Call for Papers: the 25th Annual Brian Bertoti Innovative Perspectives in History Graduate Conference

Savannah Flanagan Discussion

Call for Papers

Proposals due: January 21, 2022.

The History Graduate Student Association at Virginia Tech invites proposals for papers and panels to be presented at the 25th Annual Brian Bertoti Innovative Perspectives in History Graduate Conference. Due to the ongoing and uncertain nature of the pandemic, this interdisciplinary conference will be hybrid, with the option to attend in-person or over Zoom, on March 18-19, 2022.

Our conference is an opportunity for graduates and advanced undergraduates to share research projects in a supportive, professional environment and a chance to network with future colleagues. Our conference values interdisciplinary approaches to the past, and we invite proposals from historians and students in related disciplines whose work represents “innovative perspectives in history.” Presentations on any aspect of history, time period, or world region are welcome.

For paper proposals, please submit a one-page abstract and a short vita. For panel proposals, please provide a paragraph describing the theme of the panel, an abstract for each paper that will be presented on the panel, and a short vita for each presenter. Paper and panel proposals are due by January 21, 2022. Please send them to our Panels Committee at hgsa.vt@gmail.com.

Brian Bertoti Award

Each year, HGSA acknowledges the best paper presented at the conference with the Brian Bertoti Award for Outstanding Historical Scholarship. To be considered for this award, participants must also submit their paper at presentation length (3,000 words max. excluding bibliography and notes) to the Panels Committee by March 1, 2022. The paper selected for the best paper prize will represent exemplary scholarship, innovative methods, and unique perspectives in the historical discipline. Only graduate students are eligible for this award.

Publication in the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Review

Outstanding undergraduate papers will also be considered for publication in the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Historical Review (VTUHR). If you would like your submission to be considered for publication, please send the paper to the Panels Committee by January 21, 2022.

For more information on VTUHR, please visit the website: https://vtuhr.org. Conference Speakers

Dr. Nimisha Barton will deliver the keynote address on Friday, March 18. She is a Visiting Scholar at UC Irvine and an Equity Consultant in education who develops and implements anti-racist programs, trainings, and curricula for students, faculty, and administrators. She focuses on gender, sexuality, and immigration studies in 20th century France as well as diversity, equality, and inclusion programs in institutions of higher education. Dr. Barton’s work has been published widely in journals such as French Politics, Culture and Society, and Journal of Women’s History. Her book Reproductive Citizens: Gender, Immigration, and the State in France, 1880-1945, appeared in 2020 with Cornell University Press. It recently won Honorable Mention for the Society of French Historical Studies’ David H. Pinkney Prize, which recognizes the most distinguished book in French history.

Dr. Tony Perry will deliver our luncheon address on Saturday, March 19. He is currently a curator of environmental history under the division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. He was previously an assistant professor and scholar of slavery studies, African American Environmental History, and material culture at the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. He was a predoctoral fellow in the Carter G. Woodson Institute, where he published an article focusing on his work on the environment history in Maryland titled, “In Bondage when Cold was King: The Frigid Terrain of Slavery in Antebellum Maryland,” in Slavery & Abolition. He is currently working on his first book based on this research.

For more information about the conference, speakers, or schedule please visit the conference website at:

https://myvthistoryma.com/bertoti-conference/