CfP: Reform and Revolution in Europe, 1917-19: Entangled and Transnational Histories

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University of Tampere, Finland, 16−18 March 2017

This international conference in historical sciences analyses the political, cultural, intellectual and societal influences of the First World War in Europe, focusing especially on the emergence of new nation states. The Finnish process of declaring independence in 1917 is related to the international developments of the time, paying particular attention to transnational interaction. In Finland, the Russian Revolution of February/March 1917 started a period of constitutional ferment which led to widespread political mobilisation, constitutional controversies, a declaration of independence in the aftermath of the October/November Revolution in December 1917, a civil war in spring 1918, and finally to adoption of a republican constitution as a compromise in July 1919. In all of these phases the Finnish process of becoming an independent state was linked to and dependent on inter- and transnational developments.

Paper and session proposals

Researchers interested in contributing to the conference are invited to submit an English-language abstract of no more than 250 words to 1917conference@uta.fi no later than 15 April 2016. You can propose either a full panel of three papers (90 minutes) or an individual paper. Kindly include full contact details of the proposer and all the speakers. The organisers will inform you about the inclusion of your paper in the programme during June 2016.

The Finnish Historical Society will award a limited number of travel grants covering part of the participation costs for non-Finnish scholars who do not have a permanent academic position or other kinds of travel funding. If you would like to apply for a travel grant, kindly send your application of no more 250 words to the above-mentioned address.

Further information here.

RAI Book Launch: Suffering and Sunset: World War I in the Art and Life of Horace Pippin

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23 November, 17:00-18:30

Rothermere American Institute book launch and wine reception

Celeste-Marie Bernier (University of Nottingham)
Suffering and Sunset: World War I in the Art and Life of Horace Pippin

Details about her book here.

For self-made artist and soldier Horace Pippin — His ability to transform combat service into canvases of emotive power, psychological depth, and realism showed not only how he viewed the world but also his mastery as a painter. In Suffering and Sunset, Celeste-Marie Bernier painstakingly traces Pippin’s life story of art as a life story of war.

Illustrated with more than sixty photographs, including works in various mediums—many in full color—this is the first intellectual history and cultural biography of Pippin, a pioneering African American artist who served in the 369th all-black infantry in World War I until he was wounded. The war defined much of his life and work. The Great War, Pippin wrote, ‘brought out all the art in me.’ Working from newly discovered archives and unpublished materials, Bernier provides an in-depth investigation into the artist’s development of an alternative visual and textual lexicon and sheds light on his work in its aesthetic, social, and political contexts.

Celeste-Marie Bernier was a Visiting Professor in Oxford in 2013 at the RAI and at Wolfson.​ ​S​he has since held appointments at Harvard, Memphis and King’s College, London.

THE book review: Geert Buelens on the poetry of the Great War

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Times Higher Education‘s book of the week is Geert Buelens’ Everything to Nothing. Deborah Longworth provides a review of this study of the interrelation of politics and poetry.

Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of the Great War, Revolution and the Transformation of Europe
By Geert Buelens
Translated by David McKay
Verso, 400pp, £20.00
ISBN 9781784781491 and 1507 (e-book)
Published 2 November 2015

For the THE review, please see here.

Postgraduate workshop: Connecting Approaches on the First World War in the Wake of the Centenary

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The programme for the Postgraduate Workshop, Connecting Approaches on the First World War in the Wake of the Centenary, taking place on Monday 7 December from 09.00-18.30, at the Maison française d’ Oxford is now available.

This workshop is generously supported by the Sanderson Fund, Oxford History Faculty, the Maison française d’Oxford and the Observatoire du centenaire de l’université Paris 1.

For the full programme, please see: http://greatwar.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2042

Article by Alice Kelly: An unknown First World War story by Edith Wharton

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Dr. Alice Kelly, Postdoctoral Writing Fellow on the Women in the Humanities Programme at TORCH has had an article published in the Times Literary Supplement on her research into an unknown First World War story by Edith Wharton. The story is about Wharton’s anxieties about women in wartime and, more generally, about the broadening the canon of women’s First World War writing.

A link to the Times Literary Supplement article is here.

A link to Oxford’s Arts Blog is here.
The work has also been included The New Criterion’s Critic’s Notebook – see here, in The Atlantic – see here, in Jezebel – see here, and in The Smithsonian’s Smart News – see here.

Online talk: ‘Two-thirds of a Life: The Challenge of Writing about T.E. Lawrence’

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Jeremy Wilson, who has written extensively on the life and letters of T.E. Lawrence, including Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence, gave a lecture in May 2015 at the Institut d’Etudes Avancées in Paris. A recording of the lecture is available here.

CfP: New Researchers in Maritime History Conference

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Applications are invited for the twenty-third New Researchers Conference. The conference provides a unique opportunity for emerging scholars to present their work in one of the world’s most important historic maritime settings.

The Conference supports emerging scholars who wish to share their work in a supportive environment and build relations with other maritime historians. We encourage applications from research degree students, the world of museums, and warmly encourage participation by independent scholars. The organisers encourage contributions that address all aspects of the maritime history in its broadest sense.

Those wishing to offer a 20 minute paper should complete the form on the conference website and send it to Dr G H Bennett (h1bennett@plymouth.ac.uk) and Dr Elaine Murphy (Elaine.murphy@plymouth.ac.uk) no later than 14 February 2016.

Further information and proposal form: http://www.maritimehistory.org.uk/new-researchers/