CfP: 85th Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History

The Society for Military History is pleased to call for papers for its 85th Annual Meeting, hosted by the University of Louisville’s College of Arts & Sciences and the Department of History in Louisville, Kentucky.

For the 2018 meeting, the program committee will consider paper and panel proposals on all aspects of military history, especially encouraging submissions that reflect on this year’s theme, Landscapes of War and Peace.

We will mark two particularly important anniversaries in 2018, the centennial of the end of the First World War and four hundred years since the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War, one of the most destructive conflicts in history. The program committee invites submissions that explore the outbreak of warfare and the difficult ways out of fighting and towards peace. Because the conference will be hosted in the heart of the Ohio country, locale of many early American conflicts, the program committee is also interested in submissions that focus on the geography, environment, and spaces of warfare.

Submissions of pre-organized panels and roundtables are strongly encouraged and will be given preference in the selection process. Excellent panel, paper, and poster proposals will clearly explain their topics and questions in ways that will be understandable to the broad membership of the SMH, not only to those interested in the specific topics in question. Additionally, the SMH encourages the representation of the full diversity of its membership and especially values panel and roundtable proposals that reflect the organization’s diversity of institutional affiliations, various career paths and ranks, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Panel proposals must include a panel title and 300-word abstract summarizing the theme of the panel; paper title and a 300-word abstract for each paper proposed; and a one-page curriculum vitae for each panelist (including the chair and commentator) that includes institutional affiliation, email address, and other contact information.

Roundtable proposals must include a roundtable title, the full names and institutional affiliations of each participant, a 300-word abstract summarizing the roundtable’s themes and points of discussion, and a one-page curriculum vitae for each participant (including the moderator, if any).

Poster proposals allow military historians (especially, but not limited to, graduate students) to share their research through visual materials. Proposals should clearly explain (in no more than 300 words) the poster’s topics and arguments, as well as how the information will be presented visually.

Individual paper proposals are also welcome and must include a 300-word abstract of the paper, and one-page vita with contact information and email address. If accepted, individual papers will be assigned by the program committee to an appropriate panel with a chair and commentator. Those who wish to volunteer to serve as chairs and commenters should send a one-page curriculum vitae to the program committee chair.

Participants may present one paper, serve on a roundtable, or provide panel comments. They may not fill more than one of these roles during the conference, nor should they propose to do so to the Program Committee. Members who act as panel chairs for only one session may deliver a paper, serve on a roundtable, or offer comments in a different session. Members who serve as both the chair and commentator of a single session may not present in another session.

All submissions must be made through the 2018 SMH Submission Portal. One person will need to gather all required information for panel and roundtable submissions and enter the information in the portal. Individual paper and poster submissions can be made by the individual. For questions about the submission process, please contact smh2018@louisville.edu.

All proposals must be submitted by October 1, 2017. All accepted presenters, chairs, and commentators must be members of the Society for Military History by December 31, 2017 to be placed on the conference program.

2018 SMH Submission Portal: www.smh-hq.org/2018submissions.html.
Further information here.