic norms. Yet the post-war period also saw the resurgence and reinvention of more traditional modes of representation through movements such as Neue Sachlichkeit [new objectivity] and the ‘return to order’. Recent scholarship has highlighted the falsity of the traditional dichotomy of the ‘progressive’ and the ‘anti-modern’, showing how the co-existence of plural and seemingly contradictory cultural practices reflected specifically modern anxieties about language, culture and politics. However, questions still remain about the impact of war and defeat on post-war cultural production: in what ways did ‘the double wound of war and defeat fester beneath the […] surface’ [Anton Kaes] of interwar culture? And to what extent did the need to come to terms with experiences of loss and defeat result in what Jay Winter terms the ‘recasting of traditional language’ in an ‘attempt to find collective solace’ after 1918?

The approaching centenary of 1918 offers a timely opportunity to assess the impact of the end of World War I on German and Austrian cultural production in the interwar period. This interdisciplinary workshop aims to shed light on ways in which German and Austrian literature, art, music and film were shaped – both directly and indirectly – by experiences of wartime defeat and political unrest in the period up to 1933. How did cultural practitioners respond to the various peace settlements of 1918-1923, and how did they engage with the associated political turmoil and social upheaval? What role did culture play in envisioning and shaping a new, post-war society? And in what ways did the legacy of the war continue to influence the cultural production of the interwar years?

Scholarship on this area has often tended to concentrate on certain left-wing intellectuals and pacifists, regarding the experience of military defeat and the consequences of the peace treaties of 1918-23 as a taboo subject for all but a few individuals. The workshop seeks to broaden this focus by exposing the rich variety of cultural responses to the end of the war and considering their significance for our understanding of the cultural climate in which the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic came into existence. Its comparative, interdisciplinary scope will enable similarities and differences to be traced across various forms of cultural practice, allowing light to be shed on the shifting relationships between politics and aesthetics in this period.

We invite proposals for papers of 20 minutes in length. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, cultural engagement with the following:

– Peace and (ongoing) conflict
– Experiences of defeat, questions of war guilt and individual/collective responsibility;
– Revolutionary politics and revolution(s);
– Territorial losses and the reshaping of national identity;
– Internationalism and the foundation of a new global order;
– The return of war veterans and their adaptation to civilian life;
– Women’s responses to the end of the war and their emergence as political subjects;
– Commemoration, memory and memorialisation;
– Modern vs. ‘anti-modern’ aesthetic practices;
– Visions of a post-war society.

Please send a 300-word abstract and a brief biographical note to Catherine Smale (catherine.smale@kcl.ac.uk) by 31 January 2018.

The workshop will include a guided tour of the exhibition ‘Aftermath: Art in the wake of WW1’ at Tate Britain, as well as a screening of G. W. Pabst’s film Westfront 1918 – Vier von der Infanterie (1930) held in collaboration with the German Screen Studies Network. Keynote talks will be given by Ingrid Sharp (Leeds) and James Van Dyke (Missouri). Conversations are underway for the publication of selected papers in a journal special issue in 2019.

CfP: 1918 – 2018: The End of the War & The Reshaping of a Century

This conference, hosted by the Centre for Historical Research at the University of Wolverhampton in association with the WFA and the FWW Network for Early Career & Postgraduate Researchers, seeks to spotlight the latest research on the events of 1918 as well as the global significances, consequences, and legacy of this watershed year.

It will be held at the University of Wolverhampton on 6-8 September 2018

Keynotes to include: Professor Alison Fell (Leeds), Professor Peter Frankopan (Oxford), Professor John Horne (TCD), Professor Gary Sheffield (Wolverhampton), Professor Sir Hew Strachan (St Andrews), Professor Laura Ugolini (Wolverhampton) & Professor Jay Winter (Yale).

We invite abstracts for 20-minute presentations fitting within the conference topic. Therein we encourage international perspectives and seek a range of historical approaches together with cross-disciplinary insights. Suggested themes may include but are not limited to:

Warfare in 1918
The War in 1918
Women in 1918
Strategy, Tactics & Technology
Victory & Defeat
Winners & Losers
Peace & (Ongoing) Conflict
Revolution(s)
Aftermaths, Legacies & Impacts
Veterans (Male & Female)
Civilians & Consequences
Gender, Class, Race & Ethnicity
Ends & Beginnings
Learning/Understanding the War
Commemoration & Memory
The Centenary

Abstracts of 250 words should be accompanied by your name, affiliation (if applicable) and a brief biographical statement (c. 100 words). Panel submissions will also be considered.

We welcome submissions from scholars, including ECRs & PGRs, as well as independent researchers, organisations, and community projects. We hope (subject to funding) to offer a limited number of bursaries to assist ECRs/PGRs & community groups to participate.

Submissions should be sent to Dr Oliver Wilkinson (O.Wilkinson@wlv.ac.uk) by 3rd January 2018

Conference registration is expected to open in spring 2018

Keep up to date at our website (www.wlv.ac.uk/1918to2018) and follow us on Twitter (@1918to2018)

Event: The First World War and the Americas: from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego

The National Archives is hosting a conference on the Americas, which will address the impact of the conflict across the length and breadth of the two continents.

Speakers will discuss the conflict experiences of those living far from the battlefield, including war enthusiasm, loss and the longer term impact on memory and national identity. They will also consider some of the other ways in which the conflict affected the Americas, notably through trade and economic development. In doing so the event will explore some of the war’s untold stories far away from the Western Front and highlight why it was a truly global conflict.

PROGRAMME
Sat 1 July 2017, 09:30 – 17:00
The National Archives
Bessant Drive
Richmond
TW9 4DU

9:30 Registration, tea and coffee

9:45 Introduction

10:00 Keynote lecture
Prof Ian Beckett, University of Kent
‘1917: Year of Decision’

11:00 Break

11:15 Session 1: ‘Associated Powers’
Dr Sam Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University
‘The Great War and the Great Republic: the American Experience of the First World War’

Dr Rory Miller, University of Liverpool
‘War, Business and Uncertainty in South America: A Bumpy Ride on the Periphery’

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Session 2: ‘Empire’
Dr Bonnie J. White, Memorial University of Newfoundland
‘‘Sorrow, Gratitude, and Pride’: Newfoundland’s Cultural Memory of the Great War’

Dr Kent Fedorowich, UWE Bristol
‘‘The True North Strong and Free’? Canada’s War at Home, 1914-1919’

Dr Richard Smith, Goldsmiths, University of London
‘‘That our national and allied hopes be speedily realized’: West Indian war experiences and aspirations during 1917′

15:00 Break

15:30 Round Table

16:00 Wine Reception

Cost: £24-£30. Purchase tickets here.

CfP: ESSHC 2018 Session: Digitising visitor encounters with warfare

European Social Science History Conference 2018 (Queen’s University, Belfast, April 4-7, 2018)
Session title: Digitising visitor encounters with warfare
Session Organisers: Dr Ria Dunkley, University of Glasgow and Laurie Slegtenhorst MA, Erasmus University Rotterdam

War has been a popular tourist attraction for centuries (Seaton, 1996), while throughout the 20th-century, warfare and allied memorabilia arguably constituted the world’s largest tourist attraction (Smith, 1996). This situation shows little sign of abating within the present day, when visitation of sites such as the Battlefields of Culloden (UK) and those associated with World War I and II continues to increases (Dunkley, 2011). Yet, for many visitors, understanding the events that have occurred at historical places can be difficult. This is particularly the case for ancient battle sites, where historical relics associated with the event are no longer visible. Due to the increase centrality of visual representations in present day society, publics often desire affective connection to the past, involving tacit involvement with a history that can be touched, heard and smelt, as well as seen (Landsberg, 2015). Digital tools, such as apps, virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D animation arguably provide visitors with totalising, immersive experiences of history and enable an appreciation of the multiple layers of history at war-related sites. Yet, despite a recent proliferation in the number of sites harnessing digital technology to augment the visitor experience, little research has focused upon the way such sites are experienced by the visitors who use these digital tools.

This session seeks papers that explore how different types of visitors engage with history at war-related sites in diverse ways. Questions that will be central to the session include: how do visitors use digital tools to navigate sites of war?; how is the experience history enhanced through digital mediation?; do digital tools engage visitors with history at a deeper, more critical level?; can digital technology enhance understandings of complex historical events? and; is it possible to cater to the needs of homogenous groups of visitors (including, school children, special interest tourists, serendipitous visitors, veterans, survivors and victims’ relatives) through harnessing digital technology?

Proposed research topics include, but are not limited to:

Visitor experiences of using digital technology to navigate sites associate with war (including sites of actual events, as well as museums, memorials and sites of internment);
The significance of memory and pre-conceptions to how digital representations are engaged with;
The representation of divergent identities within digital applications developed for war-related sites (including representations of gender, class and race);
The potentials of digitisation of war-related sites for formal and informal learning (particularly in terms of democracy education);
Innovative methodologies for understanding how the visitor experience is mediated by digital technology at war-related sites.

Presentations should be approximately twenty minutes in length. Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Laurie Slegtenhorst (slegtenhorst@eshcc.eur.nl) and Ria Dunkley (ria.dunkley@glasgow.ac.uk) by April, 23, 2017. Submissions should also include: Author name, institutional affiliation, e-mail and mailing address. Please do also get in touch with any questions, or to discuss alternative forms of presentation.

For more information on the conference, please visit: https://esshc.socialhistory.org/