"Flight Culture and the Human Experience"

Call for Participants

55^th Annual Walter Prescott Webb Lecture Series

“Flight Culture and the Human Experience”

16 & 17 April 2020

(deadline for proposals: 1 October 2019)

Organized by the University of Texas, Arlington – Department of History

hosted by the

American Airlines CR Smith Museum (Fort Worth, Texas)

Each Spring since 1965, the University of Texas, Arlington’s Department of History has hosted the Webb Lecture Series in honor of Texas historian Walter Prescott Webb. The event brings distinguished scholars and public intellectuals to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to address subjects of historical and contemporary significance. Following the conclusion of the series, guest speakers are invited to revise and polish their lectures for inclusion in an edited collection published by Texas A&M University Press.  

Hosted by the American Airlines CR Smith Museum the 55^th Annual Webb Lecture Series “Flight Culture and the Human Experience” will feature new and emerging research into the myriad social, cultural, political, and other transformations brought about the advent and expansion of aviation technologies. While many of the lectures will, necessarily, examine aspects of aeronautical history, the Department welcomes proposals from scholars and advanced (ABD) graduate students whose multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research may assist the broader public in understanding the vital role that aviation has played in shaping humanity’s past, present, and possible futures.

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):

Aviation and the built environment; literary and artistic representations of flight; milestones in aeronautical engineering; the development of civil and commercial aviation; military aviation and airpower doctrine; the influence of the airplane in popular culture; social identities and the aviation age; the origins and evolution of aerial technologies; “air-mindedness” and the nation-state; and aviation in comparative international contexts (to name but a few).

Participants will be chosen on the basis of their ability to deliver an original, substantive, and engaging public presentation accessible to a diverse audience consisting of community members, undergraduate and graduate students, and professional scholars. Each talk will be limited to approximately forty-five minutes followed by a fifteen- to twenty-minute Q&A session.

Lectures will be expected to form the basis of a peer-reviewed scholarly paper to be published subsequently by Texas A&M University Press in an edited volume. More formal and detailed than the lecture, these manuscripts should be approximately 30-40 pages (double spaced) including endnotes. Submissions should be based upon original research and must not have been published before. 

The UTA Department of History will pay travel expenses for those chosen to participate, including airfare and local transportation, lodging, and meals. In addition, speakers will be offered an honorarium of $1,000 paid upon the delivery and acceptance of their publishable manuscript. (Final manuscripts must be received no later than 1 October 2020.)

For consideration, please submit via e-mail a single .pdf file containing:

1) a working title and brief (1-2 pp.) description of the proposed lecture

2) a complete curriculum vitae 

to Ms. Karla Ramsey at kcramsey@uta.edu

Submission deadline: 1 October 2019  

Selected participants will be notified by 15 October 2019

For more information, please visit the Department’s website at:

http://www.uta.edu/history/research/webb-lecture-series/index.php

or contact:

Dr. Scott W. Palmer, Professor and Chair

Department of History

University of Texas, Arlington

scott.palmer@uta.edu