Call For Papers

Following successful events from History Lab North East at Northumbria, Teesside and Newcastle University, History Lab North East is pleased to announce the call for papers for our upcoming workshop at Durham University on 8 May 2014. We are seeking papers from postgraduate students based in History, Classics, and Archaeology on the theme of ‘Narratives’. Papers should provide a brief outline of research before discussing their particular approach to the technical and theoretical aspects of constructing and dealing with existing historical narratives. Themes for these papers could include, but are not limited to:

• Narratives developed and deployed by historical actors
• Historiography and the narratives of historians
• ‘Popular’, ‘public’ and ‘dominant’ historical narratives
• Narrative patterns, tropes and recurring narratives
• Narrative types and their particular constructs of history, e.g. biographical, hagiographical, origin myths, parables and moralities
• Influence of religious and mythological narratives
• Narrating the past in historical fiction and film
• How does the narrative help or hinder the writing of your thesis?
• Is it possible to have history without a narrative?
• Who has the power to construct the past?

Each paper should be 15-20 minutes long, with an expected 10 minutes for post-paper discussion. Please send your abstracts of 200-300 words to historylab.northeast@gmail.com by 13 April 2014.

This workshop will also incorporate a training event on the same theme which will be announced with the finalised programme, and a social event after the workshop.History Lab North East aims to bring together postgraduates in the North East, offering them a chance to present their research in a friendly environment, gain insightful feedback on this research, and to network and socialise with their peers.

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Discovery, Invention and Reinvention

The deadline for the Newcastle University Postgraduate Conference is the 30th March. See below for details:

Call for Papers:
11th Annual PGF Conference 2014
School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Newcastle University
16 May 2014

Discovery, Invention and Reinvention

This interdisciplinary one-day conference seeks to reflect on the continuous (re)discovery and (re)invention processes which historical disciplines and our understanding of the past go through over time.
     Through the course of history individuals, countries and cultures have discovered and rediscovered their pasts; inventing and reinventing personalities, identities, social structures, conventions and ideologies. An iconic figure or artefact may be discovered, forgotten and rediscovered by the same or different peoples and cultures, bearing different meanings and connotations for each given context. An identity or concept may be invented and reinvented at different times. This conference intends to explore these processes and man’s connection and continuous engagement with the past.
     Our keynote speaker this year is Professor Brian McGing, of Trinity College Dublin. Professor McGing holds the Regius Chair of Greek at Dublin and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He will be giving a paper entitled 'The attractions of roads less travelled. Reinventing Polybius, Josephus and Appian'.

We are seeking proposals for individual twenty-minute papers from historians, archaeologists, classicists and ancient historians. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Intellectual history and reception
• Material culture
• Family and gender
• Religion and ritual
• Comparative history
• Politics and national identity
• Class and race
• Memory and commemoration
• Historiography
• Interdisciplinary history

We also invite poster submissions from postgraduate students. The posters do not necessarily need to be on the conference theme, but rather are a way to begin to present your work in the earlier stages of your research.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250-300 words for papers and 150-200 words for posters along with title and CV to Emma Nicholson (e.nicholson@ncl.ac.uk) by 30 March 2014.