GlobalMaritimeHistory Digital Conference- Maritime Languages

Samuel McLean Announcement
Subject Fields
Languages, Linguistics, Maritime History / Studies, Literature, Music and Music History

We are pleased to announce that www.GlobalMaritimeHistory.com will be holding its second digital conference, "Maritime Languages" in April 2020.

Whether through signals and semaphore or the particular terminologies of ship-board life, maritime communities have developed their own ways of communicating. Understanding or lack thereof, of these "maritime languages" could set communities apart or bring them together. This conference seeks to explore maritime languages in all their multiplicity.

 This conference is designed to be interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary, global, and span all of history.

Subjects for the Conference may include but are not limited to:

  • The development of specifically maritime terms
  • Use of maritime language in non-maritime contexts
  • Representation of maritime languages in literature, music, and art
  • Interactions of Languages and Cultures in Maritime, Littoral and Coastal Spaces
  • Maritime Language and Insularity
  • The specification of language in international maritime law
  • Maritime Communication Systems

What is a Digital Conference?

This is an online conference, and will be implemented using audio records (effectively podcasts) as well as any visual guides such as images or presentations. The recordings will be uploaded to this website, and their release will be staggered over a period of time like at a conference. The format of this conference allows for incredible flexibility in terms of the length of the program. As such, we very much encourage graduate students, early career and independent researchers to submit proposals, and we would like to emphasize that the term ‘broadly conceived’ pertains to both “Maritime” and “History”.

We are looking for:

  • Proposals for individual presentations, which will be roughly 20 minutes in length
  • Panel proposals that consist of 2-4 papers. (To be recorded as a single file)
  • Proposals for group discussions of approximately 45 minutes in length
  • Proposals for other content for this conference, including written blogposts and videos are also encouraged

Further Details:

  • Speakers will retain full control of their content, including the ability to remove it from the website in the future at their request.
  • Presentations can be about completed research, works-in-progress, or methodological and theoretical discussions.
  • The organizers will be able to provide some technical support in terms of audio editing if needed.
  • If this CFP gives you an idea, but you think it's too far-fetched or improbable, then please do contact the organizers. We'd love to work with you to make your idea possible.
  • We will absolutely consider proposals for papers in languages other than English.
  • We are considering several options for providing opportunities for presenters to be asked questions, and it will likely involve comments on posts, as well as interaction through Twitter.
  • Whereas the Maritime Toxic Masculinity conference was presented in "panels", this conference will be scheduled so that the authors will be available for questions and responses.

We are also open to collaborating with other projects, groups and institutions in order to make this digital conference as successful as possible. Please send all proposals and questions to the organizers at conferences@globalmaritimehistory.com. Proposals should be submitted to that email address by 15 January 2020.

Further, if you are interested in gaining experience in organizing a digital conference, please get in touch with Samuel McLean, our Social Media Editor.

Sarah Pickman and Kelsey Power have also produced two posts reflecting on our previous conference.
Part 1
Part 2

Contact Information

Dr Samuel McLean
Social Media Editor, Global Maritime History

Contact Email
conferences@globalmaritimehistory.com