San Francisco 2024: Currents

The WHA, in partnership with San Francisco State University, will be hosting the 33rd WHA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, from June 27-June 29, 2024.

Category:

The 33rd World History Association Annual Meeting will be held from June 27-29, 2024, at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in San Francisco, California.

Subject Fields

World History / Studies

CALL FOR PAPERS Submission Deadline #1: January 1, 2024. The program committee will begin reviewing proposals starting January 1 and send acceptance notifications on a rolling basis. Final submission deadline: February 1

Participants who need acceptance letters to apply for travel funding or visas should plan to meet the January 1 deadline.

The World History Association invites participants to submit proposals for organized panels, papers, roundtables, workshops, innovative sessions, and meet the author sessions for our annual conference to be held at San Francisco State University, June 27-29, 2024, with the theme of ‘Currents,’ broadly conceived. This year, we explore the dynamic flows of ideas, people, politics, and more that shape our interconnected world. We encourage submissions that investigate temporal currents, such as the way certain issues or ideas have flowed through time, and how the past informs the present. Material culture, languages, religions, and traditions between communities and societies are cultural currents that have also left their indelible mark on human history. Economic currents can refer to the ways trade and resources flowed across regions, shaping economies and geopolitics. We also welcome ideas about how ideologies and intellectual movements have spread through time and transcend borders. Social movements such as human rights initiatives, feminism, and physical movements of people in waves of immigration and diasporas have also had far-reaching global consequences. Perhaps some of the largest currents we may consider are those in planetary scale including climate change and the spread of disease.

San Francisco is well suited to explore our theme of ‘Currents’ as a port city known for its rich history as a hub of immigration, exploration, trade, whaling and fishing. It serves as an intersection of East and West cultural exchange, where diverse cultures interact; where intellectual exchange and innovation have become synonymous with the Bay Area. Its iconic bridges - the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge – not unlike the work we do as world historians, connect disparate shores, while the cold California current has become part of the city’s identity, bringing with it ‘currents’ of thought, circulating ideas and cultures, which have enriched the world.

The World History Association encourages proposals for sessions and papers presenting original research and pedagogical techniques within the overarching theme of Currents as well as other topics of interest to world historians. We welcome topics involving the widest possible range of geographic locales.

We invite proposals from students, scholars, teachers, and activists around the world that investigate—and extend the boundaries of—the conference’s theme. Proposals may take the form of:

Organized Panels (three to four panelists, one chair, and optionally, one discussant) - each paper should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length for three panelists; papers should be a maximum of 15 minutes in length for four panelists

Individual Papers (not part of an Organized Panel) - each paper should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length

Roundtable sessions (between four to six participants) – five-minute opening statements from each participant followed by conversational dialogue with the audience

Workshop sessions on specific teaching techniques or practices

Meet the Author sessions - an excellent opportunity for exchanges between authors and audiences, including explanations of methods and suggestions for use

Innovative sessions - innovative teaching, research, or other formats not outlined above Proposals from the fields of anthropology, geography, political science, literature, art history and criticism, digital humanities, other humanities and social sciences, as well as natural or physical sciences that address global historical change are also encouraged.

Each organized session should include a 250-word panel proposal and a 250-word proposal for each paper along with a brief curriculum vitae and a short biographical statement for introduction by the session Chair. Individual papers and all other sessions should include a 250- word abstract, a brief curriculum vitae, and a short biographical statement for introduction by the session Chair.

PLEASE NOTE: Prearranged (organized) panels/roundtables/workshops are given priority in the program and receive earlier notification of acceptance. Individual papers will also be considered and, if accepted, are arranged into suitable panels by the Program Committee. Individual papers may receive later notice of acceptance, pending appropriate placement on panels.

Contact Email

info@thewha.org

Conferences

Conferences

The World History Association has organized a conference every year since 1992, bringing together academic historians, college instructors, and secondary school teachers of world history, as well as occasional symposia on special topics.