Global History Graduate Student Conference (Freie Universität Berlin, May 21-22, 2016)

Over at the M.A. Program in Global History in Berlin, our colleagues announce the second iteration of their global history conference for graduate students. This is a terrific opportunity for graduate students in Europe to begin networking, to get a sense of the shape of the field, and to receive helpful feedback and criticism on their work. "In recent years," explains the call for papers,

global history has become one of the most ambitious and most promising strands of historical research. The approach specifically targets relations, flows, and actors which transcend borders that for a long time had been assumed to be stable and impenetrable. It calls attention to the importance of trans-regional, transnational or trans-local connections and highlights the relevance of postcolonial theory to historiography.

But how can we actually "do global history" in practical terms? What are useful methods and techiques for researching and writing from a global perspective? How can global history complement but also challenge other disciplines; conversely, what critiques and new ideas can other disciplines bring to global history?

We–a group of students enrolled in the MA Global History at Humboldt University Berlin und Free University Berlin– would like to invite you to discuss these issues with us at the Global History Student Conference in Berlin by presenting your research projects to fellow students. 

Global history not only challenges geographical borders, it also tends to transcend disciplinary demarcations. Accordingly, we welcome proposals from any academic field that has points of contact with history (e.g. art history, area studies, political science etc.).

Furthermore, since global history has only been part of the European academic landscape for a few years (at least in terms of institutions and study programmes) we are all more or less beginners in this quest for interconnections, entanglements and conjunctures. The field of global history is not limited to the modern period, and we invite scholars of the early modern, medieval or classical periods to consider submitting their research. We also explicitly invite undergraduate students: if you've ever written a paper or essay in this field, this is the perfect place to present it! The goal is to exchange experiences and to work together in an open and non-competitive way.

To register for the conference, which will take place at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institüt in Berlin from  May 21-22, 2016, interested parties are requested to submit a registration form via this website and to send a 300 word abstract to globalhistorystudentconference[at]gmail.com no later than by February 14, 2016. The abstract should be titled with the format "SurnameFirstnameShortTitle," for example: "SmithJohnGermanJapaneseExchanges."

Applicants are additionally requested to send a 2000-word summary of their article for review no later than March 31, 2016 to the same e-mail address as above.

The conference organizers note that "we will be able to offer some financial support for transport and accommodation to participants coming from outside of Berlin," and that any questions should be directed to the same e-mail account as listed above.