Call for Papers: '1940'. An International Conference on the Second World War

Second World Studies at Edinburgh will be hosting its first international conference in June 2020 to mark the eightieth anniversary of the second year of the conflict. It invites all scholars with an interest in the Second World War to submit an abstract which engages in some way with the events and/or memory of 1940. Our two key note speakers are Professor Susan Grayzel (Utah State) and Dr Jonathan Fennell (KCL).

We welcome papers addressing any historical aspect and/or geographical focus relating to 1940, as well as papers from related disciplines such as social anthropology, archaeology and literature. Potential themes may include, but are not limited, to:

Military/veteran identities
Culture and media (e.g. poetry, literature, film and newsreels)
Global and domestic politics
Intersectional histories (e.g. ethnicities, gender, class and sexualities)
National identities and nation-building
East Asia/Pacific theatres
Partition, expansion and annexation: the Soviet Union and its neighbours
Island histories (e.g. Gibraltar; Malta)
Transnational perspectives
Conscientious objection and dissent
Internment, detention and refugees
Intelligence studies
Aerial bombardment
Myths, memories and memorialisation

Abstracts of up to 250 words for 20-minute conference papers should be submitted to Dr Wendy Ugolini (wendy.ugolini@ed.ac.uk). We also welcome suggestions for panels of three speakers. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 31 January 2020.

This is the third in a rolling programme of events which intends to explore, scrutinise and analyse the ways in which we discuss and commemorate the lived experience of the Second World War. Second World War Studies at Edinburgh - which was set up by Wendy Ugolini, Toby Kelly and Jeremy Crang - aims to bring together researchers in the field to discuss their work and to flag up themes which will be of importance during the 80th anniversary commemorations of the conflict.

The conference will be held at the University of Edinburgh, 4-5 June 2020.

In order to encourage early career researchers, there will be no registration fee for this conference (but participants will be expected to cover their own costs).

This event is supported by the School of History, Classics & Archaeology and the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Twitter: @SWWStudiesEdin

Jan 31 2020