BIG-H 2011

Berkeley International and Global History Conference

First Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) Graduate Student Conference: Integration and Disintegration in International History

March 3-4, 2011
3335 Dwinelle Hall
UC Berkeley

The Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) committee invites graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to submit proposals for its First Annual Graduate Student Conference on International History, to take place at the University of California, Berkeley, on March 4-5, 2011.

All history was the history of nation-states. In recent years, however, historians have devoted increasing attention to transnational historical themes and processes that cut across the borders of state units. But at the same time as political structures, markets, and solidarities have bound together diverse configurations of peoples across space, so too have the very same processes generated backlashes, alternative political projects, catastrophes, new forms of difference, and systemic transformations. This conference will interrogate the specific problems of integration and disintegration in international history.

Four questions will animate this conference:

It is the intent of the conference organizers to put specialists in dialogue across the expanses of space and time in the hopes that broad comparison, both interregional and intertemporal, might reveal recurrent historical dynamics. While we welcome researchers who study the general processes of international integration, we also welcome those with expertise in particular times and places who seek to position their work within a broader framework. Specialists from Berkeley and beyond will provide commentary on the papers. The conference will conclude with a plenary session, at which several leading scholars in the field of international and global history will discuss broad issues pertaining to the theme of the conference.

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who are interested in participating in the conference should submit a one-page paper proposal and one-page curriculum vitae (in Word, RTF, or PDF format) to bighist@gmail.com. We will not accept panel proposals. Applications must be received by September 30, 2010, in order to be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made in the beginning of of October. For additional information, please contact the conference organizers at bighist@gmail.com.

Confirmed Presenters, Speakers, and Commentators

From Outside Institutions

From UC Berkeley

Graduate Student Presenters

First Big-H Conference Program (2011)

All events to take place in 3335 Dwinelle Hall on the Berkeley campus unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, March 3

Special Session: Kristin Hoganson, “Taking a Spatial Turn to the Heartland Myth: Converging Borderlands in the U.S. Midwest, 1850–1900,”  4-6pm, 223 Moses Hall

Friday, March 4

11am: Welcome


11:15am: Panel 1: Forces of Integration. Chair: Carlos Noreña

1pm: Catered lunch

2pm: Special Session on Publication in International History. Chair: Daniel Sargent

Susan Ferber, James Sheehan, and Emily Rosenberg

3:30pm: Coffee break

4pm: Panel 2: Containment of Integration. Chair: Jan de Vries

Saturday, March 5

9am: Coffee

10am: Panel 3: Expertise and Integration. Chair: Richard Cándida Smith

12pm: Catered lunch

1pm: Panel 4: Power and Integration. Chair: John Connelly

3pm: Coffee break

3:30pm: Plenary Panel. Chair: David A. Hollinger

Speakers: Brian DeLay, Erez Manela, Emily Rosenberg, James Vernon

Reception to follow.