The conference committee has recommended we extend the deadline to 30 June in order to give others an opportunity to participate. Mixed panels including graduate students and established scholars are particularly welcome.

We are particularly keen to welcome proposals for papers or panels that deal with the theme “Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers” but papers dealing with any aspect of British studies are also encouraged.

Proposals for panels or individual papers may be sent to Chris Frank or Lynn McKay. Full details on the CFP poster under the ‘Meetings’ link above.

This year’s plenary speaker will be Dr. Peter Stansky, Frances and Charles Field Professor of History, Emeritus at Stanford University.

Submission deadline extended to 30 June 2013.

Smyrna’s Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide, and the Birth of the Middle East (University of California Press, 2012) 

Today the West tends to understand the Middle East primarily in terms of geopolitics: Islam, oil, and nuclear weapons. But in the nineteenth century it was imagined differently. The interplay of geography and politics found definition in a broader set of concerns that understood the region in terms of the moral, humanitarian, and religious commitments of the British empire. Smyrna’s Ashes reevaluates how this story of the “Eastern Question” shaped the cultural politics of geography, war, and genocide in the mapping of a larger Middle East after World War I.

The book is also available in a free electronic edition: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5626s1fw

His winning paper, “‘On Liking’: Parish Children and the Transition to Apprenticeship in Eighteenth Century London” is part of a larger project on the intersection between criminal and welfare legislation in the eighteenth century and its impact on the lives of poor and vulnerable children, which I am working on under the supervision of Nicholas Rogers at York University. At the moment, the dissertation is entitled ‘Child Welfare and the Invention of Juvenile Delinquency in Eighteenth-Century London’.

Congratulations to Mr. Morris!

The WCBS encourages advanced graduate students to participate in its annual conference and welcomes proposals for papers and panels.  Next year’s meeting will take place in Kansas City, MO.

Submissions should be sent in an email attachment to the committee chair by 30 October 2012.  PDF versions of the paper are preferred.  A brief email indicating your submission should be sent to:

Professor Michael Rutz
Department of History
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
rutz@uwosh.edu

The 2012 committee members are Dr. Michael Rutz, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (Chair); Dr. Jodie Kreider; Dr. Padraic Kennedy

The WCBS offers a prize of $500 to the best paper presented at the annual meeting and submitted to the competition. Graduate students are encouraged to submit their papers immediately following the WCBS meeting. In September 2012, we convene in Las Vegas, NV. Please join us!

Nominations and applications for the 2011 award are invited. Please note
that the applications are due on November 30, 2011. Applications should
consist of a curriculum vitae, two supporting letters (one from the
applicant’s dissertation advisor), and a description of the dissertation
research project. The letter should include a description of the materials
to be consulted at the Huntington and the reason that these are essential
sources for the dissertation.

Applicants are also eligible to apply simultaneously for a number of months
under the Huntington’s own fellowship program, so that residence at the
library can be extended to support a more sustained period of research. The
Huntington’s own fellowships pay $2500 per month and the deadline for
applications is 15 December 2011.

A copy of the application package should be sent to each member of the
Huntington Library Fellowship Committee listed below. Letters should be
placed in sealed envelopes, signed across the flap and given to the
applicant for inclusion in the application package. Applications must be
postmarked by November 30, 2011. Awards will be announced by January 30,
2012.

Send materials to:

Professor Melissa Harkrider
Department of History
Wheaton College
501 College Avenue
Wheaton, IL 60187=20
(email: Melissa.L.Harkrider@wheaton.edu)

Professor Carole Levin
Department of History
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
612 Oldfather Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588
clevin2@unlnotes.unl.edu

Professor Stephen M. Miller,
Department of History
265D Stevens Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
Stephen_Miller@umit.maine.edu

Louis A. Knafla, Professor Emeritus in the Department of History and Director of Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Calgary recently edited a collection of essays with Haijo Westra, entitled Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (UBC Press, 2010).

The other plenary address was by Brian Levack of the University of Texas, Austin. Dr. Levack’s entertaining talk, “Demonic Possession in England and Scotland” was delivered before a full audience.