Call for Papers: What should a book on religions in California contain? for CASA 2015 Annual Meeting

Call for Papers: What should a book on religions in California contain? for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the California American Studies Association, held April 24-25 on the campus of California State University, Fullerton.

It goes without saying that religions play a dynamic role in the drama that is the story of California from the beginning through the present. Yet, no one volume yet exists to tell this story in the twenty-first century. Perhaps now, the time is right to for this new project.

What should a book on religion in California contain? What should be its scope, its loci and its foci? What should be its structure? Who should be its author(s)? Three to four presentations are invited to provide a roundtable conversation to explore this topic.

Presentations need not be lengthy (no more than fifteen minutes maximum) nor conclusive (as they are meant to initiate conversation). This detail is important so as not to tax the efforts of any wishing to contribute their proposal to this exploration.

In fact, a quick reply will be sufficient. By January 14 (so that the January 15 deadline can be met), please e-mail a 250 word abstract and a brief (one to two page) c.v. to the panel organizer at ray.kibler.iii@ecunet.org. Questions in advance are welcomed.

OAH Workshop: Diversity in the American West

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
January 5 - February 27, 2015

NEW 2015 SUMMER REGIONAL WORKSHOP
Glendale, California
July 17 - July 19, 2015

The Organization of American Historians is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals for its new Summer 2015 Regional Workshop.

The 3-day workshop, titled Diversity in the American West, will be held on the campus of Glendale Community College, located ten miles north of downtown Los Angeles, from Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19, 2015.

The Program Committee invites proposals from college faculty (from both two-year and four-year institutions); high school faculty, including AP History instructors; historical researchers and writers; librarians: museum curators; public historians; advanced graduate students; and other educational professionals.

The purpose of this workshop is to offer history educators a meaningful opportunity to learn more about the diverse people, places, and historical themes of the American West. Some questions to consider include the following: What are the major trends in contemporary research and historiography of the American West, particularly as they relate to the theme of diversity? What strategies can be used to engage students and the general public in the history of the American West? How might instructors build and enhance their teaching of American History survey courses to include the history of the American West?


Submissions will be accepted between January 5, 2015 and February 27, 2015.

For further information and submission instructions please click here.

Casual Friday

Attention, all graduate students! This looks like a great opportunity.

WESTERN HISTORY DISSERTATION WORKSHOP

The Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico, the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry National Center,the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, the Research Division of The Huntington Library, the Hemispheric Institute of the Americas at the University of California, Davis, the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders at Yale University, the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West at Stanford University, the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University, and the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington invite applications for the eighth annual "Western History Dissertation Workshop,"which will be held on May 25, 2013 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

We will pay travel expenses for up to five graduate students working on dissertations exploring the history and culture of the American West. Participants will have the opportunity to present a chapter at the workshop and to receive feedback from other participants and from scholars affiliated with the sponsoring institutions.


To apply, please send a cover letter and the abstract of the dissertation to Virginia Scharff atvscharff@unm.edu. Please also arrange for your dissertation adviser to send a letter of recommendation by email to the same address; that letter should describe how much of the thesis has been completed to date.  Applications are to be received by March 22nd; participants will be notified of their selection by April 15.

Casual Friday

Call for Participants: Seminar on Religion and US Empire (2013-2015)

We invite applications to participate in a three-year series of research seminars on the history of religion and US empire from the formal inception of the US as a nation-state to the present.  The central aim of this project is to establish a major scholarly assessment of the linkage between religion and American empire.  We plan to address the relative inattention of scholars of religion to the powerful impact that the establishment of empire has made on religion in the US.  Conversely, we will emphasize the role of religion in shaping the history of the US as an imperial state, an area of inquiry that demands further attention.  This seminar series will also develop innovative theoretical approaches to interpreting the larger phenomenon of empire by considering the US state as a paradigm for modern empires.

To achieve this, we are organizing a series of meetings over a three-year period by an interdisciplinary team of twelve researchers to analyze historical data about religion and empire; exchange information, insights, and critiques; develop appropriate theoretical models; provide mutual feedback on resulting manuscripts; and contribute to a co-edited volume on religion and US empire.  We believe the seminar and its products will redirect several ongoing scholarly conversations, support teaching on the topic, and inspire further research on this pressing issue.

The first meeting will take place in fall 2013 (probably in October) at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, courtesy of a generous grant from Creighton's Kripke Center for the Study of Religion and Society.  We have also secured preliminary funding for the second meeting in fall 2014. We continue to seek funding for two additional meetings in 2015 to complete the series.

Participants will receive food and lodging for three nights and two days and a travel subsidy of up to $400.  In return, each member of the team will agree to participate in all of the meetings, produce an essay for the edited volume, and develop related teaching materials (e.g., a syllabus and bibliography).  We are seeking an interdisciplinary team of participants representing diverse methodological, chronological, and geographical interests related to the problem of religion and empire.  We also hope to identify promising early career scholars as well as established academics.

To apply, please submit the following material in electronic form to Dr. Tracy Leavelle at tracy.leavelle@creighton.edu by 1 February 2013.

* 1-2 page cover letter explaining your interest in the seminar * 1-2 page description of the research and writing you propose to do as part of the seminar * Brief cv of no more than 5 pages * List of three references

We will notify applicants of their status in March 2013.