Category Archives: Events and Conferences

TORCH seminar: Indian Arrivals, 1870-1915

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015 – 12:45pm to 2:00pm
Colin Matthew Room, Radcliffe Humanities Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road

Part of Book at Lunchtime, a fortnightly series of bite size book discussions, with commentators from a range of disciplines. Free, all welcome – no booking required. A sandwich lunch is provided from 12:45, with discussion from 13:00 to 13:45.

Elleke Boehmer (Professor of World Literature in English, University of Oxford) will discuss her book Indian Arrivals, 1870-1915: Networks of British Empire with:
Megan Robb (Junior Research Fellow at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford)
Faisal Devji (University Reader in Modern South Asian History, University of Oxford)
Santanu Das (Reader of English Literature, Kings College London)

About the book

Elleke Boehmer’s book Indian Arrivals 1870-1915: Networks of British Empire explores the rich and complicated landscape of intercultural contact between Indians and Britons on British soil at the height of empire, as reflected in a range of literary writing, including poetry and life-writing. The book’s four decade-based case studies, leading from 1870 and the opening of the Suez Canal, to the first years of the Great War, investigate from several different textual and cultural angles the central place of India in the British metropolitan imagination at this relatively early stage for Indian migration. Focussing on a range of remarkable Indian ‘arrivants’ — scholars, poets, religious seekers, and political activists including Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu, Mohandas Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore — Indian Arrivals examines the take-up in the metropolis of the influences and ideas that accompanied their transcontinental movement, including concepts of the west and of cultural decadence, of urban modernity and of cosmopolitan exchange.

Conference: The Great War in the Middle East 1911-1923, 20-21 April 2016

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This conference marks the one hundredth anniversary year of the Arab Revolt, a significant event in the region during the Great War and after, but not, of course, an indicator of the allegiances of many Arabs who remained on the Ottoman side until 1918. The military success of the Arab Revolt was squandered in 1919-25 by the failure of the Arabs to remain united, and European peace-making, while laudable, sought to break up the region for its own interests.

The conference is focussed on the contrasts and confluences of military operations and peace-making in the Middle East between 1915 and 1922. Scholars are invited from a cross section of international institutions, seeking to return the Middle East and the Western Empires to their proper place in the history of that war, not as sideshows, but as important theatres in their own right. Oxford is well placed for this endeavour, with its Middle East Studies Centre, large numbers of scholars working in this field, and strong links with the modern Middle East.

The first two days of the conference will take place at RMA Sandhurst, the third day will take place in Oxford.

Further information will be posted here when available.

Forthcoming WW1 related seminars

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In addition to the GLGW events planned for this academic year, the following seminars have so far been advertised:

11 November 2015 at 17.00
Heather Jones (LSE) – ‘The British blockade of Germany 1915-1919: redefining the status of civilians in wartime?’
German History Research Seminar, Colin Matthew Room, History Faculty

27 November 2015, 12.30-14.00
Duncan Kelly (Jesus, Cambridge) – ‘Elie Halevy and the First World War’
History of Political Thought seminar, Swire Room, University College

2 March 2016, 12.30-13.45
Michael Roper (Essex) – ‘Growing up in the aftermath of the First World War: issues of oral testimony’
Centre for the History of Childhood seminar, Summer Common Room, Magdalen College

 

Two of our researchers are presenting papers as part of the Modern European History Seminar series for Michaelmas Term 2015:

5 Nov:
Jaclyn Granick (Oxford)
‘Jewish humanitarian relief in Europe in the Great War era’

26 Nov:
Gabriela Frei (Oxford/Brussels)
‘The Conscience of Jurists: The Experience of the First World War and the Future of International Law’

The seminars will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursdays in the Modern History Faculty Building, George Street, Oxford. All are welcome to attend, and tea will be available in the Common Room before the seminar. For all queries, please contact the co-organisers:
Tom Buchanan (Kellogg)
Martin Conway (Balliol)

Oxford Images of War project, Oxford Castle Quarter

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Volunteers are being invited to explore the lives of young people in the city and county through photographic and written records from between 1914 – 1918 as part of the ‘Oxford Images of World War One’ project.

Volunteers aged 16-25 will have the opportunity to research the stories of soldiers, nurses, academics, students, priests and even conscientious objectors, all with professional support.

The outcome will be a high profile outdoor photography exhibition at Oxford Castle Quarter next summer and online resources developed in partnership with the University of Oxford.

Places are free but limited. If you would like to be involved in this project, please contact:
Ameneh Enayat: fetedaycontact@gmail.com

Further information here.
Publicity

Press release

WW1 Wiki-edit-a-thon, IT Services, 10 November 2015

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On Tuesday 10th November 2015 the University of Oxford IT Services are hosting a Wikipedia Editathon on the theme of World War I and Oxford.

Time: Tuesday 10 November, 2-5pm
Location: IT Services, 13 Banbury Rd, Oxford OX2 6NN

The focus of the session will be on editing and improving existing Wikipedia articles and adding images. The theme is WW1 with a particular focus on Oxford so subject expertise is useful (though not necessary – an interest in the topic and in learning about Wikipedia is a good starting point). No previous experience of wiki editing is necessary. The aim is to improve or create Wikipedia articles on World War I topics and highlight the role of Oxford as both a city and a university, in this historical conflict.

Training will be led by Martin Poulter, the Bodleian Libraries’ Wikimedian In Residence. Expert knowledge about the War or previous Wiki editing experience is NOT necessary, though subject experts and experienced editors are also welcome.

This is a free event, run as part of the University’s centenary activities. Non-University members are welcome.

For more information, see here. To book a place please visit: https://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TWOHE (University members) or email courses@it.ox.ac.uk (non-University members).

CFP: War, Peace and International Order? The Legacies of The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907

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The Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland and the New Zealand Centre for Human Rights Law, Policy and Practice
19th April 2016

Between the various strands of scholarship there is a wide range of understandings of the two Hague Peace Conferences (1899 and 1907). Experts in international law posit that The Hague’s foremost legacy lies in the manner in which it progressed the law of war and international justice. Historians of peace and pacifism view the conferences as seminal moments that legitimated and gave a greater degree of relevance to international political activism. Cultural scholars tend to focus on the symbolic significance of The Hague and the Peace Palace as places for explaining the meaning of peace while diplomatic and military historians tend to dismiss the events of 1899 and 1907 as insignificant ‘footnotes en route to the First World War’ (N.J. Brailey).

Deadline for abstracts: 2 October 2015

Abstracts should be no more than 150 words with a brief biography that includes professional affiliation and contact details.

Successful candidates will be notified by mid November 2015.

Conference organizers hope to publish conference proceedings in an edited collection. By submitting an abstract all conference attendees agree in principle to offer an 8000 word chapter to that collection. The full text of these chapters would be due by June 2016.

Submission and Contact Details: To submit abstracts or for any queries regarding the conference, please contact conference organizers through this email address: haguelegacies@gmail.com

Further information here.

CFP: The First World War at Sea, 1914-19

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The First World War at Sea, 1914-19

Conference at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
Friday 3 to Saturday 4 June, 2016

The National Maritime Museum, The British Commission for Military History, and The British Commission for Maritime History are jointly organizing an international conference on the First World War at sea to be held at Greenwich in June 2016.

While there have recently been a number of conferences and publications looking at land-based histories of the First World War, there has been relatively little consideration of the war at sea, its significance and its broader contexts. In the centenary year of the Battle of Jutland, The First World War at Sea seeks to address this lacuna through papers that will address the breadth and complexity of the maritime sphere between 1914–19. The organizers welcome proposals that explore political, strategic, tactical, operational, cultural, social, institutional, economic, and industrial contexts – the list is not definitive. The organizers would encourage proposals that move beyond solely British issues and perspectives.

Papers will be considered for publication in special issues of the British Journal of Military History and the Journal for Maritime History.

The deadline for paper proposals is 1st December 2015.

Further information here.