U.S. Intellectual History Blog

CFP: 2013 S-USIH CONFERENCE


Geographies of Ideas

Fifth Annual U.S. Intellectual History Conference and

Annual Meeting the Society for U.S. Intellectual History

Hosted at the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)

November 1-3, 2013
Submission deadline: June 15, 2013

The Conference Committee of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History (S-USIH) invites individual paper and panel proposals for its fifth annual conference to be held at the University of California, Irvine campus on November 1-3, 2013. . S-USIH is thrilled to announce that David A. Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History at the University of California-Berkeley, will deliver the keynote address.

This year’s conference theme is “Geographies of Ideas.” This theme draws attention both to the importance of place in the forging of ideas and intellectual communities and the numerous border crossings—geographic, disciplinary, and theoretical—that are constitutive of developments within intellectual history. In addition, this theme underscores how ideas about spaces (local, regional, national, transnational, and global) have intersected with myriad intellectual questions and concerns. The committee invites participants to reflect on the multiple ways in which geographies, both real and imagined, have played a role in the study of intellectual history and in the course of U.S. history. Although proposals that relate to the theme are particularly welcome, the committee also welcomes submissions that are relevant to any aspect of the study of American thought.

Prospective participants are encouraged to submit full panel proposals to the conference committee. Panels should consist of four members: (1) either three academic papers and one chair/commentator or (2) four academic papers. Panel submissions must include an abstract for each presentation, a separate description of the panel itself, and one-page CVs for all participants that include the relevant means of contact. Abstracts for individual papers must be no longer than 250 words; panel abstracts must be no longer than 500 words.

Though preference will be given to pre-constituted panel proposals, the conference committee also will accept individual paper submissions. Abstracts for individual papers must be no longer than 250 words. Submissions should also include a one-page CV that includes the relevant means of contact.

The committee also encourages the submission of roundtable panels (a series of ten-minute extemporaneous presentations on a topic followed by discussion among the panel and audience), discussion panels (in which the papers are circulated online in advance of the conference and the entire session is devoted to discussions of them), brownbags (one-hour long, lunchtime presentations), “author meets critics” events, retrospectives on significant works or thinkers, interviews, or performances. Submissions for alternate-format sessions must include a description of the proposed format, along with one-page CVs of all participants that include the relevant means of contact.

In addition, please observe the following:

1. The committee is especially eager to ensure a diverse representation of scholars at the conference.

2. Individuals may participate in the conference in at most two capacities (paper presenter, panel respondent, roundtable participant, etc). Participants may, for example, deliver a paper and be a panel respondent, but may not present two papers.

3. The committee will assume that submission to the conference is an indication that participants will be attending the entire conference. We will be unable to accommodate any scheduling requests.

4. All persons appearing on the program will be required to register for the conference and to become members of S-USIH.

5. Deadline for submissions is June 15, 2013.  All submissions must be emailed as attachments in MS Word or PDF documents.

Send all submissions to: Other queries may be directed to:
2013 Conference Committee Allison Perlman
[email protected] 2013 Conference Committee Chair
[email protected]