I'm fairly certain I've never posted a CFP on my personal blog before, but we're getting down to the wire and can't find a third panelist. If you think anyone would be interested in joining our panel, let them (and me) know. Spread the word, please!
A colleague and I are trying to put together a panel for the AHA meeting in New York next year based around our mutual research interests. We intend the panel to explore examples of historical interaction between early modern empires and dissenting religious groups. Specifically, we are interested in how empires used or abused religious groups to pursue their own imperial goals, and how dissenting groups in turn adapted imperial patronage or persecution to toward their own ends.
My paper will examine non-English Episcopalians in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution who sought the British government’s aid to secure toleration for their faith and to help them preserve the structure of their churches as their institutions were swept away in Scotland and Ireland, and various American colonies.
My colleague's paper will look at dissident Presbyterians from Scotland and Ulster in the British Atlantic in the late seventeenth-century. His focus will be on the transatlantic networks they formed to help their religious kin and fellow countrymen evade English imperial oversight in an era when the Stuart dynasty was trying to crack down on their type of dissenting Protestantism.
We hope to solicit proposals for two more papers that can both complement and expand this topic as we conceive it. Though our collective focus is largely British and Atlantic at the moment, we would welcome proposals that deal with other empires elsewhere in the world as much as papers on similar themes. This panel currently has a chair/commenter that we are very excited about. If you are interested in being on the panel, please get in touch with craig.gallagher@bc.edu by February 12th, as the AHA submission deadline is February 15th.
Showing posts with label conferences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conferences. Show all posts
February 8, 2014
July 14, 2013
Vive la France!
Oh, Paris. So much to say and I don't even know where to begin. Don't worry, you won't get all the details of my entire nine days there. I'll stick to the highlights, I promise!
First, the conference and the entire reason I was there: it was strange, but went well in the end. You know those conferences where it seems as if there are two groups attending - the grad students and the established academics? It was like that. Even at the banquet we had two "kiddie" tables of grad students and one prof at each of those tables. It was really hard to mingle the two groups together. Most of the profs kept to their group, unless they knew one of us grad students, at which point they might talk to us for a bit and then scurry back to their group. It was kind of strange. Some of the other students were saying that they felt really uncomfortable trying to approach the profs because, as always, grad students tend to feel like we have nothing to offer in establishing a relationship with a prof and that the prof is always thinking that we want something from them, when really, a lot of times, it's just a matter of hero worship, perhaps with a bit of wanting ideas from them, too. I'm (too) far enough along to let that bother/stop me anymore, but even I found it a little intimidating to try to talk to some of them because of this gaping divide between the groups.
I presented during the last panel on the last day, which is never ideal, but was fine. The question session for our panel got monopolized by an exchange between one of the panelists and an audience member, to the point where the moderator made the decision to end the session in order to stop the exchange from getting more heated. It wasn't terribly heated, but neither side was backing down and the moderator wanted to avoid a train wreck, basically, which was a good idea. That left me with no questions asked at all, so I really was clueless as to how my paper was received. They laughed at the funny bits I put in and clapped at the end, but was it the compulsory clap everyone dreads? I didn't know. It turned out not to be a compulsory clap, as I had four or five profs come up to immediately afterwards and tell me that they liked my paper, thought I had a great avenue for further research, suggested some secondary sources to help frame my work for the next step, etc. One prof, who I've known for a few years but have fallen out of touch with, even went so far as to say how impressed he was not just with the topic and the research, but with my delivery and that I really kept people's attention, even without a dreadful PowerPoint (the speaker after me had an impressive slideshow and I did not - not much to show, really, and I don't like pointless PowerPoints), and even made them laugh. A few of these profs are on the board of the JST, so now they know me and my work and I'm hoping that helps when they get my fellowship application next year. That was the whole point of going to this conference, after all.
So, the fun stuff: oh, the churches! And pastries! And wine! And food! I don't know where to begin, so I'll just show you some pictures.
Best meal (fondue and wine after the conference ended):
Favorite random place we decided to visit (the police museum because it had a guillotine blade used during the Revolution):
Did I mention I love the Phantom of the Opera? I really, really do.
First, the conference and the entire reason I was there: it was strange, but went well in the end. You know those conferences where it seems as if there are two groups attending - the grad students and the established academics? It was like that. Even at the banquet we had two "kiddie" tables of grad students and one prof at each of those tables. It was really hard to mingle the two groups together. Most of the profs kept to their group, unless they knew one of us grad students, at which point they might talk to us for a bit and then scurry back to their group. It was kind of strange. Some of the other students were saying that they felt really uncomfortable trying to approach the profs because, as always, grad students tend to feel like we have nothing to offer in establishing a relationship with a prof and that the prof is always thinking that we want something from them, when really, a lot of times, it's just a matter of hero worship, perhaps with a bit of wanting ideas from them, too. I'm (too) far enough along to let that bother/stop me anymore, but even I found it a little intimidating to try to talk to some of them because of this gaping divide between the groups.
I presented during the last panel on the last day, which is never ideal, but was fine. The question session for our panel got monopolized by an exchange between one of the panelists and an audience member, to the point where the moderator made the decision to end the session in order to stop the exchange from getting more heated. It wasn't terribly heated, but neither side was backing down and the moderator wanted to avoid a train wreck, basically, which was a good idea. That left me with no questions asked at all, so I really was clueless as to how my paper was received. They laughed at the funny bits I put in and clapped at the end, but was it the compulsory clap everyone dreads? I didn't know. It turned out not to be a compulsory clap, as I had four or five profs come up to immediately afterwards and tell me that they liked my paper, thought I had a great avenue for further research, suggested some secondary sources to help frame my work for the next step, etc. One prof, who I've known for a few years but have fallen out of touch with, even went so far as to say how impressed he was not just with the topic and the research, but with my delivery and that I really kept people's attention, even without a dreadful PowerPoint (the speaker after me had an impressive slideshow and I did not - not much to show, really, and I don't like pointless PowerPoints), and even made them laugh. A few of these profs are on the board of the JST, so now they know me and my work and I'm hoping that helps when they get my fellowship application next year. That was the whole point of going to this conference, after all.
So, the fun stuff: oh, the churches! And pastries! And wine! And food! I don't know where to begin, so I'll just show you some pictures.
Best meal (fondue and wine after the conference ended):
Favorite Versailles picture (that's right, I'm driving a golf cart around the grounds):
Favorite Louvre picture (I was more impressed with the architecture than some of the fan favorites because fighting the crowds to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and The Lacemaker - while worth it - was exhausting and annoying and I had to leave after only a few hours there or someone was going to get stabbed):
Favorite of-course-this-would-happen-to-me moment (getting stuck in a canal lock for 45 minutes while on a canal tour because someone cut a wire overnight and the lock was broken and a specialist had to be called to repair it WHILE we were in it):
Favorite church (oh man, this one is hard, but I'm going to go with St. Etienne du Mont partly because I had to work so hard to get in there as it had hours that conflicted with my schedule - the nerve!, though Sacre Coeur, St Paul et St Louis, St Pierre, and so many more make it really hard to chose):
Favorite attraction overall (again, this is tough, but I'm going with the Opera Garnier because the guided tour was fantastic, it is stunningly gorgeous, and, not least, I love the Phantom of the Opera)
Just look at the ceiling by Chagall! Parisians hated it at first, but I loved it. It's an ode to the glory and beauty of Paris and music and dance - how could you not love it? (The picture doesn't do it justice, so don't judge it by this!)
Did I mention I love the Phantom of the Opera? I really, really do.
Ok, that's it for now. I have a dissertation to write!
May 17, 2013
Je vais a Paris!
It's true. I'm going to the Paris conference in July and I couldn't be happier about it!
Despite my abject poverty and the pressure of finishing the dissertation, the conference was too good to pass up. The conference organizers are paying for grad students' hotel rooms and conferences fees, including lunches and the banquet. Evidently, my aunt and uncle didn't want me to miss this opportunity that I've talked about for, oh, four years, so they sent me a check that more than covers airfare. I tried to refuse (no, seriously, I really tried), but they were adamant, so...I'm going.
A friend I travel with a lot (or used to travel with a lot before poverty set in) is also going with me. We're staying a few days extra because I've never been to Paris and I don't know when I'll get back and I really want to see The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry and Abelard's grave and Sacre Couer and Notre Dame and all of the beautiful churches, really, and I want to wander around the streets, eating baguettes and cheese. Can you tell I'm excited? I can't wait!
The paper is already written, just needing a few revisions because it is similar to a paper I presented last year (the horror! but no one from that conference will be at this conference) and it's also part of a chapter that I've been working on, so it's in pretty good shape. If I stick to my schedule, I'll have three dissertation chapters written and two of them fully revised before Paris, assuaging some of my guilt about taking a break in the midst of heavy writing. So far, so good. More importantly, though, I already have heard from a few people expressing interesting in my new project. It's all starting to come together. Finally.
If anyone has any recommendations about where I need to go in Paris, I'd love to hear them. I especially like oddball places that not everyone knows.
Despite my abject poverty and the pressure of finishing the dissertation, the conference was too good to pass up. The conference organizers are paying for grad students' hotel rooms and conferences fees, including lunches and the banquet. Evidently, my aunt and uncle didn't want me to miss this opportunity that I've talked about for, oh, four years, so they sent me a check that more than covers airfare. I tried to refuse (no, seriously, I really tried), but they were adamant, so...I'm going.
A friend I travel with a lot (or used to travel with a lot before poverty set in) is also going with me. We're staying a few days extra because I've never been to Paris and I don't know when I'll get back and I really want to see The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry and Abelard's grave and Sacre Couer and Notre Dame and all of the beautiful churches, really, and I want to wander around the streets, eating baguettes and cheese. Can you tell I'm excited? I can't wait!
The paper is already written, just needing a few revisions because it is similar to a paper I presented last year (the horror! but no one from that conference will be at this conference) and it's also part of a chapter that I've been working on, so it's in pretty good shape. If I stick to my schedule, I'll have three dissertation chapters written and two of them fully revised before Paris, assuaging some of my guilt about taking a break in the midst of heavy writing. So far, so good. More importantly, though, I already have heard from a few people expressing interesting in my new project. It's all starting to come together. Finally.
If anyone has any recommendations about where I need to go in Paris, I'd love to hear them. I especially like oddball places that not everyone knows.
February 6, 2013
I need to practice my French!
I haven't told many people this, but I'm just too excited to hold it in much longer. It looks like my paper was accepted for the Jacobite Studies Trust conference in July!
This is big. Huge. ENORMOUS. I may be more excited about this conference than I was about presenting at the last NACBS. I presented at the last JST conference in Glasgow a few years ago and loved it. Back then, I didn't even consider myself a Jacobite historian, but that conference changed things. Yes, I work on Scottish Episcopalians who were, for the most part, Jacobites, but I approach them from a religious angle, not a political one, so while I technically have always been a Jacobite historian, I didn't actually embrace that until the Glasgow conference.
To say I'm really looking forward to being around "my" people for an entire weekend is an understatement. It's just so nice to get to enjoy an entire conference, rather than having to pick and choose from the panels you might most be interested in and hope you're right. Plus, I need to network again (I haven't been in Scotland in over a year and I constantly worry that people are forgetting about me), pitch my idea for my post-doc project, and see if any of the big whigs bite, I suppose.
As usual, funding is the big problem. I'm hoping there's at least some funding available for grad students. I'm looking for other grants, too, but I'm a bit behind the ball because I didn't hear anything at all for months. I still have time, so I'm hoping the good luck continues and I get enough funding to go. I feel like my future is riding on this conference. I know it sounds silly and very dramatic and is not necessarily true, but I want this post-doc project to work out and I want it to happen in Scotland.
So. Interwebs, send me all the good juju you have, please! I could use it.
Did I mention the conference is in Paris? Naturellement!
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