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  • 09 Feb 2016 by Robert Oppedisano

     

    Mapping Migrations in World History / The Seventh Annual Conference of the Midwest World History Association  / 23-24th September 2016 / Metropolitan State University (Saint Paul, Minnesota) / Proposal deadline: April 15, 2016

    The Midwest World History Association is happy to announce a call for paper, poster, panel, roundtable, and workshop proposals for its annual conference to be held at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on September 23th and 24th, 2016. The conference theme is “Mapping Migrations in World History.” Proposals that focus on any period of world history are welcome, particularly those that explore such themes as the migration of peoples globally, the impact of such migrations, and the ways in which humans have mentally and physically mapped who they are (or who they think themselves to be).We hope that such mapping allows us to consider how migration has helped to form or even to dismantle cultural identity, trade, political authority, social groupings, or other aspects of human interaction. Papers and panels on any theme in world history are also encouraged. The organizers encourage proposals from K-12 teachers, college faculty, students, and public historians, as well as scholars working in allied fields such as Anthropology or Geography.

    The conference will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Erika Lee, Rudolf J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and Director of the Immigration History Research Center and Archive of the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lee’s most recent book, The Making of Asian America: A History was published by Simon & Schuster in 2015 to wide acclaim and was reviewed in The New York Times, the New Yorker, and the LA Times, among other places. Additionally, the conference will also feature an Archival and Cartographic Seminar at the University of Minnesota for a limited number of attendees. The Borchert Map Library (https://www.lib.umn.edu/borchert) and the Immigration History Research Center and Archives (https://www.lib.umn.edu/ihrca) will lead tours and discussions of their extensive collections based on the interests of the attendees who sign up for this three-hour seminar.

    Please submit a 250-word abstract and a short curriculum vitae to the Program Committee Chair, Dr. Louisa Rice, at chair@mwwha.org no later than April 15, 2016. Questions about the conference can also be directed to this address. Where a complete panel is proposed, the convener should also include a 250-word abstract of the panel theme. Each panelist should plan to spend no more than 20 minutes presenting her or his paper.Presenters must register for the conference by August 15, 2016 to be included in the program.

    The MWWHA will offer up to three competitive Graduate Student Awards to offset part of the conference costs. Graduate students interested in applying should include a letter with their conference proposal explaining how the conference helps them with their studies, teaching, and and/or future career plans as well as how their paper fits with the conference theme and the mission of the MWWHA.

    We also invite accepted papers to be submitted to our journal, The Middle Ground, for potential publication: http://themiddlegroundjournal.org/.

    Further information about the MWWHA, including membership and conference registration (when it becomes available) can be found on our website: http://mwwha.org/.

  • 09 Feb 2016 by Robert Oppedisano

    Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Transnational Comparative Perspective, 18th Century - Today / June 16-17, 2016 / Workshop at the German Historical Institute (GHI) / Conveners: Hartmut Berghoff, Jessica Csoma, Bryan Hart, Kelly McCullough, Atiba Pertilla, Benjamin Schwantes, Uwe Spiekermann

    The importance of immigration in the nation’s economic development—both as a source of low-cost labor and highly-skilled human capital—has long been acknowledged. Similarly, the American economic system’s openness to entrepreneurial activity is generally recognized as one of its defining characteristics and a central factor in its continued vitality. How did those who came as, or became entrepreneurs in the United States, integrate themselves and their businesses into the American marketplace? Did their journey give them a certain entrepreneurial advantage? What role have ethnic diasporas and networks played in the transfer of skills and knowledge?

    This workshop  at the German Historical Institute (GHI) seeks to examine these key questions and to link research on immigrants from diverse backgrounds to the results of the German Historical Institute’s multi-year project, Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present (www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org). The workshop is conducted on the occasion of the completion of the project and seeks to contextualize its main findings.

    Bringing together scholars from a variety of fields, the workshop aims to explore patterns and transformations in the interplay between immigration and economic innovation; to investigate how ethnicity, gender, space and time intersect in the economic sphere; and to look at similarities and differences in experiences within and between various immigrant groups. We hope to stimulate discussion on these important topics and provide a forum for comparison by looking at African, Asian, European, and Latino diasporas in the United States.

    We especially invite early-career scholars pursuing their PhD, but also recent post-docs and senior scholars from the fields of history (including business history and the history of knowledge), entrepreneurship, political science, and sociology to make a contribution. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

    • the relationship between immigration and entrepreneurship in the United States;
    • the role of immigration in the United States’ economic development;
    • the transfer of skills and knowledge across borders and cultures;
    • geographies of ethnic entrepreneurship;
    • comparative studies across time and ethnic groups;

    It would be a great plus but not a prerequisite if the speakers could try to link their topics to the results of the GHI’s Immigrant Entrepreneurship project by comparing their cases with the German-American experience and pointing out differences and similarities as well as patterns and recurring challenges.

    The workshop at the GHI will bring together junior and senior scholars. The discussions will be based on pre-circulated papers submitted four weeks in advance. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the German Historical Institute.

    Please send a short abstract of no more than 400 words and a brief CV in one file by February 15, 2016 to Jessica Csoma (csoma@ghi-dc.org).

  • 09 Feb 2016 by Robert Oppedisano

    2017 Biennial Conference of the Southern American Studies Association / University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill / March 16-18, 2017

    This interdisciplinary American Studies conference will explore interactive flows of ideas, discourses, bodies, and objects across cultures, populations, periods, and geographies. These movements span a gamut of involvement: some promoting generative transculturation and entrepreneurial innovation with others enforcing established powers in ways that produce exclusion and violence. Our collective inquiries will challenge the sufficiency of local, tribal, regional, and national frames by presenting new research in American Studies that charts dynamic interconnections and exchanges. We welcome critical and creative transgressions that refigure traditional scopes and -scapes in intersectional, comparative, transnational, and global ambits in ways that dramatize how every location embodies each of these registers.

    Possible approaches are suggested but not limited by the following:

    *adoptions and adaptations of stories, songs, motifs, and performances across varied communities
    *mixed, hybrid, and blended practices, aesthetics, languages, genetics, identities, recipes
    *interethnic and transcultural influences and appropriations
    *pathways through different genealogies of belonging and inventions of memory
    *translations of events, documents, and spaces into and through digital domains
    *creative pedagogies and alternative performances for generating and transmitting learning
    *transmutations of personal identities, historical reputations, and spatial stories across time
    *migrations of refugees, emigres, defectors, asylum-seekers, contractees, adoptees, retirees
    *circulations of tourists, deportees, absconders, wanderers, and personae non gratae
    *forced migrations and restrictions on movement, such as slavery, removal, incarceration, detention, probation
    *the pushes and pulls of corporate and labor relocations, including urbanization, outsourcing, franchising
    *imports and exports and the transportation and consumption of these resources and products
    *contending conceptualizations of freedom, equality, justice, patriotism, and citizenship

    Submissions for sessions should include a panel title and 250-word abstract as well the 500-word paper proposals, two-page CVs, and requests for technology that are required for each individual presenter. Please send all proposals in either MS Word document of PDF to sasa2017@unc.edu. The deadline for submitting all proposals is Friday, September 30, 2016.

    In the interest of involving as many people in our conference as possible, each conference attendee may be listed in the conference program as a participant in a maximum of two sessions. While we welcome a range of formats, we ask that panels be designed so that they fit within a 75-minute time frame with at least 15 minutes dedicated to discussion. As always, we especially encourage graduate students to attend and present research.

    The Critoph Prize recognizes an award for the best graduate student paper presented at each SASA conference. It includes a certificate and a check for $250, as well as recognition at the next biennial gathering. Deadline for graduate students to submit the papers they are presenting at the 2017 conference as a PDF attachment to SASAcritophprize@gmail.com is noon on March 16, 2017.

     www.southernamericanstudiesassociation.org