The University of Chicago invites graduate students to submit proposals for a conference exploring the role of America in the world. It will take place at the University of Chicago on April 8-9, 2011.

This conference will bring together scholars of various disciplines whose work focuses on the role of the U.S. in the world. By matching leading national historians with emerging scholars from a diverse array of institutions, the conference will provide a vital forum for an exchange of ideas on how the U.S. has both shaped and been shaped by forces outside its borders. Papers can address these issues from a broad range of perspectives--from works that explore diplomatic or policy history to projects deploying literary or cultural analysis. We encourage projects that integrate the methodologies of transnational history, such as a focus on non-state actors or the use both domestic and international sources.

Rather than approaching the history of the U.S. in the world as fixed preconceived relations between America and the foreign, we hope to foster a series of lively discussions that will examine the ambiguities and contradictions that have characterized the history of American global engagement.

Each student presenter will be paired with a professor who will provide feedback on his or her paper in an open panel forum. Participating professors will include Heide Fehrenbach from Northern Illinois University, Naoko Shibusawa from Brown University, and Marilyn Young from New York University, as well as faculty members from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The conference will end with a plenary session that will draw on the themes emerging from the panel discussions.

Graduate students who are interested in participating in the conference should submit a 500 word abstract and a short curriculum vita (in Word or PDF format) to usworldconf@uchicago.edu. Proposals must be received by December 1, 2010, in order to be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made in late December. Check for updates on http://history.uchicago.edu/about/events.shtml. For additional information about the conference, please contact usworldconf@uchicago.edu
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The University of Chicago cannot provide travel stipends for presenters. We encourage you to seek funding from your home institution.

The conference is sponsored by the University of Chicago Department of History; Center for International Affairs Norman Wait Harris Fund; Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture; and the Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture.