CFP – Close encounters, displacement and war

Close Encounters in War Journal – n. 1
Call for articles
Thematic Issue: “Close encounters, displacement and war”

Close Encounters in War Journal is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The second issue (n. 1) of the journal will be a thematic one, dedicated to the experience of displacement as a consequence of war and conflict, and titled “Close encounters, displacement and war”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflictis deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies that war can shape and develop our minds and affect our behaviour by questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

Displacement is one of the most affecting consequences of war. Armed conflicts move people from one place to another, often trigging extensive phenomena of mobility that can influence societies in depth. The United Nations estimate that in the last few years 65 million people have been displaced by war and prosecution, whereas Malcom Proudfood famously calculated that no less than 60 million people were displaced from their homes during the Second World War and in its aftermath. Among them, there were those who had been forcibly deported by the Nazis, the soldiers who had moved with the armed forces and, most notably, a mass of civilians who became refugees.

Today, the refugee crisis represents one of the most urgent problems internationally, and it has a deep impact on political choices especially in Europe. Fleeing from combat zones has always been the only chance of survival for non-combatants, and refugees are among the most vulnerable groups involved in armed conflicts. Nonetheless, displacement can be multifaceted and not always explicit. Long periods of absence from home (e.g. as members of occupation troops or as POWs) may produce significant psychological and social effects on combatants, who would find it difficult to come back to their society, family and cultural environment. Fighting in colonial armies or being involved in civil wars, too, are sometimes perceived as cultural, social and moral displacement. On a broader scale displacement could trigger interesting phenomena of social, anthropological, cultural and transnational mobility capable of affecting national identities and shaping cultures.

Displacement is such a critical problem for modern societies that many institutions, scholarly or otherwise, commit to the study and research of migration from the ethical, legal and humanitarian point of view.

Issue n. 1 of CEIW Journal will aim to investigate displacement by exploring its facets both on a micro-scale, by studying individual testimonies and experiences, and on a broad scale by observing macro-phenomena of displacement throughout history with comparative, critical and cultural methodologies.

We invite articles which analyse the experience of displacement from ancient to modern and contemporary periods, from the perspective of the encounter, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ each other with and within the experience of displacement. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics that can be investigated include but are not limited to:
· Social impact of war displacement
· Displacement and transnational history
· Psychological aspects of war displacement
· Violence and trauma
· Cultural encounters and identity
· Displacement and colonial wars, civil wars, international conflicts
· War captivity and other forms of deportation
· Forced displacement, war crimes, ethnic cleansing
· Displacement and transitional justice
· Representations of otherness, race, and gender
· Religion and politics
· Testimonies, personal narratives
· Oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War Journal invite the submission of 300 words abstracts in English by 1st June 2018. Decisions will be made by 30th June 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 1st November 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

Abstracts can be sent to: simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com and gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com

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

CfP: Close Encounters in War – Special Issue

Close Encounters in War Journal is a new independent and peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War Journal will be a Special Issue dedicated specifically to irregular warfare and titled “Close encounters in irregular and asymmetric warfare”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflict is deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies the idea that the fact of encountering war shapes and develops our minds and affects our behaviour, questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

One of the most ancient types of warfare is what today is referred to as ‘irregular warfare’, as opposed to ‘conventional warfare’, which is a relatively more recent development. The combat strategies and tactics used by tribal warriors, modern guerrillas, resistance fighters and terrorists have recently been attracting the attention of military historians, strategists and intelligence experts due to the widespread terror threat, but how do human beings experience this particular type of warfare? Does it seem more threatening and scary because it can involve civilians more deeply? or because it blurs the traditional idea of war as open confrontation with a recognisable enemy? What drives non-combatants to arm themselves and become fighters? Is irregular warfare more violent, brutal and dehumanising than conventional warfare and if so, why? What is their cultural, linguistic and anthropological impact? And finally, is irregular warfare adopted also by regular armies? What is the impact of such warfare on the war-experience of the combatants involved?

For the launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War we invite articles which investigate irregular and asymmetric conflicts from ancient times to modern and contemporary periods, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ with and within this type of armed conflict. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics which can be investigated include but are not limited to:

Irregular, asymmetric and unconventional warfare
Insurgency and counterinsurgency
Resistance and partisan war
Terrorism and counter-terrorism
Violence and trauma
Cultural encounters and identity
Representations of otherness, race, and gender
Religion and politics
Testimonies, witness-representations, oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War invite the submission of 3-500 words abstracts in English by 15th November 2017. Decisions will be made by 2nd January 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 15th April 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

Contact Info:
The editors of CEIW Journal can be contacted via the website
or at:
simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com
gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com

CfP: Reflections on the commemoration of World War One

22-23 November 2018, Christchurch, New Zealand

Brought to you by Canterbury100

As we approach the end of the centenary of World War One, it is timely to consider the ways in which this conflict has been commemorated. Galleries, libraries, archives and museums around New Zealand and the world have explored old and new narratives of the war and presented these in exhibitions, public programmes and research. Many of these interpretations have been the result of collaborations that have joined repositories with academia, other institutions and the community. This conference invites museum professionals, historians, librarians, academics, students, film makers, artists, writers, researchers, government sector contributors and others to reflect on the commemoration of the war. Papers that address the following themes are invited:

Local and transnational perspectives on commemoration
Reassessments, new narratives and new perspectives
The effect of commemoration on identity
The commemoration of identity
Pacifism, objection and dissent
Lessons learnt from the centenary
Tensions between celebration and commemoration
Assessment of public commemoration activities (e.g. exhibitions, public programmes, documentaries, books etc)
Diverse communities at war and at home
Gaps and omissions
Difficult stories and the trauma of a generation
Lessons for contemporary collecting

Conference presentations may take one of the following forms:
20 minute presentation
Panel session

Please email an abstract of 250 words with your name, institutional affiliation and 100 word biography to ReflectionsWWi2018@gmail.com by 1 November 2017.

A publication featuring a selection of papers from the conference will be produced following the conference.

For more information please see here, or contact the conference oragnizers at ReflectionsWWi2018@gmail.com

CfP: Mars and Minerva: International Artistic and Cultural Responses to War, Palgrave Macmillan

An edited volume, entitled Mars and Minerva: International Artistic and Cultural Responses to War, is seeking chapters from UK authors.

For further information, please contact Dr Martin Kerby (Martin.Kerby@usq.edu.au)

The editors are looking to group the chapters under the general headings of Commemoration (Chapters 2, 4, 6, 10, 14) Loss, Grief and Resilience (3, 12, 13, 15) and Identity (5, 7, 8, 9, 11). It will be a 12 month project so there is plenty of time to submit work. Chapters will be about 7000 words.

Current planned chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – The Fabric of History: An exploration of the Bayeux Tapestry, Overlord Embroidery and the Boer Trekker Tapestry – Margaret Baguley
Chapter 3 – The Theatre of War: Translating War Horse – Janet McDonald
Chapter 4 – Touring the battlefields of the Somme with the Michelin and Somme Tourisme guidebooks – Caroline Winter
Chapter 5 – Children’s Picture Books: Conflict and Identity – Eloise Tuppurainen-Mason
Chapter 6 – A Fusion of Art and History: Dioramas – Martin Kerby
Chapter 7 – Do You See What I See? International Perspectives on World War II through Textbooks – Susan Santoli
Chapter 8 – Between Little Truths and Good Lies: The Use of Mythology in Second World War Narratives and Contemporary Art – Beata Batorowicz and Jason Castro
Chapter 9 – Indigenous Protest Art – Robert Barton
Chapter 10 – Australian War Memorials: An artistic interpretation – Malcom Bywaters
Chapter 11 – Landscape of War – Australian War Artists 1914 – 1918 – Margaret Baguley, Abbey MacDonald and Martin Kerby
Chapter 12 – Write propaganda, shut up, or fight: Philip Gibbs and the Western Front in 1917 – Martin Kerby
Chapter 13 – The Soldier as Artist: Memories of War – Michael Armstrong
Chapter 14 – Combat Cinematography and the Hollywood connection – Daniel Maddock
Chapter 15 – The Stamps-Baxter G. I. School – Dr Jeannette Fresne

New blog for Oxford’s WWI Centenary ‘Continuations and Beginnings’ website

Hanna Smyth, who is completing her DPhil on the relationship between Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites and identity, recently contributed to the University of Oxford’s WWI Centenary ‘Continuations and Beginnings’ website. Her blog, WWI Memorials of the British Empire: Identity and Memory on the Western Front, can be accessed here.

CfP: Defining Canada, 1867-2017: values, practices and representations

International Conference / Congress of The French Association of Canadian Studies
Paris, 14-16 June 2017

On July 1st 2017, Canada will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. On this historic occasion, the French Association of Canadian Studies (AFEC), in conjunction with the Research Center on Anglophone Cultures (LARCA) of Université Paris Diderot, will hold a conference to explore the evolution of Canada and what defines it. This conference intents to favor the historical perspective of the longue durée, by examining not only what defines Canada in 2017, but by comparing this with the way it was defined in 1867, at the time of Confederation, as well as in 1967, at the time of the centennial. To do so, the conference will be organized around three guiding lines that correspond to the values, the practices and the representations through which Canada is defined.

Abstracts can be submitted individually or as a panel (group of 4 proposals around the same topic), in French or in English.

Deadline to submit abstracts (400 words) along with a short bio (100 words), preferably in Word format: 1st July 2016

Notification of acceptance: 30 September 2016

Contact: Dr. Laurence CROS
Associate Professor, Canadian Studies,
Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7)
Email: laurence.cros@univ-paris-diderot.fr

Selected papers from this conference will be published in the journal Études Canadiennes / Canadian Studies, first as a paper issue, followed one year later by a free-access electronic issue on http://eccs.revues.or/

Further information here.