Call for sessions and papers on Labour and Working Class History for the European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC), Vienna (Austria) 23-26 April 2014
From 23-26 April 2014 the 10th European Social Science History Conference will take place in Vienna (Austria). The ESSHC brings together scholars interested in explaining historical phenomena using the methods of the social sciences. The conference is characterized by a lively exchange in many small groups, rather than by formal plenary sessions. It is organized in a large number of networks that cover specific fields of interest. One of the largest networks is Labour.
We think that progress in Labour History is being made by analysing global developments in labour relations and labour struggle, including the influence of these global developments on local cases. It also remains essential to take into account besides class other constituent elements of working class identities, like gender, ethnicity, religion, age and nationality.
At the previous network meeting (Glasgow 2012), several themes were suggested, among others: labour relations in economic crisis; local labour history; history of occupations. Also, we agreed that we aim for sessions that are have a wide geographical and/or temporal variety, in order to enable comparisons over space and time. There were also suggestions for some methodological roundtables. However, the Labour History Network welcomes any other session or paper proposal dealing with all topics and periods in labour and working class history.
During the selection of proposals, the coherence of sessions will be an important criterion. Therefore, propositions of full sessions with three to five papers will be easier to accommodate in the conference programme than single papers. Most sessions choose the panel format, but other types of sessions are encouraged. We have a preference for sessions with a comparative character, geographically and/or chronologically. Also, we advise you to seek alliances with other ESSHC-networks and propose joint sessions. We heartily encourage young scholars, such as PhD and master students, to involve in organizing sessions within the Labour Network. To encourage this, 2014 is the first year in which the Jan Lucassen Prize for the best paper at the ESSHC of a junior scholar will be awarded (see http://esshc.socialhistory.org/award).
Proposing sessions or paper only works by pre-registering on our website. To propose a panel session (2 hour timeslot): panel organizers need to pre-register for 3 to 5 participants. Add full names and addresses of all paper authors, and of a chair and/or commentator. To propose an individual paper: pre-register through the conference website, indicating 'Labour' as your network of preference. See for full details: http://esshc.socialhistory.org/guidelines. The deadline for proposing abstracts is 15 May 2013.
Further information on the ESSHC is available from the conference website at http://esshc.socialhistory.org/. For specific questions about the Labour History Network, please contact the chairs: Raquel Varela (raquel_cardeira_varela [at] yahoo.co.uk), Christian de Vito (christian.devito [at] gmail.com), and Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk (elise.vannederveenmeerkerk [at] wur.nl).