Conference – Call for Papers : Connected Histories of Empire

Centre for the Study of Colonial & Postcolonial Societies, University of Bristol, 15-16 July 2013

Over the last two decades, scholars have begun to characterise the British Empire as a complex patchwork of interacting and dynamic agencies, rather than as a homogenous monolith. As a result, the traditional spatial framework based on a stable division between the metropole and the periphery seems increasingly outmoded. Instead, historians, literary critics, scholars of globalisation, and philosophers have been writing about the webs, networks, and circuits in which people, objects, and ideas moved. This conference will interrogate the idea of an empire of connections, considering the possibilities opened up by thinking in terms of global interaction, as well as the challenges of incorporating the myriad interconnections of empire into coherent historical narratives.

The conference is the culmination of a year of events at the University of Bristol which have focused particularly on the memorialisation and commemoration of the British Empire. As scholars have begun to uncover the intricately woven interconnections of empire, a central concern of the conference will be to consider how this might influence how empire has been, and is, remembered and memorialised in Britain and elsewhere.

We would like to invite proposals for papers and panels that speak to the following broad themes :

 The commemoration and memorialisation of different imperial sites, events and phenomena
 Links between imperial port-cities/global cities
 Flows of people, goods (physical and cultural), and cash
 The movement, preservation and display of imperial artefacts and archives
 Imperial networks and imperial careering
 Imperial audiences and public spheres
 The links between global history and imperial history

We would like to encourage broad discussion of connections and comparisons between different modern empires : proposals need not be restricted to the history of the British empire. We would also welcome papers from a range of academic disciplines.

To apply please send a 250 word abstract to the organisers at connected historiesofempire chez yahoo.co.uk by 14 January 2013.

Conference organisers :

 History : Ms Emily Baughan, Prof Robert Bickers, Prof Peter Coates, Prof Tim Cole, Dr Simon Potter, Dr Jonathan Saha, Dr Rob Skinner

 Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies : Dr Matthew Brown, Dr Joanna Crow

 English : Dr John Lee

 Archaeology & Anthropology : Prof Mark Horton