The University of Utah’s American West Center is celebrating its 50th year and hosting a symposium to mark the occasion. The focus is on public history and humanities and promises great potential exploring ways in which Western scholars can better engage and connect with the Western public. Come one, come all! The autumn leaves along the Wasatch Front will be gorgeous, I would be happy to lead hikes or tours, etc… Utah in the fall is just wonderful. I hope to see a lot of you here! Linked here are PDFs of the Call for Papers and Proposals and a nice full-color Poster you can print out and post in your respective departments or places of work. Please share and spread the word!!!
CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND PARTICIPANTS
WESTERN LANDS, WESTERN VOICES:
The American West Center at Fifty
A Symposium on Public Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
September 19-21, 2014
“Western Lands, Western Voices,” a three- day interdisciplinary symposium exploring the past, present, and future of public engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences will be held in Salt Lake City, September 19-21, 2014. The symposium marks the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Utah’s American West Center, the oldest regional studies center of its kind in the West. Our goal is to bring together college/university and community based practitioners for a lively discussion of the place and power of publicly engaged/applied scholarship in the American West.
Participation: We seek submissions from college and university based scholars,community based organizations and institutions, state and local historical and cultural entities, and indigenous Nations. The symposium will engage diverse fields including history, anthropology, political science, ethnic studies, literature, cultural studies, and the arts. We strongly encourage participants and projects that span disciplinary divides.
Submissions from graduate students, early career scholars, and community based scholars are particularly encouraged, as are those that address innovative ways of reaching public audiences.
Topics: We are seeking proposals for panels, sessions, and individual presentation that illustrate the power and potential of publicly engaged scholarship. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Indigenous Sovereignty
- Cultural Preservation and Indigenous Peoples
- Oral History Methods and Applications
- Community Based History Projects
- Environmental Policy and Politics
- Public Lands Management and History
- Literary and Artistic Representations of the American West
Session Formats: We are seeking submissions for sessions and presentations in a range of formats. Traditional research presentations are welcome, but we encourage collaborative formats such as roundtables and the NCPH’s “working group” format. Working Groups connect individuals working on similar projects or problems through the discussion of pre-circulated scholarship.
For complete panel or session proposals a designated contact person should submit a single PDF document that includes a one-page (approx. 250 word) abstract describing the general purpose of the session as well as one-paragraph presentation abstracts and onepage CV’s for each of the session participants. Contact information (address, phone number, and email) for all participants must be provided.
Individual presentation proposals should include a one-page abstract as well as a onepage CV with complete contact information (address, phone number, and email). We will do our best to match individual submissions to create viable sessions.
Working Group Submissions should be made by individuals planning to serve as facilitators for the group. They should include a one-page abstract describing the central issue that the group will address and a one-page CV with complete contact information (address, phone number, and email). If the proposed topic is selected we will assist the facilitator in recruiting appropriate working group members.
All submissions should be sent in PDF format to AmericanWestCenter50@gmail.com by April 15, 2014.
For more information see http://awc.utah.edu/ or contact us at AmericanWestCenter50@gmail.com