Call for Papers for the 2023 APHI Graduate Conference Now Available!

For the Boston University American Political History Institute’s (APHI) thirteenth annual graduate student conference, we invite submissions that examine the politics of crisis and catastrophe across many historical themes. Economic crises have undermined the stability of state institutions or caused new ones to be built, while natural disasters have shattered the physical, as well as political, foundations of these institutions. Periods of military crisis, within the United States or in countries against which the U.S. has waged war, have wrought catastrophes in the lives of civilians and combatants. Amid crisis and catastrophe, movements of social liberation and renewal have sometimes arisen, and sometimes been extinguished. Racial, class, gender, and sexual identities have been reconfigured in historical moments when society is shaken by political crisis or natural catastrophe. Moreover, crises and catastrophes in U.S. history can often be more clearly analyzed when placed in a global context, from great-power rivalries that influenced the course of the American Revolution to the COVID-19 pandemic of the last two years. We are excited to solicit submissions that explore the political histories of such themes from a variety of perspectives, encompassing both natural and human-made crises and catastrophes.

Submissions are welcome on subjects throughout American history from before European colonization to our present age of democracy in crisis. All presenters must be current graduate students. Distinguished faculty from both BU and the wider Boston area will serve as commentators for each panel. The most outstanding paper will receive the APHI Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize, which includes a $1,000 cash award. There is no registration fee for our conference.

Please visit the conference web page at https://www.bu.edu/aphi/grad-conference/ for more information.