EVENT 2024 – Information for Members of BAVS
Submission Deadline: Extended to 1 February 2024
In 2024, BAVS will not hold its normal annual conference. Instead, BAVS, NAVSA, AVSA, VI and DACH-V are collaborating on EVENT (https://www.event2024.org/), an international ‘flightless’ conference, with seventeen hubs across the globe. As a result, in place of a large-scale annual conference, delegates will instead attend the hub that is geographically closest to their home and work. This structure will contribute to sustainability by reducing air travel and the running costs of larger centralised conferences. With less packed schedules, and more intimate settings, the smaller-scale hubs will also support networking, collaboration and scholarly dialogue. The UK will have five hubs: 1) Belfast, 2) Cardiff, 3) Hawarden, 4) Lancaster and 5) Stirling. Each hub will host independent face-to-face events in September 2024, but the conference will also include monthly zoom events throughout the 2024 calendar year open to all delegates. Papers can be shared through COVE Conferences (coming soon), a password-protected annotation platform that allows delegates to read and comment on papers delivered at other hubs. Proposals for papers at any hub can be submitted via the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/).
1) Stirling (University of Stirling) – 4-5 September 2024
The Stirling hub, titled ‘Victorian Events’, will take place over 4th-5th September 2024. We welcome 20-minute paper and panel proposals that speak to any aspect of the general CFP on the Event 2024 website and we would also encourage proposals focused on: exhibits, exhibitions and openings; lectures and public performances; imperial events; local/national events or incidents; literary events – scandals, sensations and bestsellers; occult meetings and séances; celebrity and press events; protests and gatherings; tourism; anniversaries, centenaries and jubilees; legal trials; and Victorian events in contemporary culture/Neo-Victorian events. Given the international form of the conference, we also welcome proposals that focus on global Scotland in the 1830-1910 period. 20-minute paper and panel proposals can be submitted via the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/).
2) Cardiff (Cardiff University) – 10-11 September 2024
The Cardiff hub, held at Cardiff University on 10-11 September 2024, is interested in explorations of all the ‘Events’ topics, including proposals that investigate the Victorian in relation to the contemporary. This could involve crises in the representation of gender, sexuality, diversity and difference; environmental concerns, now and then; social and political movements, upheavals, war and peace time; narrativity, historicity and temporality; ‘events’ in the broadest sense that shaped aspects of art, culture, music, book history; material, visual, and reading cultures; print and other media; leisure and consumption. We welcome submissions on these and other inflections of the Flightless Conference theme in the form of 20 minute papers, two paper panels (1 hour), three paper panels (1 hour 30), creative projects (as individual contributions or for a paired panel session). Visit the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/) for our CFP and to submit a proposal.
3) Hawarden (Gladstone’s Library) – 11-12 September 2024
At the Gladstone’s Library hub in Hawarden, surround yourself with the books, journals, and papers of one of the most prominent Victorians, William Gladstone, in our beautiful Reading Rooms, and have the chance to sleep at a library. In addition to talks, The Gladstone hub will be hosting a Heritage Afternoon with workshops on finding and using Victorian collections and opportunities for public engagement and research connections with libraries, archives, and museums in the North West. Visit the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/) for our CFP and to submit a proposal.
4) Belfast (Queen’s University Belfast) – 12-13 September 2024
The flightless conference invites papers on all aspects of Victorian culture, but encourages proposals that reflect on the theme of ‘event’ interpreted broadly. The Belfast hub, held at Queen’s University on 12-13 September 2024, invites papers on any ‘event’ – at any scale – in the period spanning 1789-1914. Acknowledging the porous boundaries between the Romantic, Victorian and Modern, our call is open to researchers working in and across these fields. We aim for geographical as well as temporal breadth, inviting scholars with interests in nineteenth-century Ireland, Britain or any other (inter)national context. Submissions on any aspect of the literary, artistic, political, and scientific culture of the long nineteenth century – read as ‘events’ – are welcome. We invite proposals for individual 20 minute papers, panels of 3×20 minute papers, or roundtables of up to 6×10 minute position papers. Visit the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/) for our CFP and to submit a proposal.
5) Lancaster (University of Lancaster) – 19-21 September 2024
Nestled between the Lake District and Manchester, the Lancaster hub will be held 19th–21st September at the Victorian Storey Institute, next to the city’s medieval castle. Lancaster seeks proposals for individual 20-minute papers or pre-formed panels (3 x 20-min or 5 x 10-min papers). The Lancaster hub is interested in work that relates to any of the conference ‘Event’ topics. We also encourage proposals that investigate the Victorian period in relation to: the working classes; religion; the environment; and adaptation. We look forward to welcoming Victorian scholars of all career levels and to hearing from our two keynote speakers, Professor Ruth Livesey (Royal Holloway) and Professor John Bowen (York). Alongside the programme of talks there will be spaces and events to enable connection and collaboration among attendees. Visit the Event website (https://www.event2024.org/call-for-papers/) for our CFP and to submit a proposal.
This post has been re-published by permission from the
BAVS Postgraduates Blog. Please see the original post at https://victorianist.wordpress.com/2023/11/16/cfp-bavs-event-2024-2/