Call for Papers
ConIH 12: The Twelfth Annual Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History
"Religion and Civilization in International History"
March 8-9, 2012
The ConIH Committee invites graduate students to submit proposals for the Twelfth Annual Graduate Student Conference on International History to take place at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 8-9, 2012.
Historical actors have used religion and civilization as potent tools for the creation and recreation of cultural and political identities, as well as other types of social cohesiveness. Studying religion and civilization, as distinct but often closely related concepts, raises questions about the theological underpinnings of the international order and international law, as well as the civilizational references that religious movements use to define their transnational missions within national, imperial, and other supranational frameworks. ConIH consequently invites graduate students from all continents and disciplines to submit studies that explore the international dimensions of religion and civilization.
We welcome submissions that examine religion and civilization in international contexts. Possible paper topics include, but are not limited to, the role of religion and civilization in shaping the relations between states, transnational elites, diasporas, and political and religious minorities; the creation of new orthodoxies and heterodoxies; secularism; imperial frameworks; political resistance; narratives on the ascendancy and decline of civilizations; economic structures; transnational networks; and international development.
There are no temporal or geographic limits to this theme. We expect the conference to cover a diversity of topics that will look at populations from all parts of the world, as well as at ancient, pre-modern, modern, and contemporary contexts. Papers will be selected on the basis of their strength, novelty of subject and interpretation, and utility as bases for historical comparison.
ConIH encourages methodologically innovative approaches and agendas which emphasize long-distance influences, utilize multi-archival and multi-lingual research and offer vistas for historical comparisons across time and space. Perspectives from related disciplines such as law, social science, economics, business or anthropology are welcome and encouraged. Faculty from Harvard and beyond will provide commentary on the papers. The conference will conclude with a plenary session, at which several leading scholars in the fields of international and global history will discuss broad issues pertaining to the themes and terms of the conference.
Graduate students who are interested in participating in the conference should submit a one-page paper proposal and one-page curriculum vita (in Word, RTF, or PDF format) to conih@fas.harvard.edu. Proposals must be received by December 15, 2011 in order to be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made in January 2012. For additional information about the conference, please contact the conference organizers at conih@fas.harvard.edu or visit the conference website at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~conih.
