British World Conference

The British World:

Religion, Memory, Culture and Society

University of Southern Queensland,
July 2nd to July 5th, 2012

Call for Papers

Proposals are now invited for ‘The British World Conference, to be held at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, in conjunction with the Public Memory Research Centre and the Anglican Historical Society of Australia. The conference seeks to increase scholarly understandings of the religious and cultural adjustments that accompanied British political change and expansion.

This conference is an exciting regional and international opportunity for the convergence of scholars in a range of disciplines, from history, religious studies, literature, e-pedagogies, education, post-colonialism, anthropology, legal studies, sociology and indigenous studies. This conference will provide a stimulating forum for the latest research in a range of disciplines.

Abstracts are welcome on any aspect of history and or place where the government, religion, people and cultures of the British Isles have been of influence. The time period is open and may extend from the medieval to the modern period.

From a teaching perspective, the landscape in which we teach history has clearly changed over time. In recognition of such developments, under our ‘Precious Past and Digital Future’ stream, we invite papers which investigate the digital dimension of teaching history and religious studies. We especially welcome paper proposals from early career researchers and postgraduates.  

Plenaries
Christopher Haigh University of Oxford	Alison Wall University of Oxford
Peter Goodall University of Southern Queensland	Lynette Olson University of Sydney
Helen Farley Australian Digital Futures Institute

Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

The British World

• Empire and colonial reach
• Music, art and architecture
• Education and schooling
• The English language and translation
• Environmentalism and the Church
• Gender and sexuality
• Indigenous religion meets the British
• The British Isles and the Church in literature
• The Church and the law
• Liturgical reform and Biblical Scholarship
• Medieval and the early modern Church
• Migration and transnationalism
• Religious identity
• Relations with extra-western religions

Precious Past and Digital Future

• Virtual worlds in history teaching
• E-religion
• Images and texts in teaching
• E-pedagogy
• Writing and teaching history and religious studies

Abstracts of 250-300 words for a 20 minute paper should be sent to british.history@usq.edu.au  by April 12 2012. Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief (100 word) CV of the presenter.

Digital Futures: A particular dimension of this conference will include the digital future of British studies and will include workshops on the use of Second Life technologies in teaching history and religious studies. A plenary address by Dr Helen Farley and expert workshops on Second Life resources will be a feature of this conference.

Registration: The British World registration form (pdf 71kb)

The British World conference flyer (pdf 1.8 mb)

Proceedings: Prospective contributors are invited to submit a written version of their paper for review for inclusion in the conference proceedings, which will be e-published. For guidance on length, format and style, please see the editorial guidelines (doc 32 kb). 

Organ recital: To accompany the conference, Dr Phillip Gearing will present a recital of notable British organ music on the historic 1907 organ of St Luke’s Church in Toowoomba. Entry to this event will be included in the registration fee. A program of the music as well as the time and date will be available nearer in time to the recital.

Convenors:
Dr Lindsay Henderson
Dr Marcus Harmes
Dr Gillian Colclough
Dr Barbara Harmes
Dr Catherine Dewhirst
Dr Phillip Gearing
Ms Jen Bundy

Contact details:

Please email us on:  british.history@usq.edu.au

Written correspondence can be addressed to:
Dr Marcus Harmes
Faculty of Arts
Open Access College
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba Q 4350