Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
4 August 2015 19:00
Revisiting Gallipoli
Special Event
Dr Silke Ackermann shares personal impressions from her recent pilgrimage to Gallipoli, ahead of a screening of Gelibolu, the 2005 documentary by Turkish filmmaker Tolga Örnek. Presenting viewpoints from both sides of the conflict, the film is narrated by Jeremy Irons and Sam Neill.
4 August 2015, at 7pm
The Museum of the History of Science’s season of Gallipoli films begins with All the King’s Men (1999), a feature-length BBC television drama starring David Jason about the mystery of Sandringham Company of the Norfolk Regiment, which disappeared in action at Gallipoli in 1915. Part of the Dear Harry exhibition programme.
Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford.
The Strategic & Defence Studies Centre (ANU) and the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society (UNSW Canberra) are pleased to announce an international conference that explores the future of military history, to be held at the Australian National University 4 – 5 February 2016.
The conference aims to explore the unique position occupied by military history between the public, scholarly and professional arenas. Historians of all fields have long mined the wealth of sources that war generates, and the history of war remains popular at an undergraduate level. In Australia the centenary of the First World War has generated substantial public interest, while the Anzac myth is central to national commemoration of war and a signifier of national identity. Yet, military history arguably remains on the margin of the historical discipline in Australia, following an international trend in which the field has been considered to be traditional and conservative.
The organisers invite proposals for 20-minute papers that engage with these and related themes. Proposals should be no more than 300 words, should include a short biography, and be sent to Tristan Moss, tristan.moss@anu.edu.au, and Tom Richardson, t.richardson@adfa.edu.au by 2 October 2015.
To encourage a broad range of participants, at least four bursaries of $500 each will be available to defray travel costs. All participants are eligible, with an emphasis on those who do not have access to institutional funding. Those wishing to apply should include with their paper proposal a CV and a page explaining how they would benefit from a bursary.
Further information here.
The French Commission for the Centenary of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Mission du Centenaire 14-18) and its Scientific Council are organizing an international conference in Paris, 22, 23 and 24 of June 2016 on the subject of “The Major Battles of 1916.”
The commemoration of the battles of 1916 runs the risk of treating the latter as if they are self-evident and thus of reducing them to their purely military aspects, whereas the very use of the term “battle” is anything but self-evident. What Maurice Agulhon described as: “a combined series of assaults, of attempts to break through the front or at least to ‘gnaw away’ at the enemy’s defensive lines and so push back the front” stands in sharp contrast to previous meanings of the term “battle.” Indeed, we might ask what a “battle” is in relation to operations covered by the terms: “war”, “campaign”, “offensive”, “combat” or “front”?
The conference will therefore take the “battles” of 1916 in their international dimensions as its problematic. Its object is two-fold: first, to advance knowledge by broadening perspectives and introducing international comparison; second, to introduce a broad audience to the approaches that have renewed the history of the battles of 1916 in recent years, notably on fronts other than the western front.
Papers will not be read out by their authors but will be summarized in a report presented by a rapporteur in order to facilitate a broad discussion, during which the authors will be able to express their ideas.
The working languages of the conference will be French, English and German, with simultaneous translation. Papers in Russian will be accepted.
Proposals for papers must reach the scientific secretariat of the Mission du Centenaire 14-18, 109 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 PARIS, (alexandre.lafon@centenaire.org) before 1st December 2015. They should consist of an outline of not more than 1,000 words.
Further information: Colloque Batailles CFP VA; Colloque Batailles CFP VF
Date: 21 – 23 January 2016
Place: London, United Kingdom
Convenors:
Dr Santanu Das, King’s College London
Prof Andreas Gestrich, German Historical Institute
Dr Daniel Steinbach, King’s College London
The First World War resulted in an unprecedented range of encounters between peoples from different ethnic, social and cultural backgrounds. Soldiers from across the globe travelled to different theatres of war – Europe, the Middle East, East Africa, Egypt, Gallipoli – where they not only encountered fellow-soldiers and non-combatants with different languages, religions or customs, but also interacted with friendly or belligerent civilians. Between 1914 and 1918, on French soil alone, there were over 1 million Asian and African men, both soldiers and non-combatants, in addition to soldiers from Australia, New Zealand and North America.
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to investigate the different kinds of encounters, exchanges and entanglements happening during wartime. What particular pressures did the conditions of war put on such encounters? What is the relationship between ‘forced encounters’ (as in camps for POW or civilian internees), ‘voluntary’ encounters (as in towns, markets, billets) and the state-sponsored ideologically motivated ‘indirect’ encounters (in the neutral countries)? Does encounter always involve exchange? What were the structures of power and how did they navigate the prevalent ideologies of race? How did the encounters and exchanges occur across linguistic, national, religious, ethnic and social barriers, and what were their post-war legacies in terms of social, cultural, artistic and literary memory for Europe? Papers which pay attention to encounters or exchanges which involve colonials and neutrals – which is still a largely under-researched area – are particularly welcome.
Accommodation will be provided for speakers for the duration of the conference and speakers’ travel expenses will be reimbursed within reason.
Proposals from scholars at any stage in their career are invited and papers with an interdisciplinary approach are particularly welcome.
Participants should send abstracts of up to 300 words for a 20-25 minute paper, a short biography, and any enquiries to daniel.steinbach@kcl.ac.uk by 14 September 2015.
Further information: CfP_Cultural Encounters during Global War
Colonialism, War & Photography
King’s College, London – 17 September 2015
Part of the HERA research project, ‘Cultural Exchange in Times of Global Conflict: Colonials, Neutrals and Belligerents during the First World War‘, based at King’s College London.
Using the First World War as a focal point, this interdisciplinary one-day workshop aims to examine the complex intersections between war, colonialism and photography. What is the use and influence of (colonial) photography on the practice of history? What is the relationship between its formal and historical aspects? How are the photographs themselves involved in the processes of cultural contact that they record and how do they negotiate structures of power?
Keynote & Discussant: Prof Elizabeth Edwards
Director, Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University
Convenors: Dr Santanu Das & Dr Daniel Steinbach
King’s College London
Participants should send abstracts of up to 300 words for a 20-25 minute paper, a short biography, and any enquiries to daniel.steinbach@kcl.ac.uk by 31 July 2015.
Further information: CfP_Colonialism, War & Photography
Fulwell Acoustic Mirror is a 4m high concave concrete dish, constructed on the coast at Fulwell, Sunderland. Completed in 1917, it was designed to act as an acoustic early warning system against air raids, after a bomb dropped by a Zeppelin over the Wheatsheaf area of Sunderland in April 1916 left 22 people dead and more than 100 injured.
After many years of neglect the acoustic mirror’s crumbling condition led to the structure being included on the Historic England (previously known as English Heritage) Heritage at Risk register. This triggered a partnership between Sunderland City Council, Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund programme – Limestone Landscapes, which has resulted in a glorious restoration, unveiled on 9 June 2015.
See here for the full story.