DEMOCRACY AND COMMUNITY IN CRISIS

Society for US Intellectual History

2022 Conference

Boston, Mass.

Proposals due: June 10, 2022

Society for U.S. Intellectual History invites proposals for its 2022 annual conference, which will take place November 3-5, 2022, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Mass. The theme for this year’s conference is: “Democracy and Community in Crisis.”

The Society will be returning to an in-person conference for the first time in three years. Since the last time we met in person back in 2019, our nation has been through a global pandemic and a violent attempt to overturn an election. This year also marks the anniversary of three earlier moments of political crisis in the history of our nation: the fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate break-in; the two hundredth anniversary of the execution of Denmark Vesey for allegedly plotting an uprising of enslaved people in Charleston, SC; and the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the Gaspee Affair and the formation of the Committee of Correspondence in reaction to it. We are interested in the ways Americans in the past have thought about political and community crises, big and small, that have affected not only the United States, but also the larger world. As always, we interpret this theme broadly to include the histories of gender, race, class, science, technology, philosophy, religion, government, war and peace, politics, film, literature, music, education, sports and games, and all the other ways in which people have caused, perceived, expressed, and responded to crises in community and democracy throughout the American past.

We invite submissions that respond to the conference theme or that deal with any other aspect of U.S. intellectual history or the teaching U.S. intellectual history.

Please direct any questions about the conference to Ben Alpers at [email protected].

Types of Submissions

 Traditional Panels (4-6 people):

A traditional panel will include a chairperson and either three or four presenters. The panel chairperson may also serve as a commentator, or the panel may include a separate commentator.

Traditional Panel submissions must include the following materials: a title for the panel; a designated chair; names, email addresses, and institutional affiliations (if any) of all panel participants; a 300-word abstract for each paper; a separate 500-word abstract for the entire panel; a one-page CV for each participant.

Roundtables (4-6 people):

A roundtable will include four or five discussants. One of the discussants may serve as the roundtable chair/moderator, or the roundtable may include a separate chair/moderator.

Roundtable submissions must include the following materials: a title for the roundtable; names, email addresses, and institutional affiliations (if any) of all roundtable participants; a 300-word description of each discussant’s expected contribution to or intervention in the discussion; a separate 500-word abstract for the entire roundtable; a one-page CV for each participant.

Guided Discussions  (4 people):

Guided Discussion sessions ask the audience to consider four interrelated scholarly or pedagogical questions. Presenters each speak for 5-10 minutes, laying out one of the four questions. Audience members then split into four groups, each led by one of the presenters to discuss the question they asked. Presenters then report their table’s discussion to the room and a room-wide discussion is held.

Guided Discussion submissions must include the following materials: a title for the session; names, email addresses, and institutional affiliations (if any) of all discussion leaders; a proposed discussion question and a 300-word abstract from each discussion leader; a 500 word abstract for the entire session; a one-page CV for each participant.

Panel in Alternate Formats (4-6 people):

We welcome proposed panels that have alternate structures to the ones noted above.

 Alternate Format submissions must include the following materials: a title for the session; names, email addresses, and institutional affiliations (if any) of all the participants; a 300-word description of each participant’s role in the session; a 500-word abstract for the entire session that explains in the detail the format you are proposing; a one-page CV for each participant.

 Single Paper Proposal:

Although preference will be given to organized panels, we are accepting individual paper submissions.

All individual paper submissions should include (1) a hierarchical list of themes, topics, events, and other relevant keywords (related to intellectual history, as much as possible); and (2) the paper’s anticipated chronology. These tools will aid in the creation of sessions.

Submission Guidelines

1. The committee is especially eager to ensure a diverse representation of scholars at the conference. We welcome submissions from graduate students, professional historians, academics working in adjacent fields, scholarly professionals working outside the academy, independent scholars, and high school teachers. We strongly encourage panels that reflect the diversity of our field in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and/or institutional prestige of panelists.

2. Individuals may appear on the program no more than twice. Those appearing twice must do so in two distinct capacities (paper presenter, panel commentator, roundtable discussant, etc.) Participants may, for example, deliver a paper and be a panel commentator, but may not present two papers.

3. Our conference venue makes the rental of A/V equipment prohibitively expensive, so we ask that panels not rely on access to it.

4. The committee will assume that submission to the conference is an indication that participants will be able to present at any time on November 4 or 5. If religious practice, teaching schedules, ADA requests, or other obligations limit when you can present, please note such limitations with the proposal.

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

6. All documents should be submitted to the email address [email protected] in a single PDF document. The deadline for submissions is June 10, 2022, and notifications will be sent to session organizers by July 1, 2022.

7. If you are otherwise on the program less than two times and would be willing to serve as a chair / respondent to a panel assembled from individual paper submissions please express your willingness to Ben Alpers at [email protected].