Event Details

End: September 30, 2016
Contact: ncsacharleston2017@gmail.com

Call for Papers
38th Annual Conference of the Nineteenth Century Studies Association
February 2-4, 2017
Charleston, South Carolina
MEMORY AND COMMEMORATION

The NCSA program committee invites proposals on any aspect of “memory and commemoration”
in the nineteenth century. From photographs and locks of hair to jubilee processions and civic
monuments, nineteenth-century men and women sought to commemorate, preserve, and utilize
personal and collective memories and histories. How did individuals remember loved ones, or their
own histories? How did they celebrate corporate visions of the past, or dispute visions put forward
by others? How were interpretations of the past used as tools of revolution, nation-building,
imperialism, and other political activities? In what ways did new economies of tourism and
consumerism support a culture of commemoration? How, too, have memories of the nineteenthcentury
past been contested by later generations? Topics might include civic commemorations,
jubilees, holidays, public memorials, architectural changes, cemeteries, elegies, death rituals,
photography, souvenirs, memoirs and autobiographies, or literary and artistic uses of the past.
Papers may also analyze theoretical concepts of memory, invented traditions, and contested spaces,
as well as interdisciplinary and alternate interpretations.
Send 250-word abstracts with 1-page CVs to ncsacharleston2017@gmail.com by September 30,
2016. Abstracts should include author’s name, institutional affiliation and paper title in the heading.
We welcome panel proposals with three panelists and a moderator or alternative formats with precirculated
papers and discussion. Please note that submission of a proposal constitutes a
commitment to attend if accepted. Presenters will be notified in November 2016. Graduate students
whose proposals have been accepted may submit completed papers to apply for a travel grant to
help cover transportation and lodging expenses. Scholars who reside outside of North America and
whose proposals have been accepted may submit a full paper to be considered for the International
Scholar Travel Grant (see NCSA website for additional requirements: http://www.nscaweb.net).