Northeastern University’s 12th Annual Graduate History Conference

The Northeastern History Graduate Student Association invites proposal submissions
for its 12th annual graduate student conference to be held on March 21 and 22, 2020 at
Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. The deadline for submissions to the
conference is Friday, December 6, 2019.

The 2020 conference theme is “Forces of Change: Memories of Global Alterations,
Adaptations, and Upheavals”. The conference will address a wide variety of themes
within world history and public history, looking specifically at the histories of people
and ideas that have confronted adversity and pushed boundaries. We encourage papers
that think broadly about how systems have been changed and challenged, both on the
local and global level.

Submissions may engage with a variety of related themes including: Empire; Trade and
Transport; Global Systems; Migration and Mobility; Class and Conflict; The Urban
Space; Gender; Borders and Boundaries; Race; The Environment; Hegemony and
Society; Theory and Practice, and many more.

We invite graduate students in history graduate programs and other associated
disciplines to present work on any of these topics and more. We welcome and encourage
papers that deal with these issues in interdisciplinary ways, as well as those engaging
with the digital humanities. We also encourage the submission of pre-organized panel
proposals. Faculty are invited to volunteer as chair/commentators in their research
areas. Paper submissions will be due February 7, 2020 if you are accepted to present at
the conference.

Paper Prize!
The 2020 conference will have a paper prize competition. The winner of the paper prize
will be awarded a one-year membership to the World History Association and a
certificate will also be included with the prize. The winner will be announced Sunday
afternoon, March 22nd, after the last panel presentation. The Committee will judge
papers according to the following criteria: world historical scope; originality of research;
depth of analysis; and prose style. Papers must not exceed 20-25 pages in length.
If you would like to be considered for the prize, please specify during the application
process that you would like your paper to be reviewed upon submission.

Conference Details:

When: March 21-22, 2020
Where: Northeastern University, Boston MA

Keynote Speaker: Priya Lal
Priya Lal is an Associate Professor of History at Boston College. Dr. Lal’s research
focuses on the politics of national development in decolonization-era and postcolonial
Africa. Her first book, African Socialism in Postcolonial Tanzania: Between the Village
and the World, received an Honorable Mention for the African Studies Association's
Bethwell Ogot Book Prize. Dr. Lal is currently working on a book entitled Human
Resources about the training, labor, and circulation of educational and medical
professionals in and beyond southeastern Africa since independence. This project has
won a Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship and an ACLS Fellowship, both from the
American Council of Learned Societies.

Format of Presentations: Accepted presentations are typically divided into three or
four-person panels. Each panelist should expect to present their papers for
approximately fifteen to twenty minutes.

To be considered, the following documents should be submitted to the
program committee at nugradconf@gmail.com by Friday, December 6,
2019:

Individual Papers:
• Paper Title
• 200-word abstract describing paper or work to be presented
• Brief curriculum vitae

Panels:
• List of all panel members (3 per panel) with designated chairperson, if applicable
• 200-word abstract that discusses the theme of the panel
• 200-word abstract for each paper or work to be presented
• Brief curriculum vitae for each panelist and chairperson
• List of audio/visual needs, if applicable

** All-male panels are discouraged, as we want to keep the conference as diverse and
inclusive as possible. Please be cognizant of this when submitting a panel session.
Accepted panelists will be required to submit their papers by February 7, 2020.

Further questions can be emailed to us at: nugradconf@gmail.com