SHA 2013: Preliminary Call for Papers

SHA 2013: 46th Annual Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology
University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
January 9–12, 2013

The preliminary Call for Papers for the SHA 2013 conference in Leicester is now available to download on the conference webpage, and will also appear in the Spring 2012 issue of the SHA newsletter. Call for papers officially opens on May 1, and closes on July 10, 2012.

Globalization, immigration, and transformation

Leicester is a multicultural city that has been transformed since the middle of the 20th century through its interaction with global networks, particularly immigration from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean – a pattern of immigration that reflects the once-global nature of the former British Empire.

These issues of globalization, immigration, and the transformations brought about by those processes are central to historical and post-medieval archaeology, whether they entail the global spread of European capitalism alongside the expansion of European colonialism, the willing or forced migration of millions of individuals from their original continents to new homelands, and the local, regional, and national transformations (both within Europe and across the world) brought about by all of these processes. The 2013 Conference Committee particularly welcomes submissions that relate to these themes.

"Muro Occidentale o del Pianto" (Western Wall or Wailing Wall) by Fabio Mauri (1993)

General Information

The SHA 2013 Conference Committee hopes to encourage flexibility in the types of sessions offered.Contributions can take the form of:

* Individual papers. Papers are presentations including theoretical, methodological, or data information that synthesise broad regional or topical subjects based on completed research; focus on research currently in progress; or discuss the findings of completed small-scale studies.

* Posters and Media Displays. Free-standing, mounted exhibits with text and graphics, audio and film, etc. illustrating ongoing or completed research.

* Formal symposia. These consist of four or more papers organised around a central theme, region or project.

* Electronic symposia. These have the same basic structure as a traditional formal symposium; however completed papers are posted on the SHA website well before the conference, and individuals who plan to attend the symposium can then read the papers in advance. At the symposium participants give very brief summaries of their paper, the bulk of the symposium consisting of a discussion among the presenters and audience. Anyone interested in making use of the electronic symposium format must contact the Program Chair, Alasdair Brooks, <amb72@le.ac.uk>, by 1st July 2012, for further details and suggestions.

* Panel discussions. These are less structured gatherings, typically between one-and-a-half and three hours in length, organised around a discussion topic to be addressed by an invited panel and seeking to engage the audience.

* Three-minute forums. These are informal – but still academic – discussion groups consisting of a number of rapid three-minute presentations followed by a discussion, and were successfully used at the previous SHA conferences in Austin and Baltimore. Typically these sessions last for at least an hour and consist of blocks of four or five very short presentations, followed by 10 – 15 minutes of Q and A discussion on the papers that have just been presented.

Each session organiser may organise the time within each session as they wish. Sessions may contain any combination of papers, discussants, and/or group discussion.

If you have an idea for a session, and would like to attract paper contributions by advertising it on this blog, email Emma Dwyer: <ed108@le.ac.uk>.

You will be able to submit your session and paper proposals online via the SHA website from 1st May, and submission will close on 10th July. So do start thinking about organising a session, presenting a paper, bringing along a poster or other media display, holding a round table lunch discussion, participating in a debate…

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 via Flickr