International conference: At War with Words

Posted on 15 December 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

At War with Words
Letters, diaries and memoirs of soldiers, women and children in the First World War
Genoa, 26-28 November 2015

Organisational Bodies
University of Genoa – Department of Antiquity, Philosophy, History and Geography (Ligurian Archives for Folk Writing); Archival Superintendency of Liguria; Institut français-Italia (IFI); The Mission Organisation for Anniversaries of National Interest; The Doge’s Palace, Genoa- Foundation for Culture; Fondation d’Alembert; Mission française du Centenaire; Collectif de recherche international et de débat sur la guerre de 1914-1918 (CRID 14-18); Corpus 14; Université de Toulouse II-Laboratoire Framespa; Trinity College Dublin, Historical Office of the Italian Air Force; University of Trento; The Historical Museum Foundation of Trentino- Trento Archive for Folk Writing; Ecole française de Rome.

Introduction
What were the feelings, the perceptions and the mental attitudes of soldiers and civilians, of women and children, during the war? What strategies of psychological resistance did they employ in response to such destabilising experience? It is possible to answer these questions by consulting the wide variety of writings produced by the combatants and by the civilian population “mobilised” during the conflict. These letters, diaries, and memoirs—some still hidden in old drawers, though many collected in ‘folk writing’ archives—are also of considerable narrative and historical interest, due to their linguistic peculiarities, [and their efficacy as depth-probes and guides into the war.] This conference will address the methodological debates that are still ongoing, while presenting texts of particular significance, as well as the results of European research in historical and linguistic fields.

Section I
THE WRITING WORKSHOP
This section will investigate the relationship between war and writing. It will focus especially on the processes of increased literacy brought about by the war, and on the context–the time, place, method, textual form (be it letter, postcard, diary, memoir, autobiography) and physical support–of writing. It will also consider the linguistic characteristics and peculiarities of the texts themselves.

Avenues of research:
– The context (time, place and textual form) of writing: when and where one writes.
– The methods, physical supports and materials of writing: how the form of the physical support and the dimension of the graphic space can influence the nature of the text.
– The war as education to writing: learning how to read and write in the trenches.
– Battling with grammar: the characteristics and peculiarities of the language employed by semi-educated individuals—both military and civilian—who were involved in the conflict.

Section II
INSIDE THE WAR
This section will analyse and evaluate the texts as common tools of communicative resistance connecting the trenches, the rears, and the home front. It will focus on: (1) narrative approaches to, and descriptions of, the ongoing experience of war (heavily inflected by practices of censorship and self-censorship); (2) writing as a form of psychological escape from conflict and imprisonment; and (3) how the war was perceived away from the front. Beginning with the main authorial subjects who were involved in this sundered dialogue—the soldiers and prisoners, the women (wives, mothers, girlfriends, sisters, Red Cross nurses, godmothers) and children—it will investigate issues related to gender roles and relationships, and to the redefinition of the model of masculinity/femininity.

Avenues of research:
– Word bridges: writing as a tool of communicative resistance in the trenches, behind the front lines and at home.
– The intimate war: letter-writing and journal-writing as escapes from horror and as introspective shelters.
– Writing and perception: the sensory stresses of war.
– Censorship and self-censorship in correspondence.
– Feeding on words: food as both a necessity of survival and a symbol of identity in the testimonies of the soldiers.
– The sense of homeland in the writings of the soldiers.
– The vision of the enemy in the words of the soldiers.
– Words to heaven: religiosity in the testimonies of soldiers.
– Words in flight: the writings of airmen as an alternative viewpoint, both physical and psychological, on the war.
– Prison writings: the writings of prisoners of war as a means to: (1) ask for assistance; (2) effect their escape; (3) pass the time; and (4) maintain control of their identity.
– The writings of women: the redefinition of gender roles, the decline of masculinity and the changing model of femininity during the war.
– The writings of children.
– The journey of words: the services of the military mail.
– Images and words: postcards with propagandistic images and the drawings of soldiers.

Section III
AFTER THE WAR
This section will investigate the post-war period—the context within which, and the methods through which, the memories of war were reprocessed. It will also focus on the relationship between oral memory and written memory, and the utilisation of written testimonies in the construction of the war myth. Finally, attention will be brought to bear on the cultural and historiographic processes that have transformed these writings from memorials to historical sources, and on the foundation of centers dedicated to the collection and preservation of written testimonies—important custodians of Europe’s collective memory of the Great War.

Avenues of research:
– The contexts and methods of reprocessing memory: writing as an a posteriori reworking of the lived experiences of war.
– The relationship between oral memory and written memory.
– Monuments of words: the utilisation of the letters and diaries of the fallen in the construction of the war myth.
– From monument to document: the reclamation of these writings as historical sources.
– The collection and preservation of the war-time writings of the populace, in both the real and virtual worlds: from physical recovery to textual analysis.

Submission Guidelines:
Proposals (max 300 words) should be accompanied by a brief CV and sent to: (Conference e-mail yet to be created)

Languages:
Italian, French, English

Registration fee:
80,00 €

Calendar:
– Call for Papers: 15 November 2014
– Conference website goes live: 30 December 2014
– Deadline for proposals: 15 February 2015
– Acceptance of proposals by: 15 May 2015
– Conference: 26-28 November 2015

Scientific Committee:
– Quinto Antonelli The Historical Museum Foundation of Trentino- Trento Archive for Folk Writing)
– Sonia Branca-Rosoff (Paris Sorbonne University)
– Fabio Caffarena (University of Genoa)
– Rémy Cazals (University of Toulouse)
– Gustavo Corni (University of Trento)
– Antonio Gibelli (University of Genoa)
– John Horne (Trinity College Dublin)
– Nancy Murzilli (Università of Genoa/ French Institute Italy)
– Manon Pignot (University of Picardy)
– Frédéric Rousseau (University of Montpellier)
– Agnès Steuckardt (University Paul-Valéry of Montpellier)
– Carlo Stiaccini (University of Genoa)
– Stefano Vicari (University of Genoa)

Organising Committee:
– Maria Teresa Bisso (The Ligurian Archives of Folk Writing, Genova)
– Fabio Caffarena (University of Genoa)
– Nancy Murzilli (Università of Genoa/ French Institute Italy)
– Nella Porqueddu (Trinity College Dublin)
– Carlo Stiaccini (University of Genoa)
– Benoît Tadié (French Institute Italy)
– Stefano Vicari (University of Genoa)

The proceedings will be published by a national-level publisher

Gender, Women and Culture Seminar, Hilary 2015

Posted on 12 December 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

The Gender, Women and Culture seminar series will run every other Tuesday of Hilary Term 2015 from 12-1.

Week 2: Tuesday 27th January
Rees Davies Room, History Faculty

Arianne Chernock (Boston) – ‘From the Right to Rule to the Right to Reign: Politics of Queenship in Nineteenth-Century Britain’

Week 4: Tuesday 10th February
Rees Davies Room, History Faculty

Reading group on women and wartime led by Eve Worth and Charlotte Bennett. The following texts will be discussed:

Alison S. Fell, ‘Nursing the Other: the representation of colonial troops in French and British First World War nursing memoirs’, in Santanu Das (ed.), Race, empire and First World War writing (Cambridge, 2011), pp.158-174.
James Hinton,’Lilian Rogers: Birmingham flaneuse’, in Nine Wartime Lives: Mass Observation and the Making of the Modern Self (Oxford, 2010), pp.111-135.

Digital copies available from CGIS Co-ordinator Naomi Pullin: naomi.pullin@history.ox.ac.uk

Week 6: Tuesday 24th February
Lodgings Drawing Room, Exeter College

Susan Grayzel (Mississippi) – ‘Did women have a Great War?’

Week 8: Tuesday 10th March
Rees Davies Room, History Faculty

Matthew Stevens (Swansea) – ‘Married Women and the Law in Late Medieval Northern Europe’

Advertising and the First World War

Posted on 10 December 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

BBC News – WW1: How firms cashed in on the war

In an age before TV bombarded consumers with commercials, newspapers and magazines such as Punch and the Illustrated London News were the battleground for firms desperate to see off their rivals.

But just how did they pitch their wares to the public and the men enlisted in the armed forces?

For further information, see here.

One of our research clusters is The Global-Imperial Dimension. If you are interesting in carrying out research in this area, then see here. We have a number of academics who are working on the mobilization of culture, ideas and information: propaganda; and the role of the press, including Prof. James Belich, Dr. John Darwin and Dr. Jan-Georg Deutsch. Please contact them directly to discuss your research interests and see here for more information on applying to the University of Oxford with your doctoral proposal.

British Library Doctoral Students’ Open Days

Posted on 8 December 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

British Library Doctoral Open Days are a chance for new doctoral students to discover the British Library’s unique research materials.

See here for more information on the series of events.

Merton College: Clarendon Fund and John Roberts MC3 Graduate Scholarship

Posted on 8 December 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

Merton College: Clarendon Fund and John Roberts MC3 Graduate Scholarship – Globalising and Localising the Great War – October 2015

We wish to encourage applications to the History Faculty and the English Faculty for proposed doctoral theses that relate to the main project areas of GLGW:

The Global-Imperial Dimension
The Economics of War and Peace
Global War and World Religions
Military Law and Military-Civil Relations
Global Cultural Representations of Conflict

When making the application it would be helpful to use the phrase ‘This proposed topic would fit with the Globalizing and Localizing the Great War Programme’ in the thesis proposal and to mention a member of the Programme as a prospective supervisor. We would wish to particularly encourage transnational and comparative projects.

Eligibility – Home/EU/Overseas applicants

Value – Merton College funds full living expenses. Clarendon Fund covers University and college fee

Duration – up to four years (depending on period of fee liability)

Application – Via University application form for graduate study by the January application deadline

For more information see here

To apply, see the University of Oxford Application Guide

We hope to be able to contact successful candidates by 1 May.

Report on Workshop on the First World War and Global religions

Posted on 27 November 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

Global Religions and the First World War: Catholicism and Islam (1 November 2014)
Chair: Adrian Gregory
Participants: Gearoid Barry, Nicolas Bianchi, Pavlina Bobic, Faisal Devji, Clothilde Houot, Justin Jones, Caitriona McCartney, Claire Morelon (rapporteur), Gajendra Singh, Michael Snape, Faridah Zaman, Jeanette Atkinson (administrator)

Adrian Gregory introduced this first workshop on global religions during the First World War by explaining how the coupling of Islam and Catholicism could help thinking transnationally about the conflict. Religion appears as a pre-eminently transnational phenomenon of the First World War. Islam and Catholicism were universal religions both in their geographic reach and their ambition to embrace the entire humanity.

The morning session on the social and cultural aspects of religions in wartime started with a discussion of the role of chaplaincies during the war. Chaplaincies did not have the same importance in different armies: they were more important in the British context than in the German army, for example. Overall, a more comparative picture of chaplaincies is needed because the different armies have been unevenly studied. The reliance on more informal forms of religious support (like the YMCA or the Salvation Army) was also underlined. The role of the war in the revival of religiosity remains difficult to assess. In the French case, there was a revival of religious sensibility during the war, but the actual impact on practice was not enormous.

The internationalism of Islam and Catholicism was then debated. There were limits to the feelings of belonging to a Catholic community in contact with other Catholic groups. Specific cults had a very national dimension (Sacred Heart, for example). In the case of Islam, a form of solidarity could exist with the Ottoman Empire in India (funds were raised for the Ottoman war effort) but it would be difficult to quantify these feelings. People at the time were also arguing that Shia and Sunni Muslims should put their differences aside. However, here also, the local dimension of religion played an essential role, for instance the cult of martyrdom in Punjab.

Religious practices constitute a new direction of research. It is essential to examine daily practices in a world where most religions were more closely practiced than nowadays. In the Muslim context, maintaining practices like body cleanliness was a major concern for soldiers. They wrote home to receive instructions on Ramadan. Dietary restrictions constitute a great point of divergence between the two religions. In the Indian Army, there was an emphasis on separate kitchens to cater for religious needs. In an attempt of Protestantisation, the religious leaders were used by the British to speak to the troops and perceived as loyal princely figures of authority. In the Catholic world, the role of intercessory saints became very prominent during the war.

The discussion of practices raised the question of the gender dimension of religion in wartime. The Catholic Church increasingly policed female behaviour. The loss of male authority often meant that the priest would replace it. Women in Islam were viewed as a repository of the community. In the Khilafat movement, women were encouraged to donate their jewellery. Bi Amman also promoted the movement unveiled and she pleaded to the audience as a mother, reinforcing this link between motherhood and the community. However, other researchers pointed out that the systematic gendering of religion was problematic. In the Catholic case, for instance, the increase of Marian devotion during the war was a constant between men and women.

The religious dimension of charitable and humanitarian activity was visible in established charitable organizations (Red Crescent, Indian Soldiers’ Fund) but it is less clear to what extent religious solidarity functioned in wartime. In the case of Belgian refugees in Britain, the Catholics worried that evangelicals would take care of the Catholic refugees. Ethno-national cleavages remained very strong in the Muslim example.

Religion represented a common trope to deal with trauma that soldiers resorted to. There was a familiarity with scriptures which provided a language to interpret the war experience. The inscription on war graves could constitute an interesting source in this respect. After the war, religion could also help in creating a different meaning of the sacrifices (in Ireland or in the successor states of Austria-Hungary). In India, memorials for martyrs were constructed in villages after the war.

During the afternoon session of the workshop, the political and intellectual dimensions of religion were discussed. The reaction of many religious leaders around the world was to present the war as a punishment for sin. In the papal encyclical of November 1914, Benedict XV voiced his concern. Later that month, the Ottoman Empire declared jihad against the Entente. It has long been believed that Constantinople acted under German pressure but new research shows that the belief that Pius X had declared war in Libya (1911-1912) as a holy war was widespread in the region at the time. The traditional chronology does not accurately reflect the Muslim understanding of the war. The First World War was seen as the most spectacular version of anti-Muslim conflicts in the region, placing it in a longer chronology (1911-1924).

Locating religious authority in wartime proves difficult. Even in the Catholic case, Benedict XV was elected right at the start of the war and only had a very short time to get settled in the position. In the Muslim world, the authority was highly fragmented and religious figures only had a local importance.

The issue of religious subversion shows the danger of reducing religion to politics. It is important to differentiate between the actual role of Islam or Catholicism in subversive movements and the fear of subversion. For example, the British always feared an international Islam conspiracy and there were supposed links between different perceived conspiracies at the time (German, Bolshevik, and Muslim).

At the end of the afternoon, several terms were proposed to characterize the new role of religion after the First World War. The concept of revivalism seems mostly useful in the American context. South Asians viewed the caliphate as a reestablishment not a revival. Finally, the term religious reinvention or resetting could describe the renewed engagement of Catholicism in French society.

In the concluding remarks, Adrian Gregory suggested the limits of the comparison between Islam and Catholicism and the risk of running two parallel discussions. Some points of direct connections between the two religions (several individuals, regions of the Russian or Habsburg Empire) could provide interesting topics for further research. The workshop closed with a discussion of the sources available to historians to explore all these new themes.

BBC News: Six unexpected WW1 battlegrounds

Posted on 27 November 2014 by Jeanette Atkinson

Not all crucial battles in World War One took place on the muddy fields of Europe. Some significant fights took place in little-known places much further afield. For further information, see here.