On 12-15 April 2023 the 14th European Social Science History Conference will take place in Gothenburg (Sweden) – https://esshc.socialhistory.org/. The ESSHC brings together scholars interested in explaining historical phenomena using the methods of the social sciences. The conference is characterized by a lively exchange in many small groups, rather than by formal plenary sessions. It is organized in a large number of networks that cover specific fields of interest. The conference language is English.
One of the largest networks of the ESSHC is Labour. We think that progress in labour history and studies is made by analysing global developments in labour relations and labour struggles, including the influence of these global developments on local and national contexts and vice versa. It also remains essential to take into account other constituent elements of working class identities besides class, such as gender, ethnicity, religion, age and nationality. Labour can also provide an analytical lens to study the interconnectedness of political, economic, and cultural developments, and specific issues such as management strategies, colonial relations, factories and other sites of production (plantations, mines, households), slavery, free and unfree labour, formal and informal labour activism, etc. Moreover, labour history and studies provide essential insights into pressing contemporary issues such as globalization, social inequality, migration, and precariousness.
The Labour Network welcomes any session or paper proposal dealing with all topics and periods in labour and working class history and studies. Please read carefully the selection criteria below before submitting your proposal.
The Labour Network seeks to broaden its temporal, geographical, and disciplinary scope, and therefore encourage sessions and papers from all time periods and all regions. We welcome the organisation of conference sessions that move beyond the traditional conference panel, such as film screenings, book panels etc. Roundtable discussions that present and discuss important books, articles, changing institutional and educational structures and other concerns within labour history are also encouraged. For ESSHC 2023, we encourage submissions that focus on the following topics: the state of the art in global labour history; the connection between labour studies and labour activism; and the use of digital humanities in the study of labour.
Since the coherence of sessions will be an important criterion, propositions of full sessions with three to five papers will be easier to accommodate in the conference programme than single papers. However, we do accept single paper proposals, both in order to include them in proposed sessions and to compose a limited number of new sessions. Moreover, while most sessions choose the panel format, other types of sessions are encouraged. We also have a preference for sessions with a comparative character, geographically and/or chronologically.
We heartily encourage young scholars, such as PhD and master students, to organize sessions and propose papers within the Labour Network. We remind you of the Jan Lucassen Prize for the best paper of a junior scholar at the ESSHC (see http://esshc.socialhistory.org/award).
Proposing sessions or papers only works by pre-registering on our website.
To propose a panel session (2 hour time slot): panel organizers need to pre-register for 3 to 5 participants. Add full names and addresses of all paper authors and of a chair and/or discussant. To propose an individual paper: pre-register through the conference website, indicating ‘Labour’ as your network of preference.
See for full details: http://esshc.socialhistory.org/guidelines. The deadline for proposing abstracts is 15 April 2022.
Further information on the ESSHC is available from the conference website at http://esshc.socialhistory.org/.
For specific questions about the Labour Network, please contact the chairs: Görkem Akgöz (akgozgorkem@yahoo.com), Peyman Jafari (pjafari@princeton.edu) and Hanne Østhus (hanne.osthus@ntnu.no).
Görkem Akgöz (akgozgorkem@yahoo.com), Peyman Jafari (pjafari@princeton.edu) and Hanne Østhus (hanne.osthus@ntnu.no)