Tag Archives: humanitarianism

CfP: The First World War in Italy and Beyond: History, Legacy and Memory (1918–2018)

Posted on by

30 November – 1 December 2018
Italian Institute of Culture, London

Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy

Download CfP: CFP – ASMI 2018

The conference will explore the history, legacy and memory of the First World War in Italy from 1918 to 2018. As the War was one of the formative experiences of the modern Italian nation, the aim is to place the conflict in a longer chronological perspective and to highlight its lasting impact from a range of viewpoints. Drawing on recent innovations in the historiography, the conference will shift focus away from the battlefields towards hitherto neglected areas of study, including the experience of civilians and everyday life, the transition from war to peace, and the post-war climate and reconstruction. It will shed light on how the memory of WWI shaped Italy’s national identity and served political ends during the Fascist period and after the Second World War. The intention is also to escape the confines of national historiography by placing Italy in comparative and transnational contexts. Thus, the centenary presents an opportunity to look with fresh eyes at the mark left by the War on the history, politics and society of Italy.

We welcome proposals from scholars working in a variety of disciplines including history, literature, film, politics, anthropology, art, economics, sociology and geography.

Panels might include, but are not limited to:
• The immediate aftermath of WW1 (1918–1922) and the rise of social conflict, political violence and Fascism
• The creation of the League of Nations and the emergence of pacifism, humanitarianism and internationalism
• The experience of veterans in the post-war period
• New historiographical approaches to the study of Italy and WW1
• Global, transnational and comparative perspectives
• Local, regional and national experiences
• Gender, both femininity and masculinity
• Family and societal ties
• Changes to ideas of nationhood, democracy, citizenship and community after WW1
• The legacy of WWI under Fascism
• Parallels between the aftermath of WW1 and the aftermath of WW2
• The material heritage of the War: monuments, memorials and cemeteries
• Italy’s commemorations of the centenary in national or transnational contexts

The organizers welcome proposals for individual papers and for panels composed of 3 speakers. They reserve the right to break up and re-structure proposed panels.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Prof. Gunda Barth-Scalmani (University of Innsbruck)
Author of numerous works on Italian-Austrian relations and the experiences of women during WWI, including Ein Krieg – Zwei Schützengräben, Österreich – Italien und der Erste Weltkrieg in den Dolomiten 1915–1918 (Bozen 2005) and Militärische und zivile Kriegserfahrungen 1914–1918 (Innsbruck, 2010).

Dr. Marco Mondini (University of Padua/Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento)
Author of numerous bestselling books on Italy and WW1, including most recently Il Capo. La Grande Guerra del generale Luigi Cadorna (Il Mulino 2017) and La guerra italiana. Partire, raccontare, tornare 1914-18 (Il Mulino 2014). He is a frequent contributor to programmes on Rai Storia, e.g. http://www.raistoria.rai.it/articoli/cadorna-il-capo/32462/default.aspx

Please send an abstract of max. 250 words and a short biography to: asmi.conference1918@gmail.com
Abstracts can be both in English and in Italian.
The closing date for receipt of abstracts is 1 June 2018

Accepted speakers will be required to join ASMI, which includes subscription to the journal Modern Italy.

Organising Committee: Selena Daly (University College Dublin), Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti (University College London), Hannah Malone (Freie Universität Berlin), Martina Salvante (University of Warwick)

CfP: No End to the War: Cultures of Violence and Care in the aftermath of the First World War

Posted on by

Thursday 24-Friday 25 January, 2019, The University of Manchester

Organisers:
The Centre for the Cultural History of War, The University of Manchester
War, Conflict and Society Research Group, Manchester Metropolitan University
Legacies of War Project, University of Leeds

Confirmed Speakers:
Prof. John Horne (TCD, Emeritus)
Prof. Robert Gerwarth (UCD)
Prof. Alison Fell (Leeds)

Europe’s post-war transition of 1918/1919 has received new scholarly attention in light of the First World War centenary. There has been a recent attempt to contextualise this transition, and to understand how the period after 1918 witnessed both continuing traces of violence and a renewed focus on caregiving. Particularly relevant are the ways in which, across Europe, the war gave rise not only to paramilitary violence, civil unrest, and military occupation, but also new cultures of humanitarianism. This conference aims to act as an intellectual and public intervention in the discussions of 2018 and 2019, and engage with key issues in the cultural history of the transition from war to peace.

This conference seeks to stimulate dialogue between historians of post-war violence, occupation, caregiving and humanitarianism, and contribute to a new integrated history of the aftermath of the First World War. We invite papers on any nation or region, and particularly encourage comparative and transnational approaches.

Major topics of discussion will include:
• Paramilitaries and Paramilitary Violence
• Post-War Military Occupations and Transfers of Occupation
• Demobilisation and Demilitarisation
• Post-War Incarceration
• POW Returns
• Forced Displacement
• Humanitarianism
• Nursing and Medicine
• Cultural Representations of Violence and Care

Within these parameters, the conference seeks to range broadly over the interrelationship of violence and care in the aftermath of the First World War, but potential questions include:
• What new humanitarian cultures and practices did the ‘wars after the war’ provoke? What pre-war ideas and practices persisted?
• How instrumental were ex-servicemen in spreading cultures of care and violence after 1918?
• In what ways did post-war paramilitarism and humanitarianism intersect?
• How successfully were returning POWs cared for and rehabilitated?
• How violent were the Allied occupations of Germany and the Ottoman Empire after 1918?
• In what ways did the injured and disabled challenge social reintegration?
• The family as site of care and violence: what new challenges did families face after 1918?
• How significant was local activism in shaping transnational networks?
• What insights can we gain from examining the role of individuals as agents of humanitarianism?
• How did the creative arts and languages serve populations coming to terms with survival, loss and continued violence?
• How were images of human suffering mobilised by humanitarian activists?
• Which victims of war or agents of humanitarianism are remembered (and forgotten)? Why were some voices weakened or silenced?
• How have museums and practitioners in the field of cultural heritage curated and communicated the complexities of violence and care in the wake of war to public audiences?

Papers should be 20 minutes in length, and submissions from post-graduate and postdoctoral scholars are particularly encouraged. Please send a 300 word abstract and 1 page CV to NoEndToWar@gmail.com by 18 May, 2018.

Event: War, Health, and Humanitarianism, 16 June 2017, Weston Library, Oxford

Posted on by

16th June 2017, 11am-5.30pm
Lecture Theatre, Weston Library, Oxford OX1 3BG

‘War, Health and Humanitarianism’ brings together historians studying conflicts from the medieval period to the modern world in order to discuss the potential impact of historical research on present day policy.
Convened by Dr Rosemary Wall (University of Hull, and Sassoon Visiting Fellow at the Bodleian Libraries)

Programme: War-Health-and-Humanitarianism_Programme

Register: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2017/jun/war-health-humanitarianism
Free event but limited places so registration is essential

With thanks for support from the Society for the Social History of Medicine, All Souls College and the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

CfP: Seeking third paper for panel on internationalism, warfare, & popular politics in interwar Britain (NACBS 2016)

Posted on by

We are two doctoral candidates seeking a third participant for a proposed panel on internationalism, warfare, popular politics, and humanitarianism in Britain between the world wars, for the 2016 NACBS session in Washington, D.C.

One paper will focus on popular internationalism and the transnational circulation of commercial narratives of the Great War in the theatre and film industries during the 1920s and 1930s. The other paper will examine the transnational circulation of British and French press among British relief workers and its use in humanitarian campaigns during the Spanish Civil War.

Submissions for the NACBS close on 2 March 2016. We are asking interested participants to submit a CV and abstract to both Emily Curtis Walters (emilycurtiswalters@u.northwestern.edu) & Kerrie Holloway (k.k.holloway@qmul.ac.uk) by Sunday, 31 January 2016.

Further information here.