SCWH 2024 Conference Panel History of Experiences

Good Afternoon all!

As word came to me not long ago that the SCWH conference will be in Raleigh, NC, next June, I wanted to take the opportunity to create a panel for the conference. Therefore, I wanted to reach out and see any who would be interested in presenting on this panel and any suggestions you might have for the panel chair. 

I am endeavoring to create a panel focused on the History of Experiences in the Civil War Era. Inspired by Rob Boddice, emotions historian at the University of Tempare, and Mark M. Smith, historian of the senses at the University of South Carolina, the history of experience braids the senses and emotions to contextualize the lived past. It helps us uncover the "lived experiences" of our historical actors. The goal is not to engage with a definition of "experience" but to reconstruct as much as we can regarding our subjects' perception of reality. These human perceptions formative of and formed by their experience(s) can help us better grapple with "being human" in a tumultuous time as the Civil War era. Topics include but are not limited to the home and battle fronts, gender, abolition and slavery, food history, spatial and environmental histories, soldiering, foreign affairs, medicine, material culture, and prisons. Topics covering Reconstruction (solely or not) and the antebellum are also encouraged. 

Don't hesitate to contact me at: memett@email.sc.edu if you are interested or have scholars in mind I should reach out to for this panel in the making. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Mike Emett, University of South Carolina 

P.S. If you have already begun forming such a panel or know of someone who is, help us make a connection so that I might add my voice to their effort.