BIG-H 2015

Berkeley International and Global History Conference

Third Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) Graduate Student Conference

February 27-28th, 2015
UC Berkeley

Call for Papers

Ideas and Ideology in the Global Past

The Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) committee invites graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to submit proposals for the Third Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) Graduate Student Conference to take place at the University of California, Berkeley, on February 27-28th, 2015.

The history of ideas, from science and religion to philosophy, has a rich tradition of nation-based scholarship. Yet ideas, as non-material and communicable things, can easily move across barriers of language and space. The recent turn toward studying histories that escape national and regional frames offer historians of ideas and ideology a fruitful way to examine how concepts emerged, grew, and transformed across national or imperial borders. Historians stand to learn much about the making of the past, and the contemporary world, by examining ideas about the natural world, theology, concepts of governance, and local expertise across space and between societies. Points of entry include the migration of knowledge, the relationship between ideas and material events and processes, the resistance to and exercise of new ideas, the transference of ideas across time periods and geographies, and how ideology informs and is informed by techniques of governance.   

The following list contains a sample of potential questions with which our conference seeks to engage:

This conference will consider the creation and elaboration of ideas and ideologies from diverse perspectives and time periods - from antiquity to the recent past.  We invite papers from graduate students and postdoctoral students that engage the history of ideas, ideology, and how they are realized in culture, politics, economics, science, gender, and society.  Scholars working in any subfield and any time period are encouraged to apply.

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who are interested in participating in the conference should submit a 350 word proposal and one-page curriculum vitae (in Word, RTF, or PDF format) to bighist@gmail.com. Participants will be asked to pre-circulate their paper drafts.  We will not accept panel proposals. Applications must be received by October 5th, 2014 at 11:59PM, in order to be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made in late October. For additional information, please e-mail the conference organizers at bighist@gmail.com

Confirmed speakers and commentators:

From Outside Institutions

From UC Berkeley

Graduate Student Presenters 

Conference Program

All events to take place in 3335 Dwinelle Hall on the Berkeley campus unless otherwise noted.

Friday, February 27th

9:00am: Coffee and Refreshments

10 am: Welcoming Remarks by Bathsheba Demuth

10:10 am: Panel 1: Imagining International Coexistence. Chair: Nils Gilman

12pm: Catered lunch

2pm: Special Session on Transnational History Across Temporal Boundaries. Chair: Ethan Shagan

Maria Mavroudi, Michael Nylan, Carlos Norena

3:30pm: Coffee break

4pm: Panel 2: Producing Knowledge in a Global Context, Chair Catherine Cangany

6:30pm: Keynote Address by Mark Peterson and Dinner. David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way.

Saturday, February 28th

9am: Coffee and Refreshments

10am: Panel 3: Conceiving and Forgetting States. Chair: Erica Lee

12pm: Catered lunch

1pm: Panel 4: Institutions and the Transmission of Ideas Across Borders. Chair: James Lin

3pm: Coffee break

3:30pm: Plenary Panel. Chair: Brian Delay

Jim Sheehan, Steven Topik, David Igler

Please note that conference attendees are welcome at all panels and on-campus catered meals. Pre-registration is required for the banquet. 

Previous Conferences

Please send any questions or comments to: bighist@gmail.com