[We have the following call for papers.]
The ConIH Committee invites graduate students to submit proposals for the Thirteenth Annual Graduate Student Conference on International History to take place at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 14 and 15, 2013.
Law is often at the heart of international historical inquiry—whether as a subject of study in its own right, a structure providing context for historical analysis, or a source base for amplifying otherwise-unheard voices. This year, ConIH aims to promote a dialogue among historians who use legal sources and ideas in their work. We hope to interrogate the role of law in international, global, and transnational history, and to think critically about law as a concept and a tool in historical analysis.
Possible paper topics include, but are not limited to: transformations in legal systems (including colonial law, law in the transnational or international order, or analogues between domestic and international legal regimes); the relationship between law and institutions; and the changing subjects of international law, such as the rise of the individual and the human rights revolution. We also hope to treat the diffusion of law across borders, both political and cultural; conflicts of laws; informal legal systems; and individuals in the law, from jurists to outlaws. We welcome papers that use legal tools for non-legal historical analysis.
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. ConIH welcomes innovative research approaches and agendas.
Papers will be selected on the basis of their strength, novelty of subject and interpretation, and utility as bases for historical dialogue. Particular attention will be given to papers developing comparative perspectives–both geographical and temporal–and utilizing multi-archival and multi-lingual research bases. Specialists 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 field of international & global history and law will discuss broad issues pertaining to the theme of the conference.
Graduate students who are interested in participating in the conference should submit a one-page paper proposal and one-page curriculum vitae (in Word, RTF, or PDF format) to conih@fas.harvard.edu. Proposals must be received by November 20, 2012, in order to be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made in December. For additional information about the conference, please contact the conference organizers at conih@fas.harvard.edu or visit the conference website.
